Mogul Mowgli

Last updated

Mogul Mowgli
Mogul Mowgli.jpg
Official promotional poster
Directed by Bassam Tariq
Written by
Produced by
  • Riz Ahmed
  • Thomas Benski
  • Bennett McGhee
  • Michael Peay
Starring
CinematographyAnika Summerson
Edited by
  • Adam Biskupski
  • Hazel Baillie
Music byPaul Corley
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • February 21, 2020 (2020-02-21)(Berlin)
  • October 30, 2020 (2020-10-30)(United Kingdom)
  • September 3, 2021 (2021-09-03)(United States)
Running time
90 minutes [1]
Countries
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$127,015 [2] [3]

Mogul Mowgli is a 2020 drama film directed by Bassam Tariq, and written by Tariq and Riz Ahmed. [4] It stars Ahmed and features Aiysha Hart, Alyy Khan, Sudha Bhuchar, Nabhaan Rizwan, and Anjana Vasan. It tells the story of a British-Pakistani rapper who is struck down by a disease.

Contents

Produced by Pulse Films, the film had its world premiere in the Panorama section at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival on February 21, 2020. [1] It was released in the United Kingdom on October 30, 2020, by BFI Distribution, and in the United States on September 3, 2021, by Strand Releasing.

Plot

Zed is a British-Pakistani rapper who is based in New York. He is offered a big break supporting a more famous rapper on a European tour, but before it begins, he returns home to England for a somewhat tense reunion with his rather traditional family, leaving behind Bina, his American girlfriend. After collapsing he is taken to hospital and told his leg muscles have weakened. He also starts experiencing bizarre visual and auditory hallucinations. He is diagnosed with a degenerative autoimmune disease and experimental stem-cell infusions are recommended, but they come with the risk of infertility. His manager Vaseem proposes substituting RPG, a rival rapper whom Zed doesn't respect, as a replacement for the tour, but Zed resists the idea and refuses to accept that his illness will put an end to his dream. As Zed grows weaker, his father helps him at hospital, but they argue and Zed tells him to leave. Zed is offered the chance to freeze his sperm, but when he finally calls Bina to tells her he's sick and offer her his sperm, she rejects him, so he does not make a sperm donation. Although he misses the tour when his therapy begins, he does achieve something of a rapprochement with his father.

Cast

Production

The idea for the film first began in 2017 when Riz Ahmed met Bassam Tariq. [5] The film was tentatively titled Mughal Mowgli. [6] [7] In March 2019, it was announced Ahmed would star in the film, with Tariq directing from a screenplay by himself and Ahmed. [8] Thomas Benski, Bennett McGhee, Michael Peay and Ahmed would produce the film, under their Pulse Films and Left Handed Films banners, while BBC Films, Cinereach, Vice Media, and RYOT Films would also produce. [8] That same month, Aiysha Hart, Anjana Vasan, Sudha Bhuchar, Alyy Khan, and Nabhaan Rizwan joined the cast of the film. [9] Production began that same month. [9]

Release

The film had its world premiere in the Panorama section at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival on February 21, 2020. [1] [10] In August 2020, BFI Distribution acquired U.K. distribution rights to the film. [11] It was released in the United Kingdom on October 30, 2020. [12] In November 2020, it was shown at the Hawai'i International Film Festival as part of the Vilcek Foundation's New American Perspectives program. [13] In December 2020, Strand Releasing acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. [14] It was released in the United States on September 3, 2021. [15]

Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 93% based on 103 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "An ambitious portrait of the complicated nature of identity, the challenging and emotionally raw Mogul Mowgli showcases a heartbreaking performance from Riz Ahmed." [16] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [17]

Stephen Dalton of The Hollywood Reporter commented that "Although Mogul Mowgli is an admirably ambitious effort overall, a more complex, colorful, daring film seems to be trapped just below the surface." [18] Guy Lodge of Variety wrote, "This is gutsy, spiky, imperfect independent filmmaking that finds the formal gusto to complement and buoy its star's aggressive dynamism: Ahmed affirms his standing as one of Britain's most vital, risky actors, even in a role we thought we'd already seen him play." [19]

Roxana Hadadi of RogerEbert.com gave the film 3/4 stars and highlights its "aesthetic power and cultural curiosity." She notes that the film tackles big questions about "individual ambition, inherited trauma, artistic integrity, and cultural assimilation", resulting in a "deeply personal and sometimes-opaque cinematic experience." Hadadi points out that Tariq prioritizes depicting Muslim lives in ways beyond accusations of terrorism and that the film reflects this ideology. [20]

