The eyes speak volumes in Vishal Bharadwaj?s Maqbool They spar silently, they meet across a room full of people, they observe through rear view mirrors, and they convey much where words would have fallen short. The unstated assumes importance in the movie, elevating it to a masterpiece.
Pankaj Kapur, Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Om Puri and Nasseeruddin Shah all come together for what is undoubtedly the perfect casting for an adaptation of the Shakespeare?s Macbeth. Every actor?s performance is woven into a complex but rich tapestry and the sincerity of the entire team?s effort is unified in making it a great movie.
The basic story is about Maqbool, the right hand man of Abbaji, an underworld don. Pandit and Purohit are two corrupt policemen, well-versed in astrology. They predict the downfall of Abbaji and the rise of Maqbool. Maqbool gradually falls for the wiles of Nimmi, Abbaji?s mistress. Nimmi instigates Maqbool to murder Abbaji, thereby liberating her and taking over the gang. Maqbool relents ultimately to her urgings and kills Abbaji.
This deed sets in motion a series of events that lead to his own end. The gang disintegrates, and Maqbool alienates or kills most of the erstwhile members of the gang. Gradually, Nimmi?s and Maqbool?s guilt manifests itself as hallucinations and cracks begin to appear in their relationship. Meanwhile, the police and the other rival gangs close in on Maqbool and he has nowhere to go, no one to turn to and no time left.
The true hero is the narrative. The story by Bharadwaj and Abbas Tyrewala has been, as touted, inspired by Shakespeare?s Macbeth . Basing the story in the Mumbai underworld must have posed some challenges for the filmmaker. But ingenuity marks the way the concepts of the witches, the prophecy and the manifestations of the prophecy have been depicted. The movie has managed to capture the dark aura and the tragic quality of the original story. Even if one is not aware of the Macbeth story, it reinforces the age-old belief that destiny is inescapable, especially when it comes to crime because what goes around comes back to make it a full circle.
Tabu, as Nimmi walks the fine line between victim and instigator of much psychological violence. She plays to perfection a child-woman, and mistress to a man old enough to be her father (Pankaj Kapur as Abbaji). One moment you empathise with her, the next, you wonder how a face as beautiful as hers could have a mind so cruel. In the early part of the movie, Nimmi?s (Tabu) eyes silently taunt Maqbool (Irrfan Khan) in the midst of other people while her words do the same when they are alone. Her corruption of Maqbool is gradual, yet complete. Abbaji?s murder also captures the ruthless meticulousness of Nimmi in the way the deed is executed. Her anguish in the second half is real, without unwarranted cliches.
Irrfan Khan as Maqbool moves from being the fiercely loyal subordinate to the aging Abbaji to ultimately taking his place after his murder, as prophesized by the Pandit and Purohit, played by Nasseruddin Shah and Om Puri. Maqbool is a complex person. He shows weakness of character sometimes, yet efficiently carries out Abbaji?s bidding. He is ambitious, yet needs the constant prodding of Nimmi to carry out the murder. The pivotal scene for the transformation of Maqbool is the killing of Abbaji. What seems to be a moment of strength that Maqbool manages to muster, turns out to be, in retrospect, his moment of greatest weakness.
Although he is ruthless when it comes to killing others, with Abbaji, his conscience comes to the fore. The underdog mindset is complete in that, while killing Abbaji, he keeps his eyes closed, as though it would lessen the treachery of his betrayal. Shot brilliantly, this remains one of the best sequences in the movie. After Abbaji?s murder, Maqbool seems to be transformed ? he exudes a quiet confidence and self-assurance that is chilling to behold. It is only until fate catches up with him.
Pankaj Kapur plays the pot-bellied Abbaji. He is deadpan in most of the sequences, but his silences and kohl-lined eyes emanate great intensity. He assumes a reptilian demeanour and it comes in useful in the sequence where Maqbool imagines the goings-on in Abbaji and Nimmi?s bedroom.
Shah and Puri as Pandit and Purohit, play the role of Shakespeare?s witches. They play the corrupt policemen with ease, sometimes aiding the police department and sometimes aiding the underworld. One?s predictions and the other?s smooth tongue manage to unleash a series of events that bring about the fall of Maqbool.
The other characters who deserve a mention are Piyush Mishra as Kaka, who is extremely loyal to Abbaji and oblivious of Maqbool?s dark side, Ajay Gehi who plays Kaka?s son Guddu, who is transformed after his father?s murder and his own narrow escape from death and Masumi Makhija as Sameera, starts out as the dreamy eyed much-doted daughter of Abbaji, and ends up as a bundle of nerves when Guddu is implicated by the very people she trusts.
The movie has violence aplenty, but sans the gore. It is a dark film in that there is no remorse for the killings. The violence is merely a backdrop and not the main story and therefore t is neither glorified nor shunned, bust presented as a context within which the psychological violence plays itself.
Vishal Bharadwaj?s haunting background score is foreboding of what is to come in the story. It highlights the visual nuances in the film and rises to a crescendo during certain key sequences. A strong Sufi undertone runs through the music in the movie. The songs are as much part of the script as the dialogue and the resounding silence. If you keenly listen to the lyrics, you just might transcend the level of passive listening and get rewarded with nuances in a language that is inimitably Gulzar?s forte.
It is indeed laudable that Vishal Bharadwaj has made an excellent second film. It takes skill to make a good film, but great talent to make a good second film. While Makdee was extremely imaginative and entertaining, Bharadwaj has raised the bar for himself as far asMaqbool is concerned.