Vishal Bhardwaj: There wasn’t so much hatred as we see today | Exclusive

Vishal Bhardwaj

Vishal Bhardwaj was born in Chandpur city in District Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh. His family later moved to Meerut, where he used to play cricket for the state's under-19 team. Although Bhardwaj had to give up the game at an early age, some of his peers later went on to become famous cricket players in India. During Mid-day's latest Sit With Hitlist episode, the filmmaker speaks about having played cricket with Manoj Prabhakar and Chetan Sharma.

Growing up in Uttar Pradesh, Bhardwaj has seen communal violence and riots closely. But he says the hatred and violence we see today is much more intense. "...Hindu-Muslim riots aise hi ho jaate thay. Phir bhi there wasn't so much hatred as we see today... Individually if someone is told, here's a gun, go and kill that Muslim, he will not do it. But the mob mentality is so bad," he opined.

One of the greatest writers that Bhardwaj admires is Bashir Badr. He was witness to Badr's house getting torched during the riots in Meerut. Bhardwaj says the scene in Haider where Shahid Kapoor's character comes back and finds his whole house burnt, was inspired by that incident.

The filmmaker has adapted many works of Shakespeare into movies like Maqbool, Omkara and Haider. He says although the premises were from the Bard's works, Bhardwaj made the characters his own. "Even Shakespeare, I have used those plots and the character traits. But the characters are my original," he says.

The conversation also steers towards the masterpiece by the filmmaker - Omkara. Aamir Khan was fascinated by the role of Langda Tyagi, and wanted to be considered for it. However, Bhardwaj surprised everyone by casting Saif Ali Khan in a never-seen-before avatar. Recalling those days, he says, "Saif ka maine Dil Chahta Hai dekhi toh mujhe laga… because earlier Saif had a very feminine voice, he used to perform weirdly…"

He was supposed to do a film with Shah Rukh Khan, was that 2 States? "Always he says and I also feel, that we have to do a film together," reveals Bhardwaj. What about Aamir Khan - he is asked - why didn't a film work out with him? For Bhardwaj's answer, watch the full video that is out on December 16.