These are the lines spoken by the astrologer Inspector Pandit (Om Puri) on the future of Maqbool (Irrfan Khan) and Mumbai.
The underrated cinematic gem Maqbool(2004) is the 2nd feature of music director turned filmmaker Vishal Bharadwaj after his impressive debut with Makdee. An adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth set in underworld of Mumbai. Most often literary adaptions are rarely seen in Indian films atleast not in the popular languages and when they do turn up, they end up losing their wits end. (Clearly reading books is not the favourite past time of India). But Vishal makes this adaptation so bloody entertaining that if I were given a choice to choose Macbeth and Maqbool I would always go for the latter.
The film starts with an amazing interplay of words between Pandit, Purohit(Naseeruddin Shah) and Chikne (Abbas Tyrewala) over current state and future of Mumbai underworld. The entire movie is littered with impeccable Urdu dialogues that are easily understandable. All the actors must have had the time of their lives mouthing off those lines. It felt like honey and I savoured not enjoyed every minute of it.
Don Abbaji(Pankaj Kapur in a terrific comeback role) has the hold over his "mehbooba - Mumbai" but not quite so over almost half his age mistress Nimmi(Tabu) who favours the shy, reluctant but equally savage Maqbool, raised by the father like Abbaji. Nimmi says to Maqbool "ya jehangir... ya hum". Maqbool is torn between his loyalty to Abbaji and love for Nimmi.
Pandit and Purohit (those words mean preists in Hindi), parallel to the witches in the play (I wouldn't put it beyond a guy like Vishal to name them as above - witches pretending to be honest cops in this case) literally clean up the messy underworld by pitting the loyalties of the characters against each other especially Maqbool by feeding them with ego hurting truths and lies.
Amidst this is a subplot involving Abbaji's young daughter Sammera and Guddu(son of Abbaji's oldest and loyal henchmen Kaka). Pandit says to Kaka about Guddu in front of Maqbool, "tere bete ki patri dekhi, bahut dum hain salle mein... maqbool ka jawab hain tera beta" just after massaging Maqbool's ego the scene before with the "king of kings" lines.
Maqbool is harrowingly drawn into the quest for love, lust and power by Nimmi and the preist cops. He guns down Abbaji in his bed with Nimmi, on the eve of Sameera's wedding with Guddu. As Kaka's turns away from him, Nimmi driven Maqbool him offers friendship on the face and guns him down behind his back. Putting the blame on Guddu, Maqbool and Nimmi further isolate themselves from Abbaji's family and his friends.
At this point, Maqbool's guilt takes over him and he starts losing his mind. The preist cops start turning the screws on Maqbool who under intense pressure crumbles in the underworld. The snake like Nimmi, pregnant (Maqbool goes crazy when she reveals about her condition thinking if Abbaji was the father) also loses her mind with guilt. Guddu takes down Maqbool's gang in a Godfatheresque end when he is busy comforting Nimmi. The final scene of the movie shows Maqbool's child cuddled by Guddu and Sameera in the hospital. At this point Maqbool realises he no longer needs to worry about his child. He just walks out and is shot dead by Boti, one of Guddu's men.
It is the writing which makes it such a thrill to see this movie. Pankaj Kapur plays the aging don with menace and charm. Irrfan Khan's 3 dimensional potrayal of Maqbool and his journey is stunning. Frankly when was the last time we saw a female character with grey shades. Tabu, looking pretty as ever, sinks into the role and shows girls need not undress to tease, tempt, seduce and torment a guy. All of the supporting players seem to be carefully casted as their performances compliment the overall movie. But my most favorite role would be Pandit and Purohit (Puri and Shah) who are so cunning and wicked that if there was a way to double cross people then I would suggest just watch them. I read somewhere that Vishal had given script to Shah and asked him to choose whichever role he wanted to play owing to Shah's stature. Shah being the great actor that is, not a star, choose to play the cop. He reasoned with Vishal that he had played crime don before but he didn't yet play a cop of this nature. I am glad Shah and Puri did these roles. Their line "aag ke liye paani ka darr bane rahna chahiye... ", ringing at various places, aptly shows how they function. They are corrupt but they clean the mess their own way.
I honestly believe Vishal Bharadwaj is the best director in India today. He does movie purely for its craft not for the money. The joy in watching his movies is like watching Sachin or a Federer play. They are transcendental. Vishal might never again make a movie as good as Maqbool, which I feel is his best movie to date, but he will never ever make a bad movie. Different perhaps, but bad? not a chance. Its like even when Vishal makes a bad movie it is good. Some might say Omkara, Kaminey were better. I would suggest they see Maqbool first. Your senses will be overwhelmed. Mine were.
