text: vishal bhardwaj vishal bhardwaj ( born 4 august 1965 ) is an indian film director , screenwriter , producer , music composer and playback singer . he is known for his work in hindi cinema , and is the recipient of a filmfare award and seven national film awards in four categories . bhardwaj made his debut as a music composer with the children 's film abhay ( the fearless ) ( 1995 ) , and received wider recognition with his compositions in gulzar 's maachis ( 1996 ) . he received the filmfare rd 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 garnered the national film award for best music direction . bhardwaj made his directorial debut with the children 's film ( 2002 ) , for which he also composed the music . he garnered critical acclaim and several 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 caper thriller 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 semi - biographical 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 . personal life bhardwaj was born on 4 august 1965 , in chandpur village , near bijnor , uttar pradesh . his mother satya bhardwaj , was a homemaker , and father ram bhardwaj , was a sugarcane inspector . his father also wrote poetry and lyrics for hindi films . he and his family lived in until he completed class fifth in school . they later moved to meerut , where he used to play cricket for the states under - 19 team . he could not pursue cricket because the day before a tournament , his thumb broke during a practise session . 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 it , his father discussed it with music director usha khanna . she used it for the film kasam ( 1985 ) . bhardwaj later moved to delhi to pursue his graduation at the hindu college , university of delhi . he met his wife and playback singer rekha bhardwaj during the college annual function ; where she was a year senior to him . he is also an avid tennis player . career bhardwaj started playing harmonium for friends who were ghazal singers . after few years , he took up a job with a music company called cbs in delhi . he later came to mumbai to become a music composer , he took to directing films only to create the opportunity to compose music . his interest in film direction kindled after watching quentin tarantino 's pulp fiction ( 1994 ) , and krzysztof kieślowski 's television series the decalogue , during a film festival in thiruvananthapuram . music composer in 1995 , bhardwaj made his debut as a music composer for the children 's film abhay ( the fearless ) . he then went on to compose music for ( 1995 ) , and ( 1996 ) . in 1996 , he served as the music director for gulzar 's maachis ( 1996 ) , for which he received the filmfare rd burman award for new music talent . 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 the politically restive college youth at that time . he later collaborated with him on tv serials such as alice in wonderland and gubbare . his further projects included ( 1997 ) , 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 . 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 music albums such as : sunset point ( 2000 ) , ( 2002 ) and barse barse ( 2011 ) . he frequently collaborates with gulzar . writer and director bhardwaj made his directorial debut with the horror film ( 2002 ) , starring shabana azmi , 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 to adapt the play . bhardwaj then came up with its film adaptation maqbool ( 2003 ) , 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 in her review 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 , film critic raja sen mentioned it in " the top 75 hindi films of the decade " list . in 2006 , bhardwaj again adapted shakespeare 's tragedy othello , as omkara . set against the backdrop of the political system in uttar pradesh , the film had ajay devgan as 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 for the film . omkara met with critical acclaim , but was a box - office disappointment . it however opened to positive box - office response in north america and the united kingdom . bhardwaj 's next project was the children 's film , the blue umbrella ( 2005 ) , 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 ' , 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 also served as a writer for sanjay gupta 's anthology film , dus . in 2009 , bhardwaj came up with the caper thriller kaminey , starring shahid kapoor and priyanka chopra . the film follows the rivalry between identical twins , one with a lisp and one with a stammer . the story was bought by him from a kenyan writer . it opened to generally positive reviews . 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 $ 10 million ) worldwide . 