All the World is a Stage

As you might have already known, we, as English Honours students, have a peculiar habit of reading critically. To read is to understand a text and its underlying concepts. So here we are here to share our readings with you. Before you yeet, we’ll just let you know, that to protect all of our two brain cells, we haven’t covered any academic papers. This blog will draw parallels between Vishal Bhardwaj and William Shakespeare. Bhardwaj has successfully adapted Shakespearian dramas into marvellous movies. With splendid visuals and acting, new heights of drama have been achieved in these movies where we bear witness to a merging of two distinct cultures, ideologies and art.

Shakespearian plays, which are well known for portraying the ugly and problematic nature of society perfectly fits in with the problematic narratives in Indian society. Bhardwaj’s adaptations artistically convey Shakespeare’s plays in such a way that it will leave you wondering if it a mirror image of Indian society if you were unaware of the play’s existence before watching his movie. It’s no coincidence that all the plays Bharadwaj adapted are tragedies. Does there exist a better way to criticize life than end it in a tragedy?

**MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!! Don’t say that we didn’t warn you**

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I. Maqbool\Macbeth

Bhardwaj's experimentation with Shakespeare’s love for dramatic situations in this movie appreciates his skilful play of situations in Macbeth. Macbeth, the protagonist of the play, appears to us like the vilest of men on Earth, more fitting to be a glorified antagonist than the protagonist. That’s the catch of the play. The never-ending fight between right and wrong. At the end, who is right and who is wrong?

In contrast, we have our Indian Maqbool, extremely loyal to Jahangir Khan (our Indian King Duncan) until Nimmi comes into play. Bhardwaj plays around with the events that took place in the play thereby changing most of the narrative. Nimmi, Lady Macbeth’s counterpart in Maqbool, is shown as Jahangir’s wife and not Maqbool’s. Bhardwaj's add on to the play further justified Maqbool’s action of murdering Jahangir aka, the legendary ‘love’. Maqbool’s “right” is love and his “wrong” is murder.

Maqbool’s portrayal of the prophesying Witches is very interesting. Instead of using the infamous three Witches, Bhardwaj chose to construct the darkness lingering in the human soul through two old, corrupt police officers. The instance where the Witches reassure Macbeth that no harm would befall him which lasts until Macbeth notices the moving woods is ingeniously conveyed by the director. Given that the movie is set in the Indian city of Mumbai, Bhardwaj chose to use the ocean instead of the woods (a metaphor for Davsare’s customs officer team). In the final parley between right or wrong, we witness Maqbool losing everything precious to him that finally ends with his own life. Neither Macbeth nor Maqbool were good examples as upright and moral human beings but it still lets us ponder upon the right and the wrong. More importantly, judging the ‘love’ that exists between Maqbool and Nimmi is ambiguous and left for the viewer to interpret.

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II. Omkara\Othello

On finishing Omkara, it is almost guaranteed that the viewer will be stupefied. Othello and Omkara share more than just the same starting alphabet. They also possess aristocratic positions and similar perspectives on masculinity. Omkara, the gang leader and the right-hand man of a local politician parallels Othello, the Moorish, Venetian general. In Othello, Shakespeare presented us with the demise of Desdemona, her crime being her marriage to a black, Moorish man. With a large gap to add to their ‘crime’, their action went against sacred Venetian traditions.

Bhardwaj matches this context by having Dolly, a well-respected and high caste Brahmin marry Omkara, a half-Brahmin and half-Dalit. Naturally, it was not favourably looked upon by her father. This realistic and ugly portrayal of the truth of our existing caste system and caste shattered the idea of everyone being equal.

The most striking element of Omkara is when Langda Tyagi (Iago in Othello) was murdered by his wife. Indu is shown as a reincarnation of Goddess Durga when she slits the throat of her husband for bringing misery upon another woman. This scene was extremely important for it allowed Bhardwaj to finally manifest a perfect Indu, our Indian Emilia. This action leads the viewer to the same thought process after one reads the play, the reason behind the death of a toxic, masculine character by a strong, female protagonist.

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III. Haider\Hamlet

If you thought Maqbool and Omkara were dark, allow us to introduce Haider, arguably the bloodiest of all Bhardwaj’s Shakespearean adaptations. *dramatic bow*

Is it cause the movie is based on Hamlet? One of the most agonizing and depressing plays penned by Shakespeare? If you have come across any of these plays, you will realise how vital the setting and characters of the play are to the story. Like Hamlet, Haider required an extremely violent setting, with an undertone of lingering danger, suspense and unsettling calm throughout. And this is where Bhardwaj manages to push ‘Hamlet’ and transform it into Haider. He forces us to face the long-ignored ugly truth India comfortably locked up inside its 'crown'. Blood, betrayal, and bombs, anything you can think of, Haider have it all-and it is believable because it is set during the insurgency-hit 1995 Kashmir conflicts and civilian disappearances.

The thing to look out for in this movie is Bhardwaj’s interpretation of all these characters. Ironically, more than Haider, the antagonist Khurram stands out. Claudius is not the first person to pop into our head when we think of a ‘villain’. Ambitious, cunning but also remorseful, he goes far beyond the 2D villains we’re used to seeing in Bollywood. But, he’s much more like Macbeth than say, Gabbar Singh. We can call Kay-Kay Menon’s Khurram, a true-blue villain. Fuelled by blind desire, he desires his brother’s wife, political power and control over Haider. He remains ungrateful and guiltless throughout the movie and leaves no stone unturned to get what he wants. He is almost a megalomaniac but is also the contrasting sensible villain to Haider’s mad anti-hero.

Haider’s ending is more gruesome than Hamlet. Blood, limbs and debris pile up on pristine, white snow while Khurram begs Haider to kill him. Haider pays no heed to his uncle’s plea before he heartlessly walks away, leaving his uncle/stepfather to bleed out in the cold as his mother’s words echo in the background “Inteqam se sirf Inteqam paida hota hai, Haider.” (Revenge only breeds revenge.)

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Hellooo, long time! This has probably been our longest blog to date🤔

We hope you enjoyed this post as much as we enjoyed writing it. This blog involved movie nights on Google Meet accompanied by dramatic gasps, heated debates and weird interpretations of all the characters. Shakespeare’s plays possess this unique charm to make its readers reflect on society and their thoughts, something that is also reflected in all of Bhardwaj’s adaptations. We wholly recommend you to check these movies out if you haven’t already and let us know your interpretations and thoughts in the comments below.

As promised, we’ve made a Spotify playlist containing all the songs mentioned in the blog, along with our personal favourites. Make sure to follow it for we’ll be updating it often. Who knows? We may even add songs which can act as teasers for the upcoming blog ;)

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2zUEdfzh8PkMAoFR1tOZJ2?si=CvpLuHtsR9COdoz9EaA3TA

Content writers: Bilal Khan; Needhi Singh; Shamatmika Rathore.

Editor: Adithi M. Kashyap

Graphic design and Video Editing: Alwin Joe Varghese; Khushi Sharma