Vishal Bhardwaj

Vishal Bhardwaj

Birth : 1960-08-04, Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, India

History

Vishal Bhardwaj 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 Makdee (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 crime drama 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.

Profile

Vishal Bhardwaj

Movies

Khufiya
Lyricist
When a mole in an intelligence unit leads to the murder of an undercover spy, a hardened agent relentlessly pursues him to avenge the death.
Khufiya
Screenplay
When a mole in an intelligence unit leads to the murder of an undercover spy, a hardened agent relentlessly pursues him to avenge the death.
Khufiya
Dialogue
When a mole in an intelligence unit leads to the murder of an undercover spy, a hardened agent relentlessly pursues him to avenge the death.
Khufiya
Producer
When a mole in an intelligence unit leads to the murder of an undercover spy, a hardened agent relentlessly pursues him to avenge the death.
Khufiya
Original Music Composer
When a mole in an intelligence unit leads to the murder of an undercover spy, a hardened agent relentlessly pursues him to avenge the death.
Khufiya
Director
When a mole in an intelligence unit leads to the murder of an undercover spy, a hardened agent relentlessly pursues him to avenge the death.
Fursat
Writer
A young man unearths an ancient relic that lets him peek into the future. In his obsession to control what lies ahead, he risks losing all that matters most in the present.
Fursat
Original Music Composer
A young man unearths an ancient relic that lets him peek into the future. In his obsession to control what lies ahead, he risks losing all that matters most in the present.
Fursat
Director
A young man unearths an ancient relic that lets him peek into the future. In his obsession to control what lies ahead, he risks losing all that matters most in the present.
Kuttey
Original Music Composer
A van carrying crores of cash. One rainy night in the outskirts of Mumbai. Unaware of each other, three stray gangs cross paths on the hunt. Unfortunately, all of them have the same plan. Bullets... Blood... Betrayal... It’s every man for himself... All the dogs after one bone. Will these dogs bite the bone, or will they lose to greed?
Kuttey
Dialogue
A van carrying crores of cash. One rainy night in the outskirts of Mumbai. Unaware of each other, three stray gangs cross paths on the hunt. Unfortunately, all of them have the same plan. Bullets... Blood... Betrayal... It’s every man for himself... All the dogs after one bone. Will these dogs bite the bone, or will they lose to greed?
Kuttey
Additional Writing
A van carrying crores of cash. One rainy night in the outskirts of Mumbai. Unaware of each other, three stray gangs cross paths on the hunt. Unfortunately, all of them have the same plan. Bullets... Blood... Betrayal... It’s every man for himself... All the dogs after one bone. Will these dogs bite the bone, or will they lose to greed?
Kuttey
Producer
A van carrying crores of cash. One rainy night in the outskirts of Mumbai. Unaware of each other, three stray gangs cross paths on the hunt. Unfortunately, all of them have the same plan. Bullets... Blood... Betrayal... It’s every man for himself... All the dogs after one bone. Will these dogs bite the bone, or will they lose to greed?
Darlings
Music Director
Badru hopes her volatile husband will reform if he stops drinking. But when his rage goes too far, she and her mom boldly, albeit clumsily, seek revenge.
1232 KMs
Music
Weeks after the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, seven migrant labourers, on the verge of starvation, decided to go to their village just like millions of others.
Sonchiriya
Original Music Composer
In the more or less lawless Chambal Valley in 1975, a gang of bandits led by Maan Singh are up to mischief. The lawless men, who call themselves Bhaagis (rebels), live by robbery and attack the villages in the area. Since they have previously committed a more than shameful crime, they are hunted mercilessly by the police. When Maan Singh learns about a treasure of gold that is about to change hands at a wedding reception, the target of her next heist is clear. They have no idea that it is an ambush of the police. Some of the gang members barely manage to escape and flee into the inhospitably barren surrounding area. While a dispute arises about how to proceed, they meet a woman from the lowest caste who is being hunted by a family clan. In their care there is a girl who was raped and seriously injured by the leader of that clan. The bandits see the opportunity to atone for their shameful crime.
