Vishal Bhardwaj's just-released Haider, starring Shahid Kapoor, Tabu and Shraddha Kapoor, has been hailed by critics as his best film so far. Among a section of Twitter users, however, the reception has been less than warm.
Mr Bhardwaj's adaptation of Shakespeare's complex tragedy Hamlet transplants the plotting of revenge and political machinations from the original Denmark to troubled Kashmir. His layered take on the violence that has seen the once-pristine valley transformed into a wasteland of fear has provoked some outrage online, with those offended putting out a barrage of tweets with the hashtag #BoycottHaider.
#nehru & #Congress made it fashionable to denigrate #Hindus. #VishalBhardwaj just follows in these footsteps.Hindus standup #BoycottHaider
Vashishtkrishna October 3, 2014
#boycotthaider how the hell this film has got a release in India, The actors should be ashamed of themselves,disrespect to #Indianarmy
- Tejas Jani (@tej2620) October 3, 2014#BoycottHaider Vishal Bhardwaj should be brought to the court for making an anti national movie.Down with seperatism!
- Siddharth Sharma (@sidspin) October 3, 2014A second hashtag, #HaiderTrueCinema, has also cropped up in defence of Vishal Bhardwaj's final film in his Shakespeare Trilogy - the others were Maqbool (Macbeth) and Omkara (Othello).
Every die hard cinema lovers should give this cinematic genius a watch! Well done @shahidkapoor @ShraddhaKapoor and Tabu! #HaiderTrueCinema
- Asin (@Actress_Asin) October 3, 2014#HaiderTrueCinema It's a peotry on celluloid which no-one have ever told in Bollywood!
- Haider-i-Fied (@shahidlicious) October 3, 2014Haider, which also stars Kay Kay Menon and Irrfan Khan, released yesterday to unanimous critical acclaim.
