Maqbool—Taking Macbeth to Bollywood
Maqbool—Taking Macbeth to Bollywood
I was going through some old college assignments and came across a film review of Maqbool I wrote for a Theatre History course I took. Below follows the write-up for those interested in reading it:
Vishal Bharadwaj is a name which has almost become synonymous with excellence—whether it be his music score for critically acclaimed films such as Maachis, Satya and No Smoking or his direction of films such as Makdee, Chatri Chor and Omkara, Bharadwaj continuously proves his versatility and dedication to deliver the very best. He has created a niche for himself as the king of Bollywood film adaptations—after all, three out of his four films are adaptations, and successful ones for that matter: Chatri Chor/The Blue Umbrella, Omkara/Othello, and the third being Maqbool which is based off of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Maqbool—an Indianized and refined version of Shakespeare’s tale of an ambitious man who kills all in his path to power under the influence of the woman he loves—is one of the many masterpieces Bharadwaj has offered to Indian cinema. Despite the film being a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, Bharadwaj brings so much of his creativity to this recreation, that Maqbool easily becomes a classic example of how innovative one can get even with a remake.
Bharadwaj’s Maqbool opens in present-day Mumbai admist an atmosphere of violence. The Shakesperean warriors, Duncan and Macbeth, become gangsters—Abbaji (Pankaj Kapur; Duncan) and the orphaned Maqbool (Irrfan Khan; Macbeth), his obedient right-hand man who is almost treated as a son by Abbaji. Instead of having a son, Abbaji has a daughter, Sameera (Masumeh Makhija), who plans of getting married to Kaka’s (Piyush Mishra; Banquo) son Guddu (Ajay Gehi; Fleance). This puts Guddu in line to inheriting Abbaji’s place as don of the Mumbai underworld, and also makes him a direct threat to Maqbool who does not want to remain an eternal sidekick. Now, here comes the big surprise—Lady Macbeth becomes Nimmi (Tabu), Abbaji’s mistress who loves Maqbool and neither wants to remain a mistress nor wants Maqbool to be surpassed by Guddu. While it is the comical and corrupt police inspectors (Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri; The Weird Sisters) who initially prophesize that Maqbool will replace Abbaji, it is Nimmi’s taunts of Maqbool’s masculinity and reminders that since Abbaji does not have a son, the son-in-law (Guddu) will be the heir, which really instigates this engrossing tale of bloodshed, love, tragedy and hope.
Bharadwaj’s music score fits in well with the plot of the film. Unlike many other Bollywood films, every song in Maqbool has a purpose. For example, Jhinni Minni Jhinni, a festive song pictureized mainly on Nimmi and Sameera, offers a sharp contrast to the violence and tragedy which thereafter follows. Extremely crucial is the item dance number which displays Abbaji’s unfaithfulness towards Nimmi and gives her more of a motive to want Maqbool to murder him.
Maqbool not only allows Bharadwaj to shine as a music director but also showcases what an immensely talented film director he is. His direction of the final scene in Maqbool is unlike what Shakespeare’s Macbeth has to offer—while, indeed, Maqbool does die at the end of the film, there is still a sense of hope an order that is restored as Guddu and Sameera embrace Maqbool and Nimmi’s newborn baby. All of the scenes in the Maqbool work together to develop this intricate (yet, at the same time, easy to follow) plot, and every single actor leaves a long-lasting impression on the audience. While it is true that all of the actors in Maqbool are gifted, even more gifted is Bharadwaj who brings the talent within these actors to the forefront.
Irrfan Khan truly breathes life to a character who is supposed to be a tragic hero (something which I felt was missing while reading through Shakespeare’s text and seeing numerous stage productions and film clips of various adaptations). Even though he commits despicable actions by murdering Abbaji, Boti and attempting to murder Guddu, there is immense vulnerability and perhaps even a certain amount of innocence in his eyes which allows the audience to still empathize with him as he tries to reign in a world where “foul is fair and fair is foul.”
Pankaj Kapur, for whom any amount of praise will not suffice, is simply amazing as Abbaji. Even though he disappears in the second half of the film, his presence is still felt as the act of murdering him continues to haunt Maqbool and Nimmi. Pankaj brings many layers to what was portrayed as being a one-dimensional character in Shakespeare’s play. Pankaj not only portrays the role of a powerful underworld don, but also that of a loving father who does not mind his daughter marrying a Hindu boy even though they are Muslim. The scene in which he forces his subordinate to drink alcohol against his will is a masterpiece.
And, of course, Tabu’s innocent expressions combined with her villainous desire to have Abbaji murdered at the hands of Maqbool is simply brilliant. Her gradual lapse into madness is also wonderfully depicted.
Equally as enthusiastic as the leading trio are the supporting actors, Nasseruddin Shah, Om Puri, Piyush Mishra, Ajay Gehi, Masumeh Makhija and the rest. Everyone is true to their role—no one overacts or underacts—everything is done to perfection.
If you are a fan of good-quality cinema and Shakespeare or both, go watch Maqbool! You’ll be amazed at how even after other directors have offered hundreds of adaptations of Shakespeare’s text, Bharadwaj still manages to present Macbeth in a unique and innovative way—ah, the beauty of cinema!
Tags: irfaan khan, maqbool, naseeruddin shah, Om Puri, Tabu, vishal bharadwaj
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
If you are a fan of Shakespeare you’ll be aghast at how gross this adaptation is.Have you seen Throne of Blood by Kurosawa?That is not even a direct adaptation,yet it is far truer to Shakespeare than Maqbool
Really French?
That’s amusing, b’cause i haven’t found many who’ve been “aghast” at Maqbool.. i would still root for it as one of the finest pieces of Indian cinema.
