Adapted from Macbeth, the 2004 crime drama film Maqbool was the first in Vishal Bhardwaj's trilogy of Shakespeare adaptations. Though the movie didn't perform wonders at the box office, it is considered as one of the most critically acclaimed films in Indian cinema with the exceptional cast of Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapur, and Piyush Mishra among others.
In a recent interview, the filmmaker and music composer revealed that he had almost finalised Kamal Haasan to play the titular role in Maqbool before the late Irrfan Khan came on board. Vishal had previously worked as a music director for Chachi 420, the comedy directed and produced by Haasan.
Talkin to Samdish, the Kaminey director said, "He (Kamal Haasan) is extremely passionate and intelligent. Iss had tak ki aapko pareshaan kar dete hai, aapko mann karta hai ki bhaag jao inke paas se because if you say something on any topic, he will know more than you. But he is a genius man to work with. Our talks had reached quite far in terms of him playing Maqbool."
Bhardwaj went on to share why did the collaboration didn't happen as he added, "We interacted, but our conflict was the way we were seeing the film. He wanted the film to be bi-lingual, in Hindi and Tamil, which would have other star cast, it would be filmed simultaneously. I thought I was falling in the trap of business here, and back then I used to be very stubborn. I wanted my film to be made my way. Whenever (Kamal) meets me these days, he jokes, ‘When am I getting my call sheet?'".
When the film was being cast, there were also rumours that Naseeruddin Shah refused to do Maqbool if Kamal Haasan starred in it. Speaking about such rumours, Vishal said, "Maybe he didn’t say it in the same words. Perhaps he would have said, ‘Tum soch lo kya karna hai’. He did say this, because Naseer bhai has also worked with Kamal. It is not that they don’t get along. Kamal is a very strong personality, and he is very clear about what he wants. There is no discussion, the director has to be right."
After Maqbool, Vishal Bhardwaj adapted Shakespeare's Othello and Hamlet as Omkara and Haider in 2006 and 2014 respectively.
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