7 khoon maaf ( 2011 ) , a film based on the ruskin bond 's short story , susanna 's seven husbands , was bhardwaj 's next directorial venture . the story revolves around susanna anna - marie johannes ( played by priyanka chopra ) who murders her seven husbands in an unending quest for love . the film was written collaboratively by bhardwaj , bond and american writer matthew robbins . it released on 18 february 2011 and met with mixed to positive reviews . zee news in its four out of five star review mentioned : " vishal bhardwaj does it again . the maverick filmmaker has once again woven magic with his latest blockbuster saat khoon maaf " . in 2013 , bhardwaj directed matru ki bijlee ka mandola , a political satire set in the rustic surroundings of a village in haryana . it starred anushka sharma and imran khan in the lead roles , with pankaj kapur and shabana azmi in supporting ones . bhardwaj also choreographed a song " oye boy charlie " in the film . the film received mixed reviews from critics , and underperformed at the box office . in 2014 , bhardwaj made his stage debut with the opera ' a flowering tree ’ . it was based on a classic folk tale by kannada writer and scholar a. k. ramanujan . he completed his william shakespeare 's trilogy with haider ( 2014 ) , based on the tragedy hamlet . set during the kashmir conflict of 1995 , the film starred shahid kapoor in the titular role , for which he along with bhardwaj charged no money . haider garnered critical acclaim , though was controversial among hindu nationalists for its portrayal of the conflict in kashmir . cnn - ibn 's rajeev masand called it " .. an elegant , thrilling film that casts a brave , unflinching eye on the kashmir struggle . " at the 62nd national film awards , bhardwaj won the best music director and best screenplay ( dialogues ) award . it also received nominations for best film and best director at the 60th filmfare awards . as of november 2015 , bhardwaj is filming rangoon , a romantic drama set during world war ii , starring kangana ranaut , saif ali khan and shahid kapoor . producer bhardwaj has been producing his own films under his banner vb pictures . in 2010 , he produced the black comedy ishqiya . starring vidya balan , naseeruddin shah and arshad warsi ; the film was directed by debutant abhishek chaubey . chaubey had earlier assisted and co - wrote several of bhardwaj 's film . the film was an average grosser at the box - office . he teamed up with ekta kapoor 's balaji motion pictures to produce the supernatural thriller ek thi daayan ( 2013 ) . dealing with the themes of witchcraft , the film was based on ' mobius trips ' , a short story written by konkona sen sharma 's father . it received mixed reviews from critics , but proved to be a profitable venture at the box - office . his next production venture was dedh ishqiya , a sequel to the 2010 film ishqiya . starring madhuri dixit , naseeruddin shah , huma qureshi and arshad warsi ; the film was a critical and commercial success with earning ₹ 270 million ( us $ 4 . 1 million ) in india and abroad . in 2015 , bhardwaj wrote and co - produced meghna gulzar 's crime drama talvar . the film was based on the 2008 noida double murder case , and starred irrfan khan , konkana sen sharma and neeraj . talvar premiered at the 2015 toronto international film festival , and was released in india on 2 october 2015 , to positive reviews from critics . playback singer apart from composing music , bhardwaj has also lend his voice for various songs for films like omkara , no smoking ( 2007 ) , u me aur hum ( 2008 ) , kaminey , striker ( 2010 ) , 7 khoon maaf , matru ki bijlee ka mandola and haider . craft and style bhardwaj 's film are often twisted with portrayal of character 's with grey shades . he also frequently adapts short stories and plays in films . the blue umbrella and 7 khoon maaf were adapted from ruskin bond 's short stories . maqbool , omkara and haider were adaptation 's of william shakespear 's tragedies . some of bhardwaj 's films often takes clue from real - life incidents . the kashmir conflict was shown in haider , the mumbai underworld in maqbool , and talvar being based on the 2008 noida double murder case . bhardwaj frequently collaborates with writer - lyricist gulzar and calls him his " father " and " mentor " . most of the treatment of his film 's are like documentaries . haider was co - written by journalist - writer peer , who was an eye witness of the kashmir conflict . he evolves his script till the filming . bhardwaj is influenced by the film - making styles of satyajit ray , ritwik ghatak , akira kurosawa and krzysztof kieślowski . 's the decalogue ( 1989 ) inspired him to become a film - maker . veteran actor naseeruddin shah says : " i think he makes interesting films , even though i haven ’ t liked all his works . but even his poor work is more interesting than a lot of people ’ s so - called good work . ” awards and nominations in 1996 , bhardwaj won the filmfare rd burman award for new music talent for maachis . he later won the national film award for best music direction for godmother . he then went on to win two consecutive awards : the blue umbrella , which won the national film award for best children 's film , and national film award – special jury award for omkara . bhardwaj got two filmfare nominations for kaminey in best director and best music director categories . he won his second national film award for best music direction , for his production venture ishqiya . at the 62nd national film awards , bhardwaj won the best music director and best screenplay ( dialogues ) award for haider . in 2016 , bhardwaj was awarded with yash bharti award by the government of uttar pradesh for his contribution in the field of cinema . he also received the national film award for best screenplay for writing talvar . bhardwaj 's shakespearean trilogy — maqbool , omkara and haider — was screened as part of an event marking william shakespear 's 400th death anniversary co - hosted by the british film institute in london . filmography