This roundtable will examine Vishal’s Bhardwaj’s Trilogy of films based on Shakespearean tragedies released between 2003 and 2014: Maqbool, Omkara, and Haider.

We want to keep the focus of this session as wide and as open as possible but will suggest three possible perspectives: examining the relationship between the Shakespearean plays and the Bhardwaj version; probing the singularity of the South Asian’s approach to the plays; contextualizing the South Asian version of the play with other South Asian sources—literary, political, and musical.

Our suggested approach for your presentations is to isolate a single passage, character, or chapter and examine the significance of the text under review and to reflect on why this text is so important for us in 2023.

Thematic areas of interest:

· gender,

· social structure

· social change

· history

· family

· post-colonial themes

Our hope is that roundtable participants integrate a personal existential element into their presentation: What led you to Vishal Bhwarwaj? Multimedia examples such as photos and films are appreciated but not necessary.