Shahid Kapoor did Haider for Free

Filmmaker Vishal Bharadwaj and his favourite actor Shahid Kapoor have decided to forgo their remuneration for their upcoming film Haider. The step was taken by the duo, so as not to overstretch the budget of the movie also they believed in the policy of a no compromise in the quality.

As per sources, Vishal Bhardwaj said, “When he started planning the film, both Shahid and I agreed that it had to make money from day one. But, we also knew that Haider was a big film with a huge budget, an ensemble cast and lavish action pieces. Filming in Kashmir added to the costs. The only way we could succeed in our endeavour was not to burden the film with our remunerations. We kept the secret between us for a long time but it’s finally out.”

Vishal is quite impressed by the selfless act of Shahid Kapoor. He is singing praises of Shahid’s acting prowess too. Vishal said, “Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, has some really long monologues and so does Haider. Listening to Shahid deliver those wordy pieces on my headphones I was reminded of Naseer (Naseeruddin Shah) and Pankaj Kapur.”

Haider completes the Shakespearean trilogy for Vishal which started with Maqbool. Vishal further added that, “When I was making Maqbool, a contemporary adaptation of Macbeth, I didn’t know that I would go on to make Omkara (an Indianised version of Othello). It was circumstances which brought it about. Now with Hamlet the trilogy is complete, a lot of filmmakers were also toying with the same subject but I guess I was destined to make Hamlet.”

If you haven’t seen the Trailer of ‘Haider’ yet, seen it now :