Maqbool

Maqbool is the most trusted man of Abbaji, who runs a crime organisation in Mumbai. There is an affair between Maqbool and Nimmi, Abbaji's young mistress. Two corrupt policemen, speaking like soothsayers, tell Maqbool he will rise. Nimmi presses him. He kills his boss in his sleep, and after that nothing goes as planned. The subject is not the mafia but guilt. What will not leave Maqbool after the murder is not fear but the fact that nobody looks at him the same way. Nimmi, meanwhile, is pregnant and whose child it is remains unclear. The form is dark and slow: night scenes, the sound of prayer, crowded houses. Vishal Bhardwaj directs and writes the music. The source is Shakespeare's Macbeth; the two policemen stand in for the witches and Nimmi for Lady Macbeth. With this film Bhardwaj began the trilogy that carried Shakespeare into India, followed by Omkara from Othello and Haider from Hamlet. Irrfan Khan plays Maqbool, Tabu plays Nimmi and Pankaj Kapur plays Abbaji. Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri play the policemen. Who it is for: viewers who like Shakespeare adaptations and hard Indian crime drama. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace; the film moves heavily and uses its violence sparingly.