I’m not a shakespeare fan..still, i would doubt if being a fan means showing intolerance towards any deviation from the original representation, especially for a story that confesses of being loosely influenced, and is quite honest at that confession…
i may be wrong, but i guess that by “gross” you meant that the adaptation here was more of an independent child, not quite resembling the parents as neighbours and well wishers (in this case “a fan of shakespeare” by u’r terms) would expect it to.. but to an outsider, who doesn’t bother about the lineage of the child, it being healthy and radiant is reason enough to fall in love with the baby..
maqbool i thought was a jolly baby.. and quite a confident one too..
shakespere didnt write macbeth 4 indian situations nd indian people…hindi film needs 2 change the whole setup nd maqbul was that film…very gud film…
“Gilori khaya karo, Gulfaam. Zubaan meethi rehti hai.”
@French: I am a fan of Shakespeare. And, I am also a fan of Maqbool. Being a fan of Shakespeare does not necessarily entail being an enemy of films which are loose adaptations of his works. After all, even many of Shakespeare’s works are adaptations of other sources. For example, Macbeth was inspired from material in Holinshed’s Chronicles. In fact, a great deal of Shakespeare’s plays are adaptations (loose adaptations) of other works. However, like Shakespeare, Bharadwaj, too, adds a lot of his own creativity to the adaptations. The reason I really appreciate Bharadwaj’s Maqbool is because it is not a line-by-line, scene-by-scene rip-off of Macbeth–Bharadwaj retains some of the basic themes/concepts from Macbeth (and some of the imagery) and creates a unique final product…yes, it is quite different from Shakespeare’s Macbeth…and it is precisely the innovativeness Bharadwaj demonstrates with the adaptation which I appreciate.
Vishal Bhardwaj is a true CHELA of Gulzar sahab, I dont know about adaptation i only know that Maqbool is a masterpeice and its a best hindi film till date on underworld along with Satya. I am dying to watch his next….Kaminey…
Maqbool along with macbeth also had some mixture of Godfather, and it was a great combination that Vishal was able to execute . Really worth a watch.
@French – We are not talking about Shakespeare here. We are talking about Maqbool in the backdrop of Macbeth. I don’t see any point in getting into the technicalities of adaptation of Shakespearean literature into cinema. I have not seen Throne of Blood, and even if it turns out to be the best movie in the world, it won’t make Maqbool a bad movie.
Its an absolute world, as far as movies go… a good movie stays a good movie, even if thousands other better movies spring up. Why don’t you elaborate at what about Maqbool irked you so much?
Personally, Maqbool is one of my favourite movies, and I don’t care if it is an adaptation of Macbeth or not; I don’t care if parts have been twisted and I don’t care if there are technically better adaptations in the market. All I know is that it’s a good movie, and I am ‘aghast’ at anyone who is ‘aghast’ at this movie.
@Amanda – Thanks for posting this. However, in my opinion, the beauty of Maqbool is not in the fact that its an adaptation of Macbeth, but that by itself its a classic piece of cinema. It will be a great watch for someone who hasn’t even heard of Shakespeare.
One performance which is quite underrated is that of Pitush Mishra. I think he is one of the most under-rated and obscure actors in Hindi cinema today. Hope he gets his due soon
Thanks Nirav!
for making a mention of Piyush Mishra.. just loved kaake’s performance in maqbool, and in 1971..
yet to watch matrubhoomi..and maybe..maybe..( & this is just because he’s in there)..Jhoom barabar jhoom! :O :D
& we r just talkin bout the actor here.. not even going into the other fantastic efforts that he has been into..
writing dialogues, lyrics and screenplays..
Bahut excited ho chuka hoon!.. ab thand rakh kaake.. :D
@Ankur
In my opinion, 1971 was one of the most under-rated movies of 2007. So far, I have found very few people who know about it, let alone having seen it. It was directed by Piyush Mishra too, but the movie faded without making any sound only.
I went to see that movie with zero expectations, having nothing better to do then. I was pleasantly surprised.
Nirav,
you are bang on buddy.. 1971 was a fantastic, but very..very underrated film.. the closing sequence, where manoj gets shot before reaching the border, i thought took it to a different level, something which deewar, a film with very similar storyline couldn’t do as it fell prey to the demands of showing conventional heroism and a happy climax (amitabh was really good otherwise)
But one thing here.. 1971 was co-written by piyush, with amrit sagar, grandson to ramanand (ramayan) sagar. it was amrit who directed the film and not piyush.. i think..
@Tushar, just a minor correction!
“Gilori khaya karo Gulfaam, zubaan kaabu mein rehti hai.”
What a scene!
you bet! thanks for the correction. Guess I ll have to start eating ‘gilori’ :-)
@Nirav: You’re right! Maqbool is a brilliant piece of Indian Cinema–one which can be enjoyed by someone regardless of whether the person has heard of Shakespeare and/or Macbeth. Lekin, if someone happens to also be a fan of Macbeth and Shakespeare, they won’t be disappointed with the adaptation, either :-)
@Ankur & Nirav–seriously, 1971 was awesome! i really wish more people would watch such films. sadly, even finding the DVD of Maqbool was quite difficult for me. better distribution and promotion would help.
Does anyone know if Akash Sagar is working on any more music scores?
maqbool is one of my all time fav film. dont remember which other film has collectively superb acting by everyone in the film. may be khosla ka ghosla comes second where even tara sharm with that irritating voice was great.
can watch it million times. and the best couple..om puri n naseer..what joy!!
tabu became my all-time fav indian actress after this movie….she was mindblowing….i haven’t seen many smita patil movies but Tabu is the finest actress for me…