To be or not to be Shahid

His mother Nileema Azim must be feeling proud. Father Pankaj Kapoor must also be a happy man. If Haider, directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, who has just completed the Shakespeare trilogy, doesn’t lift Shahid’s career, perhaps nothing will.

On Hamlet, on which Haider is based, Edwardian pundit Max Beerbohm once said, “it is a hoop through which every eminent actor must jump.” Now that Kapoor lad has jumped through that hoop with such élan, it would not be out of place to also quote Laurence Olivier, who too has played Hamlet memorably: “Once you have played it, it will devour you and obsess you for the rest of your life.”

Shahid has done some good films. If Kaminey was a peek into his acting prowess, Haider has pushed him miles ahead. The frequent changes of his get-up, from going bald to crew cut, and what Erich Segal would call “expressionless expression” coupled with his brilliant dialogue delivery, will no doubt get other filmmakers excited. By playing Haider, you could say, he has done Hindi cinema a great service.

His warning to Khurram (Kay Kay Menon): Tu dua mein tha isliye tujhe maara nahi...jab tu gunah mein hoga…" and the climax scene where he fights his innermost demons of “to be or not to be” sends a chill down your spine and transports you into the world of Shakespeare Bhardwaj has made so relevant in the Indian context.

Haider has also thrown a real challenge to Shahid, who told a daily, that after ten years of song and dance in the industry, he wants to become a real actor. But will he be able to? Har sawaal ka jawab sawaal hai!