Pataakha
Original Music Composer
Based on Charan Singh Pathik's short story Do Behnein, Pataakha narrates the story of two feuding sisters who realize the true nature of their relationship only after marriage separates them.
Pataakha
Screenplay
Based on Charan Singh Pathik's short story Do Behnein, Pataakha narrates the story of two feuding sisters who realize the true nature of their relationship only after marriage separates them.
Pataakha
Producer
Based on Charan Singh Pathik's short story Do Behnein, Pataakha narrates the story of two feuding sisters who realize the true nature of their relationship only after marriage separates them.
Pataakha
Director
Based on Charan Singh Pathik's short story Do Behnein, Pataakha narrates the story of two feuding sisters who realize the true nature of their relationship only after marriage separates them.
Beyond the Clouds
Dialogue
A hedonistic teenager in Mumbai is busted for dealing drugs and goes to his estranged sister for help, but complications land her in jail.
Carbon
Music
Siby is unmindful of his duties towards his family, but is in the pursuit of making some easy money via various fraudulent means. To escape one of the troubles he courted, he goes on an assignment to an old palace in a forest-ridden Cheenkannippara, which has a never-before effect on him.
Rangoon
Producer
Julia travels to the Indo-Burma border to perform for the troops during the World War II, on the insistence of Billimoria, her lover. She finds herself in love with Jemadar Malik, a soldier there.
Rangoon
Original Music Composer
Julia travels to the Indo-Burma border to perform for the troops during the World War II, on the insistence of Billimoria, her lover. She finds herself in love with Jemadar Malik, a soldier there.
Rangoon
Screenplay
Julia travels to the Indo-Burma border to perform for the troops during the World War II, on the insistence of Billimoria, her lover. She finds herself in love with Jemadar Malik, a soldier there.
Rangoon
Director
Julia travels to the Indo-Burma border to perform for the troops during the World War II, on the insistence of Billimoria, her lover. She finds herself in love with Jemadar Malik, a soldier there.
Roots
This documentary explores the rich heritage of Indian classical music and the reasons behind its modern decline in popularity
Madaari
Original Music Composer
A common man kidnaps the son of the Home Minister of India to get answers about the loss of his own son, caused by the illegal acts committed by corrupt government officials.
Jugni
Playback Singer
Jugni (Firefly) is the beat of the soul, the free-flying spirit. Jugni is Vibhavari (Vibs). Vibs is a music director, working on her first big break in the Hindi film industry. When work and home affairs, with her live-in boyfriend Sid hit a high tide, Vibs hits the road with a glint of hope; to find music. The journey takes her to a village in Punjab in the search of a Bibi Saroop, whose voice holds the promise that Vibs is searching for. But as the twist of fate would have it, Mastana, Bibi's son and a proficient singer himself, is the voice and man who winds his way into Vibs' heart. From here on, Jugni is about striking balances, making tough decisions while trying to soften the blows and dealing with the studied dramatic turns and unpredictabilities of life and finding the place which one can call home; home of the heart, where the firefly is at her brightest.
Talvar
Writer
A hardened cop deals with three conflicting perspectives involving a brutal double murder. The case is complicated as the prime suspects are the parents who supposedly killed their teenage daughter.
Talvar
Original Music Composer
A hardened cop deals with three conflicting perspectives involving a brutal double murder. The case is complicated as the prime suspects are the parents who supposedly killed their teenage daughter.
Talvar
Producer
A hardened cop deals with three conflicting perspectives involving a brutal double murder. The case is complicated as the prime suspects are the parents who supposedly killed their teenage daughter.
Drishyam
Original Music Composer
A simple, street-smart man tries to protect his family from a tough cop looking for his missing son.
Hawaizaada
Original Music Composer
In 1895, Shivkar Bapuji Talpade constructs and flies India's first unmanned plane, despite having the odds stacked against him.
