‘Maqbool’ Spellbinding

By Bollywood Hungama -

September 12, 2003 - 12:00 AM IST

From the producer of BANDIT QUEEN and SAATHIYA Bobby Bedi comes another thought-provoking film, MAQBOOL. Vishal Bhardwaj, the music composer who diversified to direction with MAKDEE, holds your finger and transports you into the psyche of the Mumbai underworld. MAQBOOL is Vishal's second film and the director is getting better with each film. MAQBOOL stars some of the best talents of the country Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Pankaj Kapur. So, obviously, the expectations from the film are gargantuan. An adaptation of Shakespeare's MACBETH, MAQBOOL is set in present-day Mumbai. The underworld, the police-gangster-politician nexus, which has been witnessed time and again in Hindi films, has been attempted in MAQBOOL as well. Despite the fact that MAQBOOL falls in the same genre as PARINDA, SATYA, VAASTAV and COMPANY, it's shades different from these films. It goes into the psyche of the gangsters and actually peeps into their mind. MAQBOOL's strength lies in its narrative. The film has a number of sequences that remain etched in your memory even after the show has concluded. The message it intends conveying also comes across loud and clear crime doesn't pay. The performances are of a high order. But the film clearly belongs to Pankaj Kapur, Tabu and Irrfan in that order. Vishal Bhardwaj has attempted a genre that is in sharp contrast to his directorial debut MAKDEE. MAQBOOL confirms the fact that Vishal Bhardwaj is here to stay! The film was screened at the ongoing Pune International Film Festival, where this writer was a special invitee. The detailed review will appear at the film's theatrical release in January 2004.