Vishal Bharadwaj Directorial debut almost shelved. Want to know more read on…
In 2002, Vishal’s career as music director was going smooth with critically acclaimed music scores of films like Maachis and Satya. But Vishal intended to do more, he wanted to direct. He made his debut as Director in ‘Makdee’ starring Shabana Azmi. Next he had set his eyes on adapting Shakespeare’s play Macbeth in hindi, as he wanted to make something more forceful.
He initially wanted to cast Naseeruddin Shah-Tabu in Maqbool as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth respectively. He struggled to find producers for the project. He was told, ”Get some popular actor do the role”. Vishal had no choice but to approach big stars of that time. Sanjay Dutt had been considered, as he had starred in underworld movie ‘Vaastav’. He refused. Sharukh Khan was also approached. He denied. Hence, Maqbool was nearly shelved.
Bobby Bedi came to rescue of ‘Maqbool’, and finally a then-lesser-known actor Irrfan Khan was chosen to play ‘Maqbool’. A Shoe string budget was allotted to making the film. Pankaj Kapoor starred as Abbaji in his Godfather-esque kind of character. Naseeruddin Shah along with Om Puri starred as corrupt cops (essaying role of witches in Macbeth). The rest as they say is history.
Maqbool was gathered huge acclaim in film festivals across the world. It received ‘best film award’ in Bangkok Film Festival. Finally it was released in 2004 in India and it got rave review from viewers across India. In India it got various Awards including National Awards.
Vishal Bharadwaj is still active as music composer, giving scores not only to his own films but also of others. His recent movie scores include Nishabd, U Me aur Hum, No Smoking.
He has Directed 5 full feature film and a short film to date. What is extraordinary about his films is, that many of his actors have starred in their career best roles under his direction aka Pankaj Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Konkana Sen Sharma, and more recently Shahid Kapoor.
for The Reel; Written by "Ali Naqvi"
In 2002, Vishal’s career as music director was going smooth with critically acclaimed music scores of films like Maachis and Satya. But Vishal intended to do more, he wanted to direct. He made his debut as Director in ‘Makdee’ starring Shabana Azmi. Next he had set his eyes on adapting Shakespeare’s play Macbeth in hindi, as he wanted to make something more forceful.
He initially wanted to cast Naseeruddin Shah-Tabu in Maqbool as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth respectively. He struggled to find producers for the project. He was told, ”Get some popular actor do the role”. Vishal had no choice but to approach big stars of that time. Sanjay Dutt had been considered, as he had starred in underworld movie ‘Vaastav’. He refused. Sharukh Khan was also approached. He denied. Hence, Maqbool was nearly shelved.
Bobby Bedi came to rescue of ‘Maqbool’, and finally a then-lesser-known actor Irrfan Khan was chosen to play ‘Maqbool’. A Shoe string budget was allotted to making the film. Pankaj Kapoor starred as Abbaji in his Godfather-esque kind of character. Naseeruddin Shah along with Om Puri starred as corrupt cops (essaying role of witches in Macbeth). The rest as they say is history.
Maqbool was gathered huge acclaim in film festivals across the world. It received ‘best film award’ in Bangkok Film Festival. Finally it was released in 2004 in India and it got rave review from viewers across India. In India it got various Awards including National Awards.
Vishal Bharadwaj is still active as music composer, giving scores not only to his own films but also of others. His recent movie scores include Nishabd, U Me aur Hum, No Smoking.
He has Directed 5 full feature film and a short film to date. What is extraordinary about his films is, that many of his actors have starred in their career best roles under his direction aka Pankaj Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Konkana Sen Sharma, and more recently Shahid Kapoor.
for The Reel; Written by "Ali Naqvi"
1 comment:
pictures sir!!!!
Post a Comment
WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU, POST COMMENTS TO TELL US WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THIS ARTICLE,
Finding it difficult to post comments ??
type your comment in white box below and under "Comment as" Drop down list, either:
1. select "Anonymous"
OR
2. If you are logged into Google account, select your Google account from the drop-down list