Haider
Original Music Composer
A young man returns to Kashmir after his father's disappearance to confront his uncle - the man he suspects to have a role in his father's fate.
Haider
Dialogue
A young man returns to Kashmir after his father's disappearance to confront his uncle - the man he suspects to have a role in his father's fate.
Haider
Producer
A young man returns to Kashmir after his father's disappearance to confront his uncle - the man he suspects to have a role in his father's fate.
Haider
Screenplay
A young man returns to Kashmir after his father's disappearance to confront his uncle - the man he suspects to have a role in his father's fate.
Haider
Director
A young man returns to Kashmir after his father's disappearance to confront his uncle - the man he suspects to have a role in his father's fate.
Dedh Ishqiya
Dialogue
A team of con men fall for a Begum and her female confidante. Does their love fructify?
Dedh Ishqiya
Screenplay
A team of con men fall for a Begum and her female confidante. Does their love fructify?
Dedh Ishqiya
Producer
A team of con men fall for a Begum and her female confidante. Does their love fructify?
Dedh Ishqiya
Original Music Composer
A team of con men fall for a Begum and her female confidante. Does their love fructify?
Ek Thi Daayan
Original Music Composer
A popular magician seeks help from a psychiatrist to protect him from a witch that has haunted him since childhood.
Ek Thi Daayan
Dialogue
A popular magician seeks help from a psychiatrist to protect him from a witch that has haunted him since childhood.
Ek Thi Daayan
Story
A popular magician seeks help from a psychiatrist to protect him from a witch that has haunted him since childhood.
Ek Thi Daayan
Screenplay
A popular magician seeks help from a psychiatrist to protect him from a witch that has haunted him since childhood.
Ek Thi Daayan
Producer
A popular magician seeks help from a psychiatrist to protect him from a witch that has haunted him since childhood.
Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
Original Music Composer
Harry is an industrialist who loves his daughter Bijlee, and the bond they share with Harry's man friday, Matru. Bijlee's plan to wed the son of a politician, however, brings twists and turns in the lives of Matru, Bijlee and Mandola.
Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
Dialogue
Harry is an industrialist who loves his daughter Bijlee, and the bond they share with Harry's man friday, Matru. Bijlee's plan to wed the son of a politician, however, brings twists and turns in the lives of Matru, Bijlee and Mandola.
Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
Story
Harry is an industrialist who loves his daughter Bijlee, and the bond they share with Harry's man friday, Matru. Bijlee's plan to wed the son of a politician, however, brings twists and turns in the lives of Matru, Bijlee and Mandola.
Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
Screenplay
Harry is an industrialist who loves his daughter Bijlee, and the bond they share with Harry's man friday, Matru. Bijlee's plan to wed the son of a politician, however, brings twists and turns in the lives of Matru, Bijlee and Mandola.
Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
Producer
Harry is an industrialist who loves his daughter Bijlee, and the bond they share with Harry's man friday, Matru. Bijlee's plan to wed the son of a politician, however, brings twists and turns in the lives of Matru, Bijlee and Mandola.
Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
Director
Harry is an industrialist who loves his daughter Bijlee, and the bond they share with Harry's man friday, Matru. Bijlee's plan to wed the son of a politician, however, brings twists and turns in the lives of Matru, Bijlee and Mandola.
7 Khoon Maaf
Playback Singer
Susanna is hungry for love and will go to any extent to find it in its purest form. In her quest for the perfect man, she gets married a number of times as each of her husband's die mysteriously.
7 Khoon Maaf
Original Music Composer
Susanna is hungry for love and will go to any extent to find it in its purest form. In her quest for the perfect man, she gets married a number of times as each of her husband's die mysteriously.
7 Khoon Maaf
Screenplay
Susanna is hungry for love and will go to any extent to find it in its purest form. In her quest for the perfect man, she gets married a number of times as each of her husband's die mysteriously.
7 Khoon Maaf
Producer
Susanna is hungry for love and will go to any extent to find it in its purest form. In her quest for the perfect man, she gets married a number of times as each of her husband's die mysteriously.
