Besan Ka Halwa

I haven't watched theatre as much as feature cinema and so reviewing play performances is no way my cup of tea. But what I saw today compelled me to at least mention the extraordinary stuff put on by the boys of The Doon School. Their play is called "The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare" with a small "abridged" tag in parenthesis which makes it "The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (abridged)". And as its director- Shrey Nagalia says - 'in all humility...' that his directorial musical 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying' was his magnum opus. So this production scripted by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield presents a collection of parodies of all Shakespearean works- from the least popular to the most prominent. And with respect to its staging at the St. Stephen's College, Delhi by the boys from Doon School: I would say- What an amazing performance! Awesome script (not sure if Shakespeare would...

“To watch or not to watch?” If that is the question then the answer is “Definitely! Go for it!” Vishal Bhardwaj is back with his 3 rd Shakespeare adaptation which completes his trilogy. After Maqbool (Macbeth) and Omkara (Othello) comes Haider- the Hindi film adaptation of ‘Hamlet’. Hamlet, being one of the most prominent and widely read plays by the Bard of Avon raises the risk for any artist trying to adapt it in any art-form. Moreover, a Bollywood film won’t be one of the forms in which you would want this magnum opus to be in. But Haider goes all out and rubbishes these doubts andbreaks all stereotypes. Bhardwaj has set his version in the Kashmir of 90s. The film has been shot entirely in the valley and hence the cinematography gets a superior edge. The landscape has been captured beautifully: chinar trees, all that snow, wooden houses, the downtown locations and outskirts- marvellous! The Kashmiri folk and their unpleasant situation has been shown aptly. The Kashmiri a...