ABSTRACT
Vishal Bhardwaj has been called Hindi cinema's 'Renaissance man,' a tribute based not only on his three Shakespeare films, more than any other Indian film-maker, but also on the critical attention they have garnered, cross-culturally and internationally. Gertrude, Shakespeare's most misunderstood woman, in Haider as Ghazala, takes over the role of the bloody avenger from Hamlet, blowing herself up in the process. Shakespeare's tragedies were prominent in Indian cinema right from the beginning. Hamlet, Khoon-e-Nahak and Macbeth, Khooni Taj are to be found among the early silent films. Bhardwaj's Shakespeare films achieve their impact through opposites: simultaneously global yet very local, they are reasonably close to the original texts but introduce critical changes. It becomes imperative to unpack his versioning of the Shakespearean tragic in which women are more deeply implicated in the violence when they finally turn towards a resolution, sacrificing their lives nevertheless.
