ABSTRACT
In 2014, amidst worldwide observations of the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth, including the launch of the Globe to Globe Hamlet, Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider was released to eagerly awaiting audiences in India and abroad. India’s introduction to Shakespeare was mediated by the English East India Company. The history of these earliest Shakespeare performances as well as the inclusion of the bard in colonial curriculum have all been well examined. Haider in situating itself against the backdrop of Kashmiri insurgency thus seems to belong to the tradition of performing political Shakespeares on the post-independence Indian stage. Haider starts out by challenging popular portrayals of Kashmir in Bollywood films. The development of the Bollywood-loving Salmans is carefully worked out in the film from clowns to state sponsored murderous agents. The fake Salmans with their allegiance to Mumbai and mainstream India results in the need for a counter-aesthetics within which Haider’s resistance might be staged in the film.
