Abbas Tyrewala reveals Vishal Bhardwaj paid him decently for ‘Maqbool’ at a time when writers were poorly paid

The entourage costs often weighing down the production cost has been in discussion lately, but there was also a time when the crew, especially the writers were underpaid. Abbas Tyrewala, who co-written the script along with Vishal Bhardwaj for the latter’s directorial ‘Maqbool’, recently revealed that it was the only time he was decently paid.

‘Maqbool’ an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Macbeth is co-writer by the director and Abbas. In a recent interview with Cyrus Broacha on his YouTube channel, Abbas spoke about how writers were not well-paid at that time. He revealed that writers were underpaid during those days, and the closest he had come to being ‘decently paid’ is when Vishal Bhardwaj didn’t take any money himself and gave it all to him. Though the director co-wrote the script with Abbas, he wasn’t ready to give him ‘so little money’.


Helmed by Vishal, ‘Maqbool’ featured Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Pankaj Kapur in pivotal roles. Released in 2004, ‘Maqbool’ is considered as one of the best films of Vishal Bhardwaj. The film also featured Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Piyush Mishra, Murali Sharma, Deepak Dobriyal, Shweta Menon, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, and Dayashankar Pandey among others in pivotal roles. The film received critical appreciation and Pankaj Kapur also won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. 'Maqbool' was screened in the Marché du Film section of the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.Get the latest entertainment updates from the Times of India, along with the latest Hindi movies, upcoming Hindi movies in 2026 , and Telugu movies.”