Haider (film)
2014 film by Vishal Bhardwaj
Haider is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language political action thriller film directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, who co-produced it with Siddharth Roy Kapur, and written by Bhardwaj and Basharat Peer. It stars Shahid Kapoor, Tabu, Kay Kay Menon, Shraddha Kapoor and Irrfan Khan.
Set amidst the insurgency-hit Kashmir conflicts of 1995, Haider is a modern-day adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. It is also based on Basharat Peer's memoir Curfewed Night. Haider, a young student and a poet, returns to Kashmir at the peak of the conflict to seek answers about his father's disappearance and ends up being tugged into the politics of the state. Haider is the third installment of Bhardwaj's Shakespearean trilogy after Maqbool (2003) and Omkara (2006).
The film was screened at the 19th Busan International Film Festival, and released worldwide on 2 October 2014 to widespread critical acclaim; it was a major commercial success, earning ₹85 crore worldwide and garnering attention from the media due to its controversial subject matter. The subject matter, direction, story, screenplay, film score, cinematography, editing, and performances of the ensemble cast received high critical praise and garnered several accolades. However, the film faced backlash for its graphic depiction of alleged human rights abuses and torture by Indian security forces in Kashmir, which many described as an "unfair" portrayal of the armed forces. Hindu nationalist groups accused it of sympathizing with separatists and launched a boycott campaign, while some audiences and commentators labelled it provocation or propaganda.
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