3 minutes of readingBombayUpdated: Jan 23, 2026 02:21 pm IST
Vishal Bhardwaj, celebrated for his Shakespeare trilogy, has consistently created films that have grown in importance over time to become cultural touchstones of contemporary Indian cinema. Maqbool is known for his forceful existential narrative, Omkara for his inventive storytelling and Haider for his political audacity. However, at the trailer launch of his upcoming film O’Romeo, Vishal candidly admitted that In today’s film landscape, I couldn’t make a film like Haider.
When asked how the last decade has dramatically changed the Hindi film industry, especially through the lens of corporate involvement, Bhardwaj replied, “I think it was fine when corporations were there. But now, since OTT platforms have come out, even that balance has started to get lost. Not that I have ever had a problem with corporations; in fact, I did Haider in 2014, but I don’t think I can even do an ‘H’ of a film like Haider today. I never have. problems with companies.”
Shahid Kapoor in a still from Haider
O’Romeo is a completely new script
Speaking about his latest film O’Romeo, Vishal Bhardwaj revealed that this is a project he had been planning for almost a decade but has only now become a reality as his vision for the film has evolved over the years. “My vision kept changing. As I kept going through drafts of the script, I felt like they were stale. I felt like this wasn’t for me. But there was always a seed of the love story that drew me back in. So this isn’t the same script I originally intended to do, it’s a completely new script.”
Originally, the film would be titled Rani, starring Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan almost a decade ago.. However, production delays and, tragically, Irrfan’s cancer diagnosis and subsequent death halted the project. The film has now been completely reimagined with a new cast including Shahid Kapoor, Triptii Dimri, Nana Patekar, Avinash Tiwary and Farida Jalal. O’Romeo is scheduled for release on February 13, 2026.