Released in 2004, Maqbool is Vishal Bhardjwaj's first film in his Shakespeare trilogy. Adapted from Macbeth, the crime drama starred Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapur, and Piyush Mishra among others in the leading roles. But the late actor Irrfan Khan wasn't Vishal Bhardwaj's first choice to play the titular character in Maqbool.
The multiple National Award-winning filmmaker had almost signed the south superstar Kamal Haasan for the film. Their collaboration eventually didn't happen as Kamal wanted the film to be a bilingual, shot both in Hindi and Tamil with different set of actors. Bhardwaj didn't wish to compromise on his vision for the film and refused to work with the Indian actor.
Talking about the same in his interaction on the YouTube channel Unfiltered by Samdish last year, Vishal said, "Kamal Haasan is a genius man to work with. Our talks had reached quite far in terms of him playing Maqbool. 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."
There had also been rumours that Naseeruddin Shah refused to work in Maqbool if Kamal Haasan was a part of it. Reacting to such rumours, the director stated, "Maybe he (Naseeruddin Shah) didn’t say it in the same words. Perhaps he would have said, ‘Tum soch lo kya karna hai’. He did say this, because he 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."
After Maqbool, Vishal Bhardwaj adapted Shakespeare's Othello and Hamlet as Omkara and Haider, respectively, in 2006 and 2014.
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