Haider

Haider is an upcoming Indian drama film directed by Vishal Bhardwaj and co-written by Bharadwaj and Basharat Peer. It is a modern-day adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, set in Kashmir. The film stars Shahid Kapoor as Haider, and Tabu essays the role of his mother who marries her brother-in-law (played by Kay Kay Menon) after her husband mysteriously disappears. The film also stars Shraddha Kapoor as Arshia, a journalist by profession and Haider's love-interest.
Haider is the third installment of Bhardwaj's Shakespeare trilogy after Maqbool (2003) and Omkara (2006). The film is scheduled for release on 2 October 2014.

Shahid Kapoor as Haider
Tabu as Ghazala, Haider's mother
Irrfan Khan as Haider's father
Kay Kay Menon as Haider's uncle
Shraddha Kapoor as Arshia
Narendra Jha
Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Lalit Parimoo
Ashish Vidyarthi
Aamir Bashir
Sumit Kaul
Rajat Bhagat

Development

Initially, Bhardwaj and Kapoor were in talks of making a sequel to their blockbuster film, Kaminey. In an interview with The Times of India, Bharadwaj was quoted saying, "I had always planned to start out with Macbeth. I had read Merchant Of Venice in school but Macbeth was the first play I read as a filmmaker. Taking several creative liberties, I adapted it as Maqbool, following it up with Omkara, an adaptation of Othello. I could have wrapped up the trilogy with either King Lear or Hamlet. I opted for the latter because it had a thread of sexual conflict running through it, which is there in the other two films too." The adaptation was made to portray the political intrigue and history of Kashmir as well as the play's sexual conflicts. As per the story of the book Hamlet, an Oedipus complex exists that draws Hamlet (played by Shahid Kapoor) towards his mother (played by Tabu that could have been interpreted both at a physical and psychological level, however Bhardwaj kept this reference subtle as the target audience was predominantly Indian and called it 'one of the aspects in this mother-son relationship.' In his previous outing of Othello's adaptation-Omkara he removed the last monologue because I felt it was too stagey but I retained the Hamlet's featured in Haider. Shahid Kapoor learnt a six-page monologue for the climatic scene where his character Haider turns mad. He put forth the delivery of that monologue in front of a crowd of 5000 listening. Just for the requirement of the scene whose filming was done for 3-4 hours, Shahid Kapoor was made completely bald.
Kapoor, along with Bharadwaj and UTV Motion Pictures, each have a 33.3% share in the film. Kapoor reportedly became a producer for the film due to his trust and belief in the film's success. The budget for the film is 37 crore (US$6.1 million), with 22 crore (US$3.7 million) going into the production of the film and 15 crore (US$2.5 million) for promotion. Dolly Ahluwalia has designed costumes for Shahid Kapoor in the film.

Filming

Principal photography began at Dal lake in November 2013. Haider was filmed at Pahalgam, Kehribal area in Anantnag, Mattan, Aishan Sahab Zaina Kadal Bridge in old Srinagar, Nishat Bagh, Dal Lake, Qazigund, Martand Sun Temple, Naseem Bagh (at Kashmir University Garden), Hazratbal and Sonamarg, all these places in the located Jammu and Kashmir The very beginning of shoot, the portrayal of Kashmir and its people in some of the Bollywood movies had left the locals and the 2014 Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Omar Abdullah furious. However, the director Vishal Bhardwaj assured the state Chief Minister that the film would have nothing to harm the local sensibilities and the political aspirations. On 24 November 2013, during shooting of film, students of Kashmir University, Hazratbal disrupted the filming, objecting to the hoisting of the national flag atop a makeshift bunker. A few students objected to the shooting of a few scenes and started pro-freedom slogans, dismantling the stage. The youngsters also forced them out of the shooting location in Naseem Bagh (Kashmir University Garden) despite heavy security, claiming that they had no idea about the shoot happening on that location. Students of University raised also objection to Irrfan Khan when he was spotted smoking inside the campus. The last schedule of filming for 'Haider' began in Kashmir in January 2014. For the song "Bismil" that was shot at Sun Temple in Kashmir, Shahid Kapoor was quoted saying, "It is one of the best shot songs of my career. The location, the elements like face paint to depict war situations, have been used in 'Bismil'. Then there are 100 feet tall puppets, which I have never seen in any song before." For the choreography Bharadwaj was very keen that Shahid's character Haider doesn't have dance moves that Shahid already did in his previous films as this required the character’s angst and feelings. Bharadwaj recruited Sudesh from Norway for the choreography of this track. The shooting of the film was also halted briefly for a second time in Zainakadal in Srinagar in January 2014, when a spectator threw a firepot towards the actors. The shooting was completed by 24 February 2014.