7 Khoon Maaf
Director
Susanna is hungry for love and will go to any extent to find it in its purest form. In her quest for the perfect man, she gets married a number of times as each of her husband's die mysteriously.
Striker
Original Music Composer
Amidst strictly enforced curfew by Bombay Police during December 1992 following Hindu-Muslim riots, Suryakant - one of four siblings from Malad's Malvani slums, heads home.
Ishqiya
Original Music Composer
While on the run from goons, a man and his nephew fall for a kidnapper's seductive widow.
Ishqiya
Dialogue
While on the run from goons, a man and his nephew fall for a kidnapper's seductive widow.
Ishqiya
Producer
While on the run from goons, a man and his nephew fall for a kidnapper's seductive widow.
Ishqiya
Screenplay
While on the run from goons, a man and his nephew fall for a kidnapper's seductive widow.
Kaminey
Dialogue
Two brothers, as different as chalk and cheese, find their lives intertwined when one puts himself in danger via a `get rich quick' scheme and the other finds there is a price on his head.
Kaminey
Screenplay
Two brothers, as different as chalk and cheese, find their lives intertwined when one puts himself in danger via a `get rich quick' scheme and the other finds there is a price on his head.
Kaminey
Original Music Composer
Two brothers, as different as chalk and cheese, find their lives intertwined when one puts himself in danger via a `get rich quick' scheme and the other finds there is a price on his head.
Kaminey
Music
Two brothers, as different as chalk and cheese, find their lives intertwined when one puts himself in danger via a `get rich quick' scheme and the other finds there is a price on his head.
Kaminey
Director
Two brothers, as different as chalk and cheese, find their lives intertwined when one puts himself in danger via a `get rich quick' scheme and the other finds there is a price on his head.
U Me Aur Hum
Music
The movie starts with Ajay (Ajay Devgan) telling a boy that he should make his move on a girl he likes. The boy (who is his son) tells him that if he can go woo another older lady, he will tell the girl he likes about his feelings.
No Smoking
Original Music Composer
A heavily addicted smoker is unprepared for the true price he must pay when he asks a guru's help to kick the habit.
No Smoking
Producer
A heavily addicted smoker is unprepared for the true price he must pay when he asks a guru's help to kick the habit.
Blood Brothers
Director
This is a movie about how one small mistake can change your fate, the fate of people close to you, the fate of your unborn child.
Cinema Asia: India
Self
While Northern India’s 100-year-old film industry is best known for flamboyant dance sequences and romantic plot lines, its directors have begun to step outside established formulas and explore grittier subject matter. This program surveys the world of Bollywood filmmaking, examining the personalities as well as the commercial and thematic concerns that drive central Asia’s answer to Tinseltown. Interviews with directors Karan Johar, Ashutosh Gowariker, and Yash Chopra are included, along with commentary from choreographers, musical directors, and Cinemaya Magazine editor Aruna Vasudev. The industry’s newfound attention to poverty, homelessness, and other social concerns is examined. Several film excerpts are included.
Nishabd
Original Music Composer
Vijay enjoys the good life: happily married, wealthy and a beautiful daughter. However, one summer, when his daughter brings a friend back to stay, their familial bliss is shattered.
Omkara
Dialogue
Half-caste bandit Omkara Shukla abducts his lady love, Dolly Mishra, from her family. Thanks to his cleverness, he gets away with the kidnapping. A conspiracy, however, forms against him when he denies his right-hand man, Langda Tyagi, a promotion. Ultimately, this plot threatens not only his relationship with Dolly, but their lives and those of their associates as well.
Omkara
Original Music Composer
Half-caste bandit Omkara Shukla abducts his lady love, Dolly Mishra, from her family. Thanks to his cleverness, he gets away with the kidnapping. A conspiracy, however, forms against him when he denies his right-hand man, Langda Tyagi, a promotion. Ultimately, this plot threatens not only his relationship with Dolly, but their lives and those of their associates as well.
