Haider Movie Review

Here is the review for the movie Haider. Watch out this space for more updates!

Rating:5/5 Review By:Raja Sen Site:Rediff

Haider changes all that, with filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj probing into the valley nimbly and incisively -- we may, at this point, picture the director as a particularly poetic insurgent, wearing Shakespeare for a cloak.

This is not a simple adaptation, this takes not a simplistic stance; Haider is a remarkable achievement and one of the most powerful political films we've ever made, a bonafide masterpiece that throbs with intensity and purpose.

Rating:3.5/5 Review By:Troy Ribeiro Site: IANS

With revenge as the underlying motive, "Haider" is a quintessential Vishal Bhardwaj film adapted from one of Shakespeare's most powerful and influential tragedies - "Hamlet". It's a tale of a son's quest for his missing father.

Visually too, "Haider" is one of Bhardwaj's aesthetically framed films. Pankaj Kumar's cinematography highlights Kashmir in all its glory, displaying the beauty of the seasons. The atmospheric lighting adds to its visual appeal. The snow-filled frames are a delight to watch. But the jerky camera movements in some of the tense scenes are an aberration and mar the viewing experience.

Overall, "Haider" is a well made film complimented with dramatic performances, strong script and fine music. Don't miss this one.

Rating:4.5/5 Review By:Mohar Basu Site:Koimoi

Haider is an unforgettable film that never fumbles, never stumbles, and is so sure of itself that it cannot go wrong. From Shahid to Tabu to Kay Kay to the powerful cameo of Irrfan, everything in the film works. It’s a Guztaq film that audaciously breaks every rule in the book, everything that you could have expected from it and ends up being that edgy watch which you’ll savor, while you watch it from the edge of seats. Haider is Chutzpah and inkeeping with the same vein, I will rate this film the highest I have ever gone with a movie.

Rating:2.5/5 Review By:Koel Purie Site:Indiatoday

Adapting and setting Hamlet in the Kashmir of 1995 is a genius idea by Vishal. Here people can "disappear" without much hoo-haa. Here lives are worthless. Here an overtly sensitive Hamlet as a child of war, who has had constant contact with violence and insurgency, can be unbalanced, indecisive and so removed from reality that he can see apparitions and ghosts. It could have been a genius idea. It wasn't.

Rating:4.5/5 Review By:Shubha Shetty-Saha Site:Mid-Day

While Vishal Bharadwaj brings alive the ecstasy, pain and passion of Hamlet on screen, he also reminds us of the harsh truth in our own backyard, the man-made mayhem in the God-made jannat that is Kashmir. All this done with his classic poetic touch intact. We all have been hearing and reading horror stories involving people - who call Kashmir their home and their seemingly unending struggle in the face of extreme adversity - but we often quickly turn the page and move on. This time, Bharadwaj holds the mirror so uncomfortably close to the issue that intimate details of the suffering and the evident hopelessness of your own countrymen sits as a burden on your conscience.

Rating:4/5 Review By:Srijana Mitra Das Site: TOI

Haider is one of cinema's bravest takes on identity, frightening, yet fun - Irrfan delights as rockstar-like Roohdar, Haider's father's ghostly voice who is, in another clever twist, a spectral agent from Pakistan. Like Pankaj Kumar's stunning cinematography and Rekha Bhardwaj's haunting voice, Haider's actors excel - Shahid does justice to Hamlet, a quiet, fine-boned boy, descending into a man whose eyes gleam with hate. Shraddha's luminous as Arshee, Ophelia torn between Haider and father, heartbreakingly unwinding a red muffler she's just knit.

But the meat of Haider goes to Tabu, overpowering as gorgeous Ghazala, desirous of desire, blown away by guilt. Kay Kay excels as snake in the snow, craftily asking Arshee - 'Princuss! Prince kahan hai?' - an oily cog in the machine pinning Kashmir down. Haider's performances are perfumed with such delicious amorality that a moral twist follows - one that might've surprised Shakespeare.

Rating:2/5 Review By:Hungama Network Site:Bollywood Hungama

HAIDER definitely is Shahid Kapoor's best performance till date. It is one of the complex roles that he has taken up till date and he definitely gets into the skin of the character. Shraddha Kapoor, who is seen here after her last hit EK VILLAIN, seems to have perfected her Ps and Qs of emotions and even the 'Kashmiri English'. She is loveable in her part as the innocent girl who is madly in love with Haider. Even though Narendra Jha, who plays Shahid's father, doesn't have many scenes in the film, his voice haunts you till the end, as he seeks revenge from his brother. Kay Kay Menon, as the evil mind uncle, also delivers what was expected of the role. The show stealer of the whole film is indeed the firebrand actress Tabu, who as Ghazala, towers over everyone. The rest of the actors (Kulbhushan Kharbanda after a long time on screen, Aashish Vidyarthi, Aamir Bashir and others) simply help in moving the film forward. Here, a special mention goes to the duo that plays 'Salman Khan do-alikes'.