Vishal Bharadwaj take a bow. What a superb movie. When a non- Indian friend of mine who does not understand Hindi finds it "Brilliant", I can safely say that you have done your job as an artist in a “brilliant” manner. By transcending the boundaries of nations and languages you managed to touch a chord.

I can best describe this movie as witnessing an artist painting something. Varied colors used, mixed and matched, you sit there wondering where is this artist going, what is he trying to do? And then suddenly he is done and you take a look at it and all you are left is spellbound, overwhelmed, stunned in a good sort of way. Some colors are put on the canvas at an extremely slow pace (story in the first hour and half or so), some come gushing at you, and yet some other you don't even realize when they were added (cinematography). Tabu is one such color that comes gushing at you. Her Gazalla is refusing to leave me even after 4 hours. Your sheer talent makes me wonder and cower down with a bit of shame that I come from the same nation which puts the Katrinas and Madhuris on the pedestal and so easily sidelines you. The potpourri of Kay kay, Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, comes together so beautifully to make such wonderful weave that together they make the canvas look "brilliant" as my friend said.

This movie also left me bit flummoxed. I am not sure whether to be upset with the writer duo Vishal Bharadwaj and Basharat Peer for taking certain creative liberties and altering the original play or to marvel at the ease with which they incorporate those changes into the movie. On one hand I am saddened that the purity of an Shakespeare’s ” Hamlet” has been played with, but then on the other hand the final product is marvelous. The story of our Haider aka Hamlet unfolds in 1995 in the state of Kashmir. The volatility is not because Denmark has a long-standing feud with neighbouring Norway, and an invasion led by the Norwegian prince, Fortinbras, is expected, but because of the Pakistan led infiltration of the terrorist in the state of Kashmir and the Indian army’s strong response to it.

The screenplay surely talks about the plight of the localites in Kashmir albeit lop sided. It talks about the Indian army’s creation of the counterinsurgent group Ikhwaan-ul-Muslimoon, and many other things. In the army’s defense it did support the Ikhwaanis, because the group had strong connections and thus access to inside information. It could accumulate local intelligence faster and in a much accurate manner than the army could accomplish. Also it did the dirty job. As the dialogue in the movie goes, “An enemy’s enemy is our friend”.

I surely did not find anything in the movie to warrant a "boycott" on Haider. Has it become a new "in thing" to try to put a ban on some or other movie? So, Indian army is not shown as a compassionate mother in the movie. Hmmm! was it or is it there to be a mother or fight terrorism? They have portrayed Indian army to be tough, go getter, and only interested in results. Guess what? That is exactly how I want them to be when they are fighting terrorism. Yes there are I am sure innocent lives who suffered. The movie projects their anger against the army and it should. Why should it sugar coat? Collateral damage when fighting against something of this magnitude is bound to be. And if somebody says that there was such then why should it be wrong?

All in all go see this movie. It's a very goooood watch.