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.