Haider

Haider! First thing first, you need an open mind to watch this movie, keeping just your eyes open for little less than 3 hours is not enough. Many a times we use a term "Plain slate", but I doubt how many times we succeed in looking at something with a plain slate. Also taking sides while watching will not help, being neutral to all the things coming your way is the key. So the most important prerequisites for watching this amazing creation is an open mind, neutral approach & being free from others opinions.

Through Haider, Vishal Bharadwaj brings to us beauty of Kashmir like never before.  He weaves it with its dark side so well that your eyes remain glued to the screen all the time & the pace of the movie allows you to understand every detail he portrays. The deliberate slow pace in the first half helps you experience Kashmir & Kashmiri people's state in detail. It's both mesmerizing & disheartening to watch every minute detail about day to day lives of people of Kashmir.

Haider (Shahid) is a young poet returning home from Aligadh. Haider's father is found guilty of hiding militants in his house & is detained buy military, who goes missing after the detention. Haider returns to Kashmir to find his disappearing father. He is determined to go any lengths for finding his father played by Narendra Jha. Haider bumps in to his uncle Khurram (Kay Kay Menon) & mother Gazala (Tabbu) who have started living together since his father went missing. Haider walks out of his uncle's house & from here his journey of searching his father starts. The journey through doubt, insecurity & intricacies of human relations is worth watching. This is the most powerful movie about Kashmir & the burning 90s, any filmmaker would have got carried away while making a bold movie like this but Vishal Bharadwaj manages to do the balancing act very well.

There are too many plus points that work for this movie. Bharadwaj along with Peer has penned down a powerful & flawless script. Pankaj Kumar's cinematography is just out of this world, as I said in the beginning he shows us Kashmir like never seen before. His camera takes you right there, it makes you feel that you are actually standing in Kashmir, you feel the chill of snow, the smell of flowers, you almost stretch out your hands for touching the beautifully carved wooden furniture, you feel the shade of dense trees. Everything you watch & feel is a masterpiece. The background score by Vishal Bharadwaj, the use of local instruments sets the mood right. It makes you forget everything else & helps you to be a part of Haider's journey. Not to forget dialogues, which are very few but are very effective indeed. "इंतेकाम से सिर्फ इंतेकाम पैदा होता है. जब तक हम अपने इंतेकाम से आझाद नही होते तब तक हमे कोई आझादी आझाद नही कर सकती." is one of my favorites. The songs are so fitting that they help taking the story further, be it aare aao na in the graveyard or bismil after his mother's second marriage

Performances of all the leading & supporting actors are undoubtedly the best performances of 2014 so far. Tabbu says it all through her eyes, her cold smile reflects her enigmatic personality. The tear filled eyes, shivering lips... God, Tabbu is one of the finest actors we have got in the recent past. She completely steals the show, for me at least she is the best performer of this particular movie. She keeps lingering in your mind for hours after you leave the cinema hall.
Shahid Kapoor, man I can't understand why an intelligent actor like him is wasting himself in movies like R Rajkumar & Phata poster Nikla Hero? He has literally lived the role of haider. Most of the times he too talks very very less but his eyes do the needful. He expresses the pain, love, suspicion & everything so effortlessly that you fall in love with this character.
Kay Kay Menon, do I really need to say anything about this guy? He portrays a composed lawyer, corrupt politician & a passionate lover powerfully.
Irfan in a cameo as a mysterious Roohdar is powerful as ever.
The two friends of Haider (Sumit Kaul & Rajat Bhagat), who are fans of Salman & call themselves Salman manage to bring in some laughs & display kind of people who try to make the most of worst situations. These two guys have done amazingly well too.
Shraddha Kapoor looks amazingly beautiful & has done justice to her role of Arshia. The three grave diggers, Kulbhushan Kharbanda & everyone else ensures that no actor in the movie lets Vishal Bharadwaj down.
It is very difficult to choose one favorite scene from the entire movie. The one where he is stopped for interrogation, the one when he watches his burnt house with teary eyes, the one when he helplessly tries to find old things in his devastated house, the one when he is welcomed in the graveyard by the grave diggers, the one when he goes completely wild after understanding the truth about his father's whereabouts. The moments are endless...

I don't know Hamlet's story but I have seen Vishal Bharadwaj's Haider which is undoubtedly the best movie of both Vishal & Shahid. One question that kept cropping up in my mind all the time while watching Haider was why people would have the feeling of pride while fear takes precedence over all other feelings & while they are struggling to just LIVE everyday. This movie left me speechless & made me introspect as in what am I doing at the place I am in? What is my contribution towards, at least understanding their state & standard of living. I have only glared in to Kashmir for so many years as the heaven on earth & tried painting the dark side of it in bright colors of fake dreams. Haider leaves many questions in my mind & there lies the success of Vishal Bharadwaj as a filmmaker. Viewers leave cinema hall with loads & loads of questions in mind, which they should try & address to in a longer run!

If you like watching meaningful movies & you don't watch Haider then you would sure miss out something which can not be expressed in words!

Amidst all the political chaos in Maharashtra, like Haider I too feel अपना Chutzpah हो गया है.

Statutory warning: Watching Haider can be injurious to (mental) health, especially for the fans of Singham, Singham returns, Chennai Express, Kick, Bodyguard etc.

Verdict: Go For It.