Vishal Bharadwaj’s film ‘Haider’ going ahead at full steam.
By Tathagata Mitra
BANGALORE: Saif Ali Khan has walked out of Abbas-Mustan’s rendition of the classic ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’.
Abbas-Mustan’s yet to be named adaptation of Alexander Dumas’ French classic ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ is designed to be an action thriller, not much unlike the duo’s other films of the hit series Race.
Khan stated that this was precisely the reason that he walked out of this film. The actor said that he likes to experiment with his roles trying to keep his fans in his mind. The film which was set to star Khan and Parineeti Chopra was already postponed earlier this month due to Saif’s scheduling conflicts. Now, he has altogether abandoned this project.
It seems that Bollywood once again is taking on multiple western classics. While some seem promising, some are still lost in translation.
As Abbas-Mustan’s project has got stalled, Vishal Bharadwaj’s film ‘Haider’, a take on Hamlet, preps for an autumn release.
Haider, starring Shahid Kapoor, which has been shot with the political turmoil of Kashmir as a backdrop, is hoping for an early October release. Bharadwaj completes his Shakespeare trilogy with Haider. His two previous Shakespeare adaptations, Maqbool (Macbeth) and Omkara (Othello) were pretty successful with the critics.
Haider has been shot in various locations in Kashmir including Pahalgam, Srinagar, Martand Sun Temple, Qazigund, Dal Lake, Nishat Bagh and Kashmir University campus. Kapoor has turned producer with this film. He owns 33.3% shares of this film, with the same each for Bharadwaj and UTV Motion Pictures. The film also stars Tabu, Shraddha Kapoor, Kay Kay Menon and Irrfan Khan.
Bollywood is neither unfamiliar nor afraid of adapting from novels these days. Earlier this year, Chetan Bhagat’s 2 States was adapted into a film of the same name. The film starring Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt has been the biggest opening at the box office in 2014.
Vikramaditya Motwane’s Lootera, based on O. Henry’s short story ‘The Last Leaf’ was a huge success.