Omkara
Screenplay
Half-caste bandit Omkara Shukla abducts his lady love, Dolly Mishra, from her family. Thanks to his cleverness, he gets away with the kidnapping. A conspiracy, however, forms against him when he denies his right-hand man, Langda Tyagi, a promotion. Ultimately, this plot threatens not only his relationship with Dolly, but their lives and those of their associates as well.
Omkara
Director
Half-caste bandit Omkara Shukla abducts his lady love, Dolly Mishra, from her family. Thanks to his cleverness, he gets away with the kidnapping. A conspiracy, however, forms against him when he denies his right-hand man, Langda Tyagi, a promotion. Ultimately, this plot threatens not only his relationship with Dolly, but their lives and those of their associates as well.
The Blue Umbrella
Original Music Composer
Young Biniya lives a poor lifestyle in a small village in the mountainous and snowy region of Himachal Pradesh in India along with her widowed mom and wrestler brother. She entertains various tourists, and while doing so with some tourists from Japan, trades in her bear-tooth amulet with a blue umbrella...
The Blue Umbrella
Dialogue
Young Biniya lives a poor lifestyle in a small village in the mountainous and snowy region of Himachal Pradesh in India along with her widowed mom and wrestler brother. She entertains various tourists, and while doing so with some tourists from Japan, trades in her bear-tooth amulet with a blue umbrella...
The Blue Umbrella
Screenplay
Young Biniya lives a poor lifestyle in a small village in the mountainous and snowy region of Himachal Pradesh in India along with her widowed mom and wrestler brother. She entertains various tourists, and while doing so with some tourists from Japan, trades in her bear-tooth amulet with a blue umbrella...
The Blue Umbrella
Co-Producer
Young Biniya lives a poor lifestyle in a small village in the mountainous and snowy region of Himachal Pradesh in India along with her widowed mom and wrestler brother. She entertains various tourists, and while doing so with some tourists from Japan, trades in her bear-tooth amulet with a blue umbrella...
The Blue Umbrella
Director
Young Biniya lives a poor lifestyle in a small village in the mountainous and snowy region of Himachal Pradesh in India along with her widowed mom and wrestler brother. She entertains various tourists, and while doing so with some tourists from Japan, trades in her bear-tooth amulet with a blue umbrella...
Ramji Londonwaley
Original Music Composer
Ramji Tiwari and his sister, Parvati, had their parents pass away at an early age. Ramji is a skilled cook and is familiar with all aspects of vegetarian cooking. He arranges Parvati's marriage with the Mishra family, promises to pay a large sum of dowry, which he manages to get by promising to get married to a wealthy man's daughter.
Paanch
Original Music Composer
Kidnapping plot gone wrong when four friends plans to kidnap their own friend who accidentally got killed.
Chupke Se
Music
Megha Timghure, a plain-looking middle-class girl, lives with her mom, Laxmi, and dad, who is employed as an an Income Tax Officer. Her desire is to become a model and a beauty queen. At a party, she is mis-introduced as Sarika Verma, and meets with two eligible young men, Rizwan, and Varun Arya. She expresses desire in becoming a model and is referred to Almera Kochar, who has a reputation of bringing out the best in every model, and making them beauty queens. Almera meets with Sarika, and accepts her as a student, and makes her sign a contract. What Sarika does not know that she has now become a pawn in a devious plot concocted to protect millions gained by black marketing.
Maqbool
Dialogue
The Scottish tragedy 'Macbeth' set in the contemporary underworld of India's commercial capital; two corrupt, fortune telling policemen take the roles of the weird sisters, and "Duncan" is Abbaji, the head of a crime family.
Maqbool
Co-Producer
The Scottish tragedy 'Macbeth' set in the contemporary underworld of India's commercial capital; two corrupt, fortune telling policemen take the roles of the weird sisters, and "Duncan" is Abbaji, the head of a crime family.