Truly one of Indian cinema's best.
Till next time - movies, movies and movies ...
The underrated cinematic gem Maqbool(2004) is the 2nd feature of music director turned filmmaker Vishal Bharadwaj after his impressive debut with Makdee. An adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth set in underworld of Mumbai. Most often literary adaptions are rarely seen in Indian films atleast not in the popular languages and when they do turn up, they end up losing their wits end. (Clearly reading books is not the favourite past time of India). But Vishal makes this adaptation so bloody entertaining that if I were given a choice to choose Macbeth and Maqbool I would always go for the latter. The film starts with an amazing interplay of words between Pandit, Purohit(Naseeruddin Shah) and Chikne (Abbas Tyrewala) over current state and future of Mumbai underworld. The entire movie is littered with impeccable Urdu dialogues that are easily understandable. All the actors must have had the time of their lives mouthing off those lines. It felt like honey and I savoured not enjoyed every minute of it.
Don Abbaji(Pankaj Kapur in a terrific comeback role) has the hold over his "mehbooba - Mumbai" but not quite so over almost half his age mistress Nimmi(Tabu) who favours the shy, reluctant but equally savage Maqbool, raised by the father like Abbaji. Nimmi says to Maqbool "ya jehangir... ya hum". Maqbool is torn between his loyalty to Abbaji and love for Nimmi.
Pandit and Purohit (those words mean preists in Hindi), parallel to the witches in the play (I wouldn't put it beyond a guy like Vishal to name them as above - witches pretending to be honest cops in this case) literally clean up the messy underworld by pitting the loyalties of the characters against each other especially Maqbool by feeding them with ego hurting truths and lies.
Amidst this is a subplot involving Abbaji's young daughter Sammera and Guddu(son of Abbaji's oldest and loyal henchmen Kaka). Pandit says to Kaka about Guddu in front of Maqbool, "tere bete ki patri dekhi, bahut dum hain salle mein... maqbool ka jawab hain tera beta" just after massaging Maqbool's ego the scene before with the "king of kings" lines.
Maqbool is harrowingly drawn into the quest for love, lust and power by Nimmi and the preist cops. He guns down Abbaji in his bed with Nimmi, on the eve of Sameera's wedding with Guddu. As Kaka's turns away from him, Nimmi driven Maqbool him offers friendship on the face and guns him down behind his back. Putting the blame on Guddu, Maqbool and Nimmi further isolate themselves from Abbaji's family and his friends.
At this point, Maqbool's guilt takes over him and he starts losing his mind. The preist cops start turning the screws on Maqbool who under intense pressure crumbles in the underworld. The snake like Nimmi, pregnant (Maqbool goes crazy when she reveals about her condition thinking if Abbaji was the father) also loses her mind with guilt. Guddu takes down Maqbool's gang in a Godfatheresque end when he is busy comforting Nimmi. The final scene of the movie shows Maqbool's child cuddled by Guddu and Sameera in the hospital. At this point Maqbool realises he no longer needs to worry about his child. He just walks out and is shot dead by Boti, one of Guddu's men.
It is the writing which makes it such a thrill to see this movie. Pankaj Kapur plays the aging don with menace and charm. Irrfan Khan's 3 dimensional potrayal of Maqbool and his journey is stunning. Frankly when was the last time we saw a female character with grey shades. Tabu, looking pretty as ever, sinks into the role and shows girls need not undress to tease, tempt, seduce and torment a guy. All of the supporting players seem to be carefully casted as their performances compliment the overall movie. But my most favorite role would be Pandit and Purohit (Puri and Shah) who are so cunning and wicked that if there was a way to double cross people then I would suggest just watch them. I read somewhere that Vishal had given script to Shah and asked him to choose whichever role he wanted to play owing to Shah's stature. Shah being the great actor that is, not a star, choose to play the cop. He reasoned with Vishal that he had played crime don before but he didn't yet play a cop of this nature. I am glad Shah and Puri did these roles. Their line "aag ke liye paani ka darr bane rahna chahiye... ", ringing at various places, aptly shows how they function. They are corrupt but they clean the mess their own way.
I honestly believe Vishal Bharadwaj is the best director in India today. He does movie purely for its craft not for the money. The joy in watching his movies is like watching Sachin or a Federer play. They are transcendental. Vishal might never again make a movie as good as Maqbool, which I feel is his best movie to date, but he will never ever make a bad movie. Different perhaps, but bad? not a chance. Its like even when Vishal makes a bad movie it is good. Some might say Omkara, Kaminey were better. I would suggest they see Maqbool first. Your senses will be overwhelmed. Mine were.
Truly one of Indian cinema's best.
Till next time - movies, movies and movies ...
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