King of Spades

Macbeth-Maqbool Othello-Omkara Hamlet-Haider 3 indianised  takes by Vishal Bharadwaj  on the respective legendary works of William Shakespeare. The first time he attempted , the second time he re-created .But this time around, he not only does the above two but also succeeds in perfectly indianising miya Shaik peer. It’s ironical that the co-writer of Haider ( along with Vishal Bharadwaj) is a certain Mr. Basharat Peer! Reincarnation anybody? Seems unlikely given his credentials.Well we’ll leave that to some other blog. Set in tumultuous Kashmir, the state of India where god created heaven and man hell, Haider grips your attention right from the start.  Dr. Hilal Meer (Haider’s father) is taken away by the army for treating and sheltering a militant inspite of the prevailing insurgency.  Ghazala (Tabu) ,his wife takes refuge in the arms of his brother Khurram Meer (Kay Kay Menon) and that’s when the boy suspects a rat. Enter Roohdaar (Irrfan khan ) and the ...

As i was returning from office the other day, the hot gossip going on in the local train was how a rock had prevented the Kedarnath temple from getting washed away during the horrifying floods, when all but seemed lost. About how the almighty apparently saved   his temple and thus re-established the faith of his followers through this act. While a section of the crowd seemed to agree to this, there were some who didn’t. They argued on the fact that if there was indeed a god, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Thousands woudn’t have died at his doorstep. What was in discussion was the following event. Kedarnath temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and situated near the Mandakini River in India in a valley of the Garhwal Himalayas, was constructed in the 8th century and folklore has it that Shree Adi Shankaracharya himself , oversaw the building of the shrine. Considered as one amongst the holiest temples in India, it is on the must-see list of every devout Hindu. For the...