Haider –
If I view Kashmir with the 2 large
eyes that Bollywood has provided us, one is the overly romantic and second the immensely patriotic.
The romance was epitomized by the
rambunctious Shammi Kapoor in the 60s in movies like Kashmir ki Kali, where the
famous words‘ if there is heaven its there’ reverberated with every oar stroke
in the Dal Lake . However this
romance was spoilt, rampaged, brutally mauled in the 80s and 90s where the
state slipped into an alarmist state of militancy. My teenage years was aghast at the
empty hands of India when Mufti Mohammed Sayeeeds daughter was kidnapped, a country held
to ransom with an aggressive proxy war and a duplicitous US pulling favours for Pakistan . That growling frustration welcomed the second eye that came through Mani Ratnam’s Roja in 1993. India found an unlikely hero in a
moustached South Indian heartthrob Arvind Swamy playing an army cryptographer
who doused and saved the Indian flag when it was set ablaze by his kidnappers
to a musical crescendo set by AR Rahman.
India was saved somehow and we went home clapping.
Between these 2 eyes , India was
never shown a 3rd eye . An eye like Shiva’s that never gets opened.
It opens up when someone asks why are Kashmiris asking for self determination ? Why
is Article 370 necessary and why is Kashmir giving so many special privileges? Did the Indian army use ‘means justify the
end’ type methods to win peace? Did curfews become the playground of the select
uniformed few? Was going Sarhad paar as common in a Kashmiri Muslim household
as ‘Naan US poren’ in a software engineer household?
Haider at a political level is
that attempt to be an alternative eye. This alternate eye consists of 3 levels
. By sometimes placing Kashmir in the to be or not to be state of Hamlet, there
are times when the screenplay makes the eye the mind and sometimes the eye
watching a mirror. Brilliantly captured
in a set piece where Haider elaborates on the very existential questions that
plague Kashmir in the town square courting arrest, Vishal Bharadwaj takes the
self questioning drama to its finest precipice. In a brilliant cameo by
Kulbushan Kharbanda where he expounds Revenge begets Revenge hence give peace a
chance, the soul searching by Kashmiris continues.
This type of probe gets amplified
by the camerawork. It offers a dry melancholic canvas where the
beauty lurks in the corner , unspoken , uncared
yet so obvious to the beholder but ceases to matter to the daily bread
earners who live there. There is visual
mastery here along with art direction. Watch out for the shambles of Haiders
old home that speaks to you , watch out for the snow that covers frames with a cloak of purity
wanting to mingle but preferring to stand out.
Astounding camerawork makes your eyes linger on the frame , like an
aching eye wanting to soak every detail but also waiting for what lies ahead.
The third is the socio-political
commentary that the characters provide over and above their roles as characters
from Hamlet.
By not making Kashmir a setting
for Hamlet but making Kashmir play Hamlet at times, Vishal Bharadwaj adds
another layer of complexity to his yarn , getting it right at times but also
getting overpowered with two heavy subject matters in hand.
As a sombre drama , Haider sets the brooding tone right from
the word go, with an unhurried but captivating narrative style. Haider seeing his mom and uncle having a good
time in a bungalow with a non-existent curtain , Haiders own battles on whether
to kill his uncle or not , the Machiavellian tactics of his uncle
, the mother –son relationship are all brilliantly captured and enacted
with superb performances by Tabu, KK Menon and Shahid. Tabu adds bewitching grace and guile at the
same time making a masterful Gazalla, KK Menon appears powerful yet vulnerable
pulling off a role that seems tailor made for him. Shahid Kapur tries a variety
of angles but comes out triumphant sometimes using his innocent face, sometimes
using his genes to pull off the town square scene ( where if you close your
eyes , you will see Pankaj Kapur speaking not his son) , but powering along with a dedication that
suits his character. Shraddha Kapoor provides that combination of charm and
sincerity by playing the movies most normal character.
Where Vishal Bharadwaj adds a
zing is when he spices this heavy subject with some absolutely delightful
flourishes of his craft , sometimes having fun , sometimes spectacularly
dramatic. He adds wicked humour with the Salman and Salman duo , bringing an
irreverence reminiscent of Kaminey. As 2 police informers who allow Haider to
stay in their home, the 2 bring the house down with their antics idolizing the
Maine Pyar Kiya version of Salman. There are times he injects humour in a
serious sequence where Haider and Arshee make love and Arshee says loved as
luvved ( Kashmiris use heavy consonants after a vowel ).
In the Bulbul song where he manages to amplify
the frustration that Haider faces ,
Bharadwaj shows that as a story teller he can have the audience dancing
to his tunes by taking creative departures.
He manages to give Irffan Khan a seeti inducing entry midway into the movie again showing that he can pull off what he believes in.
Watch Haider to see a director
and a story teller at his finest form; a man so sure of his talents that he
willingly bites off more than what he can chew. He falls into some traps because of his
cowriter who wants to make a statement against the Indian army. Misuse of power
happens even with cinematic lenses perhaps.
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Shirisha