Vishal Bhardwaj (born 4 August 1965) is an Indian filmmaker, music composer, and playback singer. He is known for his work in Hindi cinema, and is the recipient of nine National Film Awards and a Filmfare Award.
Bhardwaj made his debut as a music composer with the children's film Abhay (1995), and received wider recognition with his compositions in Gulzar's Maachis (1996). He received the Filmfare R. D. Burman Award for New Music Talent for the latter. He went on to compose music for the films Satya (1998) and Godmother (1999). For the latter, he won the National Film Award for Best Music Direction.
Bhardwaj made his directorial debut with the children's film Makdee (2002), for which he also composed the music. He garnered widespread critical acclaim and numerous accolades for writing and directing the Indian adaptations of three tragedies by William Shakespeare: Maqbool (2003) from Macbeth, Omkara (2006) from Othello, and Haider (2014) from Hamlet. He has also directed the action film Kaminey, the black comedy 7 Khoon Maaf (2011), and the satire Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (2013).
In addition, Bhardwaj produces films under his banner VB Pictures. He has co-written and produced the films Ishqiya (2010), its sequel Dedh Ishqiya (2014), and the drama thriller Talvar (2015), among others. He has composed the musical score for each of his directorial and production ventures, and frequently collaborates with the lyricist Gulzar. He is married to playback singer Rekha Bhardwaj.
Bhardwaj is the board member of Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image.
Bhardwaj was born on 4 August 1965, in Chandpur city in District Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh. His mother Satya Bhardwaj was a homemaker, and his father Ram Bhardwaj was a sugarcane inspector. His father also wrote poetry and lyrics for Hindi films. He and his family lived in Najibabad until he completed class five in school. They later moved to Meerut, where he played cricket for the state's under-19 team. His thumb broke during a practice session one day before an inter-university tournament, leaving him unable to play for the year. The same year, his father died, leaving him unable to continue his cricket career.
He had an elder brother who struggled for years in Mumbai to become a film producer, and later died of a heart attack. He composed a song at the age of seventeen. After hearing the song, his father discussed it with music director Usha Khanna. She used it in the film Yaar Kasam (1985). Bhardwaj later moved to Delhi to pursue his graduation at the Hindu College, University of Delhi. He met his wife, playback singer Rekha Bhardwaj, during a college annual function; she was a year senior to him. He is also an avid tennis player.
Bhardwaj started playing harmonium for friends who were ghazal singers. After a few years, he took up a job with a music company called CBS in Delhi. He later went to Mumbai to become a music composer, and he only took to directing films to create the opportunity to compose music.
His interest in film direction was kindled after watching Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) and Krzysztof Kieślowski's television series Dekalog during a film festival in Thiruvananthapuram.
In 1995, Bhardwaj made his debut as a music composer for the children's film Abhay. He went on to compose music for Fauji (1995) and Sanshodhan (1996). In 1996, he served as the music director for Gulzar's Maachis, for which he received the Filmfare R. D. Burman Award for New Music Talent and his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. The film depicted the transformation of boys into terrorists during the Punjab insurgency in Punjab in the 1980s. The soundtrack composed by Bhardwaj became an anthem for politically restive college youth at that time. He later collaborated with Gulzar on TV serials such as Alice in Wonderland and Gubbare. His further projects included Betaabi (1997), Tunnu Ki Tina (1997), Satya (1998) and Hu Tu Tu (1999). At the 46th National Film Awards, Bhardwaj received the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for his critically acclaimed score in Godmother (1999).
In 2010, he composed the music for his production venture Ishqiya, which garnered him his second National Film Award for Best Music Direction and his second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. He also composed music for Jungle Book Shōnen Mowgli, the Hindi-dubbed version of the anime adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's original collection of stories, The Jungle Book. Apart from feature films, Bhardwaj has provided music for albums such as Sunset Point (2000), Ishqa Ishqa (2002) and Barse Barse (2011). He frequently collaborates with Gulzar.
Bhardwaj made his directorial debut with the children's film Makdee (2002), starring Shabana Azmi, Makarand Deshpande and Shweta Prasad. The film tells the story of twin young girls and an alleged witch in a mansion. It was screened in the Critics' Week (Spotlight on India) section at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.
Bhardwaj had read a short version of William Shakespeare's Macbeth and wanted to turn it into a gangster film. He had seen Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood (1957), which was also inspired by Macbeth. It inspired Bhardwaj to make it into a feature film. He then started working with Abbas Tyrewala to adapt the play. This developed into the 2003 film adaptation Maqbool starring Pankaj Kapur, Irrfan Khan and Tabu; it was set against the backdrop of Mumbai underworld. The film was screened at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. Sita Menon of Rediff.com called it "..a visual gallery that is an intelligent blend of dark, tragic overtones and comic, satirical undertones." CNN-IBN listed Maqbool as "one of the 100 greatest Indian films of all time" in a 2013 list. In 2010, critic Raja Sen included it in "The Top 75 Hindi Films of the Decade" list.
In 2006, Bhardwaj again adapted Shakespeare, reimagining his tragedy Othello as Omkara. Set against the backdrop of the political system in Uttar Pradesh, the film starred an ensemble cast of Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Vivek Oberoi and Bipasha Basu in lead roles, with Devgn playing the titular character. It premiered at the 6th Marrakech International Film Festival, and was screened at the Cairo International Film Festival. At the 54th National Film Awards, Bhardwaj received the Special Jury Award (feature film) for the film, in addition to earning his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director. Omkara met with widespread critical acclaim, but was a box office disappointment. However, it opened to a positive box office response in North America and the United Kingdom.
Bhardwaj's next project was the 2005 children's film The Blue Umbrella, based on Ruskin Bond's novel of the same name. It won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film in 2005. His followup was Blood Brothers (2007), a short film on HIV/AIDS with a run time of 13 minutes. It tells the story of a young man who, after finding out that he is HIV positive, allows his life to fall apart. It was a part of the 'AIDS JaaGo', a series of four short films directed by Mira Nair, Santosh Sivan, and Farhan Akhtar in a joint initiative by Nair and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The series premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. The same year, he served as a writer for Sanjay Gupta's anthology film, Dus Kahaniyaan.
In 2009, Bhardwaj directed the action film Kaminey starring Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. The film follows the rivalry between identical twins, one with a lisp and one with a stammer. He bought the story for this film from a Kenyan writer. It opened to positive reviews from critics upon release. Anupama Chopra gave a rating of 4 out of 5 and wrote "Kaminey is the best Bollywood film I've seen this year. It's an audacious, original rollercoaster ride. Written and directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, Kaminey requires patience and attention but the pay off is more than worth it." Kaminey was also a financial success, earning over ₹700 million (US$7.3 million) worldwide. The film earned Bhardwaj his second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director and Best Music Director.