Who would have thought that one of the biggest Bollywood filmmakers Vishal Bhardwaj has a connection to the renowned English writer Shakespeare? Didn’t know, right? But yes, it’s true.
Recently it has been revealed that the renowned writer is an inspiration to the superstar filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj. According to Vishal, it was a love at first sight and that too accidental, but a beautiful one at that.
Vishal Bhardwaj has given a lot of tragedy hits by Shakespeare – Othello (Omkara) and Hamlet (Haider) though twisting it according to the Indian psychology and sensibility. Though this all started with his Maqbool which was again a gangster genre film adapted from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a tragedy drama.
Bhardwaj got hooked with Shakespeare’s work through his godson. According to Vishal he was once travelling to Delhi with his godson and to kill boredom, and so he asked for something to read. To which his godson provided him with Macbeth and bang!!!!!! Vishal fell in love with it.
Although, as per Bhardwaj he was not aware of what he was getting himself into and how much of a big deal was Shakespeare’s literature (due to his ignorance towards Shakespeare’s work), he dived in the making of Maqbool. It was later he realized when he faced serious nerves when Maqbool was premiered at the International Film Festival in Toronto in the year 2003. That was the time the realization of the importance of Shakespeare’s work worldwide hit him. Not to forget, he was extremely thankful for not messing with it a lot and keeping it decent.
Though not just in Toronto, Bhardwaj also faced criticism over his obsession with Shakespeare’s work in India. His mentor, as well as collaborator Gulzar, believed that he is exploiting Shakespeare, as a brand. But the headstrong Bhardwaj didn’t believe it for a moment. For him, Shakespeare is his inspiration and he could connect himself to his work (Shakespeare’s literature) like no other. He went ahead with Shakespeare’s name in spite of being alarmed that it could turn out dangerous for him. Bhardwaj says, he believes in acknowledging his sources. He cannot refer to it as his own when it’s actually not. Also terming it as a source gives him a license to steal Shakespeare’s work openly.
