Liberating Hamlet: Vishal Bhardwaj’s Un-Shakespearean Treatment in Haider

Mr. Vishal Bhardwaj, the director of Haider (a 2014 Hindi film adaptation of William Shakespeare's revenge drama Hamlet), attempts drastic and daring changes to the almost undisputed plot constructed by Shakespeare. The modern day Hamlet must learn how to forgive; he also needs to stay alive to change his surroundings. Rejecting his father's ‘symbolic' discourse, therefore, Haider resorts to his mother's ‘semiotic' discourse; thereby proving himself to be a ‘free agent'. This also liberates the character of Hamlet from the never-ending loop of art.