Bollywood Characters Inspired by the Bard’s Immortal Works

On Shakespeare’s birth and death anniversary, here’s a look at Bollywood’s iconic characters inspired by the Bard

A still from Hamlet’s Indian adaptation Haider starring Shahid Kapoor (Photo: Haider/UTV Motion Pictures)

On the occasion of William Shakespeare’s birth and death anniversary, we bring you some famous Bollywood characters inspired by the Bard’s immortal works.

1. Shahid Kapoor in Haider

Shahid Kapoor gave his career’s best performance yet in and as Haider (Photo: Haider/UTV Motion Pictures)

The story of The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (popularly known as Hamlet) was written by Shakespeare between 1599 and 1602 as per Wikipedia. Vishal Bhardwaj made William Shakespeare’s most-adapted play Hamlet his own, as he masterfully reconstructed this tragedy in an Indian setting with Haider. Shahid Kapoor befittingly played Prince Hamlet’s role as Haider Meer. The role was so well written by Bhardwaj and Basharat Peer that it gave a much needed boost to the actor’s diving career.

2. Kishore Kumar in Do Dooni Chaar

Stills from Bimal Roy’s production Do Dooni Chaar, directed by Debu Sen

Shakespeare’s play The Comedy of Errors tells the story of two sets of identical twins that were accidentally separated at birth, and how a comedy of errors begins when they meet as grown-ups. The roles of the twin sets: Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus and Syracuse – were enacted by Kishore Kumar as Sandeep and Asit Sen as the Sevak in this 1968 adaptation titled Do Dooni Chaar. Despite Kishore Kumar’s effortless ease with comic timing, the film written by Gulzar, tanked at the box office at the time of its release.

3. Sanjeev Kumar in Angoor

A film poster of Gulzar’s Angoor starring Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma 

Undeterred by the failure of Do Dooni Chaar and confident about the content of Shakespeare’sThe Comedy of Errors, Gulzar tried his hand again at an adaptation. However this time Gulzar took on the mantle of a director and cast Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma in this memorable comedy of confusion. Sanjeev Kumar’s impeccable timing and effortless jest came across as he effectively delivered funny one-liners in Angoor. While Sanjeev got nominated for the best actor, it was Deven Verma who won The Best Comedian award at Filmfare back then. Watch one of their most memorable scenes from the film below.

4. Pankaj Kapur in Maqbool

Stills from Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool starring Pankaj Kapur, Irrfan and Tabu (Photos: Maqbool)

Honestly, it’s difficult to choose between Pankaj Kapur, Tabu and Irrfan’s performances in this intensely dark and tragic love story that Vishal Bhardwaj adapted from The Tragedy of Macbeth. Considered to be one of Shakespeare’s shortest and darkest works, Macbeth is a tale of ambition for power, deceit and bloodbath. Vishal Bhardwaj’s choice to retell Macbeth’s intense story as Maqbool, a modern day tale set in Mumbai’s underworld worked. Powerhouse performances by Pankaj Kapur, the pot-bellied Jahangir Khan aka Abbaji, modelled around Duncan of Scotland, Irrfan as Macbeth and Tabu as Lady Macbeth, have been lauded by fans and critics alike.

5. Saif Ali Khan in Omkara

Saif Ali Khan in a still from Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara (Photo: Omkara)

Vishal adapted Shakespeare’s Othello into a rugged tale set in the badlands of Uttar Pradesh. Saif Ali Khan shed his urbane lover boy image with his Langda Tyagi act, based on the character of Iago. This became the turning point of Saif’s career. Vishal had earlier revealed that Aamir Khan was the first one to see promise in Langda Tyagi’s character and had been interested in playing it himself. 

(This story was first published on April 23rd, 2015)