Performances of A Lifetime: Shahid Kapur as Haider in Haider

Performances of A Lifetime

Last week's release of the trailer for the much anticipated Haider (an Indian adaptation of Hamlet) got me thinking of a new top ten feature. The idea was to list ten current Bollywood actors who had already given their performances of a life time and would never in million years beat them, no matter how great as actors they are.

As soon as the post got underway, more and more names popped up in my head and confused me to the point where I was in a straight jacket bashing my head on a wall (reason why I've been so inactive on the blog sphere).

So let's get back too Haider and more importantly Shahid Kapur. 

The reason I wanted to make the post is Shahid Kapur, his performance just in the trailer (as seen above) speaks of the depth and level to which the actor has sunk into character. 

The son of well known thespian Pankaj Kapur. Shahid naturally has acting in his genes, although some of his performances may make you think otherwise. He's of course no where near the level his old man is but from time to time Shahid has shown that there is oodles of talent beneath his so called chocolate boy looks. 

Director Vishal Bhardwaj extracted Shahid's finest performance from him to date with the twin magic of Kaminey. Now Bhardwaj returns with Shahid in tow for Haider. 

For Shahid, Haider could be his masterpiece. Just two minutes of footage and you can tell that the Kapur boy has captured a sense of character that could give him the performance he will be known by for years to come. 

So enjoy the trailer and don't forget to catch this epic performance of a lifetime.

To be or not to be,

Aneesh Raikundalia