Vishal Bharadwaj

Vishal Bharadwaj is an Indian filmmaker, writer, screenwriter, and music composer. He is considered to be one of India's leading film makers. His music and compositions have been regarded as path breaking in Indian cinema.

Personal Life And Background

Bharadwaj is the son of Ram Bharadwaj, a popular poet and lyricist. He was born and raised in the Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh.

As a young man, Vishal moved to Delhi. He pursued his graduation in the famous Hindu College of Delhi University where he nurtured his talents and also met the love of his life. He started playing harmonium for little known ghazal singers at the various food festivals in Delhi’s Pragati Maidan. He was later introduced to R.V. Pandit, who offered him a job in his CBS music company in Delhi.

Bhardwaj is married to singer, Rekha Bharadwaj.

Film Career

A friend recommended him to the filmmaker Gulzar, with whom he successfully collaborated on TV serials such as Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland and Guchche. Vishal composed the music for Maachis, a film directed by Gulzar.

The musical score for Maachis received critical and commercial acclaim and earned Vishal the Filmfare R D Burman Award in 1996. Since then, Vishal has scored music for several Hindi films such as Satya, Chachi 420 ,Omkara and a host of other popular projects.

Vishal Bharadwaj turned director with the children's film Makdee which was criticaly acclaimed by the critics. He then made the first of his Shakespearean adaptation, Maqbool, based on Macbeth. The film is regarded as one of the finest films ever made in Indian history.

This was followed up by yet another children's film, The Blue Umbrella based on Ruskin Bond's story of the same name. This film also met with exceptional critical acclaim throughout. Omkara marked the second of Vishal's Shakespearan endeavours, this time an adaptation of Othello. Omkara was a great success story abroad and affirmed Vishal's maverick status further.

Vishal is known for his collaborations with Gulzar, who opted for Vishal's music in all his directorial ventures since Maachis. In turn, he has provided lyrics to all of Vishal's films. Vishal has done some second unit work for the legendary Francis Ford Coppola on the latter's film Youth Without Youth.

Vishal's next directorial release was Blood Brothers, an 11-minute short film, which is part of Mira Nair's series of HIV-AIDS awareness films. Guillermo Navarro is the cinematographer of this film.