Vishal Bhardwaj on 20 years of Maqbool: ‘Some magic happened there’

Maqbool, which also starred Tabu, Pankaj Kapur, Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri, set the Shakespearean tragedy in the Mumbai underworld.

“When I look back, the one thing that I feel very nice and proud of is that I could achieve a timeless quality in that film. It is not just because of me but the whole unit and actors… Some magic happened there,” Bhardwaj told PTI in an interview.

He credits the film, which released on January 30, 2004, for making him a “star filmmaker” overnight.

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A poster of Maqbool.

“Even now, when you watch the film, it does not feel dated. I have to sometimes remind myself that it’s already 20 years because it feels like I was struggling just recently to make Maqbool. It didn’t do well in theatres. It didn’t do any business but so much appreciation,” he said.

Vishal Bhardwaj, 58, started out as a music composer in the film industry and turned to direction with Makdee in 2002. He already had the script ready for Maqbool at the time.

“But when I tried to make Maqbool, I could not get money or stars. I approached everybody, except Aamir, Shah Rukh and Salman, almost everyone rejected it. Some said, ‘Arrey, hero loser hai’, ‘Arrey, ye to badi depressing film hai’, ‘Underworld is done to death, ‘Satya and Parinda are already there so who can make a better film than this?'” he recalled.

The filmmaker said he struggled till 2004 before getting a chance to make the film and rest, as they say, is history.

Vishal Bhardwaj later went on to complete his Shakespeare trilogy with Omkara, an adaptation of Othello in 2006, and “Haider” from Hamlet in 2014.

He now wants to look at Shakespeare’s comedies but said it will take some time