Maqbool
Screenplay
The Scottish tragedy 'Macbeth' set in the contemporary underworld of India's commercial capital; two corrupt, fortune telling policemen take the roles of the weird sisters, and "Duncan" is Abbaji, the head of a crime family.
Maqbool
Original Music Composer
The Scottish tragedy 'Macbeth' set in the contemporary underworld of India's commercial capital; two corrupt, fortune telling policemen take the roles of the weird sisters, and "Duncan" is Abbaji, the head of a crime family.
Maqbool
Director
The Scottish tragedy 'Macbeth' set in the contemporary underworld of India's commercial capital; two corrupt, fortune telling policemen take the roles of the weird sisters, and "Duncan" is Abbaji, the head of a crime family.
Makdee
Original Music Composer
One half of an identical set of twins, the mischievous Chunni is known in her hometown for the pranks she plays, notably on her father, the schoolteacher and the village butcher. To get out of trouble, Chunni often impersonates her sister Munni and makes others look a fool.
Makdee
Producer
One half of an identical set of twins, the mischievous Chunni is known in her hometown for the pranks she plays, notably on her father, the schoolteacher and the village butcher. To get out of trouble, Chunni often impersonates her sister Munni and makes others look a fool.
Makdee
Story
One half of an identical set of twins, the mischievous Chunni is known in her hometown for the pranks she plays, notably on her father, the schoolteacher and the village butcher. To get out of trouble, Chunni often impersonates her sister Munni and makes others look a fool.
Makdee
Screenplay
One half of an identical set of twins, the mischievous Chunni is known in her hometown for the pranks she plays, notably on her father, the schoolteacher and the village butcher. To get out of trouble, Chunni often impersonates her sister Munni and makes others look a fool.
Makdee
Director
One half of an identical set of twins, the mischievous Chunni is known in her hometown for the pranks she plays, notably on her father, the schoolteacher and the village butcher. To get out of trouble, Chunni often impersonates her sister Munni and makes others look a fool.
Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega
Original Music Composer
Desperate for money, three men plot to kidnap a woman and hold her for ransom.
Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!!
Original Music Composer
Takes a slightly different look at various layers of life in a city like Mumbai through the eyes of Ram Saran (Manoj Bajpai), a garage mechanic who hails from a small town. The film is also about his interaction with the different layers of society that is prevalent in the city.
Satya
Original Music Composer
A young man named Satya comes to Mumbai from South India in search of a job. Jailed for something he did not do, the once-honest young man meets an underworld boss, Bhiku Mhatre in jail and joins his gang.
Daya
Original Music Composer
The film is set in the Middle-East in the pre-Islam period. It is about the adventures and exploits of a lively and intelligent slave girl named Daya (Manju Warrier). Mansoor (Krishna), the son of an aging and wealthy nobleman, is used to an extravagant way of life.
Chachi 420
Original Music Composer
In order to see his little girl more often, a divorcee disguises himself as an old lady and gets a job as his own daughter's caretaker.
Maachis
Original Music Composer
A realistic, hard-hitting portrayal of terrorism and youth in the Punjab after the 1984 riots.
Sanshodhan
Music
The amendment in the law, making it compulsory for one-third of the Gram Panchayat representatives to be women, is not received favourably by the ruling Sarpanch of the village, Thakur Ratan Singh. Although he puts up a front of being in favour of the idea, along with his son Inder Singh, he conspires to field wives of friends, whom he hopes he can control through their husbands and through the caste network. Vidya, wife of Bhanwar Singh who is indebted to the Thakur, is one of the newly elected women Panchayat members. Vidya, who is educated, notices that the political empowerment of women is only on paper and in reality decision-making still continues to be with the manipulative old guard. Vidya decides it is time for a change.
Abhay
Original Music Composer
A happy family moved into a village and choose a Haveli as their abode. But they are not alone, a ghost is also there.
Talvar 2
Director
Talvar 2 is a sequel to Talvar, which is said to be directed by Vishal Bhardwaj.