Review: Maqbool
Baradwaj Rangan
Baradwaj Rangan
(C) The Economic Times, Madras Plus - Feb 7, 2004
Such a fuss has been made about 'Maqbool' being "based on William
Shakespeare's Macbeth," you'd think 'Angoor' and 'Do Dooni Char' had
never been adapted from 'Comedy of Errors', that every other sixties'
technicolour film had nothing to do with the taming of shrews, or that
the recent 'Baghban' had no elements of King Lear. Seeing the movie,
however, you see the reason for the awesome advance buzz.
Director Vishal Bhardwaj has found a fascinating Indian setting for
Shakespeare's bloody games of power surrounding the Scottish throne -
Mumbai's equally-bloody, equally-power-hungry underworld. Here,
therefore, Abbaji (Pankaj Kapur, slouching and rasping through a
brilliant performance) rules his empire, aided by loyal lieutenants
Maqbool (Irrfan Khan) and Kakaji (Piyush Mishra). Then Maqbool, goaded
by ambition and lust (for Abbaji's mistress Nimmi, played by Tabu),
murders his boss, takes over as leader, and suffers consequences more
psychological than physical.
Bhardwaj (with writer Abbas Tyrewala) marvellously captures the feel
of the original. He doesn't go for a conventional dramatisation of a
moody, introspective, verse-driven play, delivering instead a moody,
introspective dialogue-driven film, with endlessly inventive
equivalents for key moments - the prophesying witches become
astrologer-cops (named Pandit and Purohit, no less), Banquo translates
to Kakaji (whose 'awakening' after death mirrors the ghost at the
banquet), the end comes not from Birnam Wood but the Arabian Sea, and
so on and so forth.
That said, for all the brilliance behind the conception and the
intelligence in the execution, I cannot imagine how 'Maqbool' will
play to those unfamiliar with 'Macbeth' and, therefore, unable to do
such one-to-one mapping between the two.
Shorn of the Shakespearean subtext, will 'Maqbool' simply seem an
artier version of loyal-recruit-turning-against-boss gangster sagas
like 'Company'? Will audiences coming in cold understand that the
reason Irrfan Khan's performance is so close-to-lifeless is that the
action occurs entirely inside his head? Will they realise that he's
been brainwashed by Pandit, Purohit and Nimmi into doing things almost
on autopilot, to fulfill what he thinks is his destiny - or will they
merely see a man like (horror of horrors) John Abraham in 'Jism',
being manipulated by a temptress to commit a crime of passion, not of
ambition? Lady Macbeth, at least, hoped to become queen, but Nimmi is
already sleeping with the Boss, so (other than his fancying a new
pretty young thing) why exactly does she want him dead?
These niggling issues do not affect the impact of Tabu's performance,
and no familiarity with Lady Macbeth is needed to see why Maqbool is
putty in the hands of the beautiful, manipulative, sexually-assertive
Nimmi. Loading every line with levels of meaning - "Aaj kal tujhe
pyaas nahin lagti miyan," she observes slyly when he asks for water,
making you wonder if she's referring to sex, power, or both - the
actress makes a breathtaking transformation from ravishing seductress
to ravaged, guilt-wracked spent force.
Fuelled by her histrionics and a gallery of great support (especially
from Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Ajay Gehi), the sophisticated,
slick - maybe too slick; Hemant Chaturvedi's showy camerawork
occasionally distracts from the otherwise subdued staging - 'Maqbool'
never fails to engage you intellectually.
Emotionally, though, it keeps you at an arm's length - and there's a
reason. 'Macbeth' is a tragedy not just because its hero dies, but
because that loyal, brave man is led astray. It's the corruption of
this pure soul that makes you invest in him, the fact that this good
guy went so bad. Maqbool is merely a bad guy gone worse, so why would
you care if this Mob murderer killed a few more men? That single
miscalculation keeps this very good film from achieving the greatness
it so deserved.