Peter Bradshaw's gave Mogul Mowgli 3/5 stars. In his review for The Guardian , he describes the film as a "deeply personal drama" that can sometimes be "self-indulgent" but also tackles "the complexities of 21st-century British selfhood head on". He considers the film a "black-comic fable" about the dangers of returning home after achieving success. [21] In another review for The Guardian, Wendy Ide praises Tariq for his inventive exploration of cultural identity, family, and the long shadow of Partition through Zed's illness. She describes the filmmaking as abrasive and confrontational, blending spoken-word poetry, Partition history, and painful family memories in a powerful and impactful way. Ide gave Mogul Mowgli 4/5 stars. [22]

Accolades

Mogul Mowgli won Best Narrative Feature at the 2020 San Diego Asian Film Festival. [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riz Ahmed</span> British actor and rapper (born 1982)

Rizwan "Riz" Ahmed is an English actor and rapper. He has received several awards, including an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award with nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and two British Academy Film Awards. In 2017, he was named in the Time 100 listing of the most influential people in the world.

<i>Tamanna</i> (2014 film) 2014 film directed by Steven Moore

Tamanna is 2014 British-Pakistani film distributed by Royal Palm Group t/a Summit Entertainment (Pak) and Super Cinema and ARY Films and produced by Concordia Productions. A drama in the neo-noir genre the film is directed by a British director Steven Moore and produced by Pakistani producer Sarah Tareen. The film stars Omair Rana, Salman Shahid, Mehreen Raheel and Faryal Gohar.

"Toba Tek Singh" is a short story written by Saadat Hasan Manto and published in 1955. It follows inmates in a Lahore asylum, some of whom are to be transferred to India following the 1947 Partition. According to a personal essay hosted at Columbia University by a scholar-in-training of Urdu literature, the story is a "powerful satire, and also a bitter indictment of the political processes and behavior patterns that produced [India's] Partition".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessie Buckley</span> Irish actress (born 1989)

Jessie Buckley is an Irish actress and singer. The accolades she has received include a Laurence Olivier Award, and nominations for an Academy Award and three BAFTA Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alyy Khan</span> British-Pakistani actor and host (born 1968)

Alyy Khan is a British-Pakistani actor and host who has worked in Hollywood, Bollywood, and Lollywood films and television series. He is known for his roles in the films A Mighty Heart (2007), Traitor (2008), Don 2 (2011), 3 Bahadur (2015), Actor in Law (2016), and Mogul Mowgli (2020), and also played a parallel lead in the telefilm Anjuman (2013). Khan has also appeared in several television series, including The Bill (2006), Strike Back (2011), Saat Pardon Mein (2012), Indian Summers (2015), Pakeezah (2016), and Mere Humsafar (2022).

Bassam Tariq is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter born in Karachi, Pakistan. He co-directed and produced the Sundance-funded documentary These Birds Walk (2013) with Omar Mullick, and he was named in Filmmaker's "25 New Faces of Independent Film" in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anjana Vasan</span> Tamil actress (born 1987)

Anjana Vasan is an Indian actress. Born into a Tamil family in India, she is based in the United Kingdom. For her stage work, Vasan has won a Laurence Olivier Award. On television, she stars in the Channel 4 sitcom We Are Lady Parts (2021–2024), for which she was nominated for a British Academy Television Award. Her films include Wicked Little Letters (2023).

<i>Sound of Metal</i> 2019 film by Darius Marder

Sound of Metal is a 2019 American drama film directed and co-written by Darius Marder. It stars Riz Ahmed as a metal drummer who loses his hearing, and also features Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff, and Mathieu Amalric. Sound of Metal had its world premiere in the Platform Prize program at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2019. Amazon Studios released the film in theaters on November 20, 2020, and on Amazon Prime Video on December 4. The film was critically acclaimed, with particular praise for the performances of Ahmed and Raci, the sound design, the editing, and Marder's direction and screenplay. It was listed on 52 film critics' top-ten lists for 2020. At the 93rd Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Ahmed) and Best Supporting Actor (Raci), and won for Best Sound and Best Film Editing.

<i>Station Eleven</i> (miniseries) 2021 American dystopian fiction miniseries

Station Eleven is an American post-apocalyptic dystopian fiction television miniseries created by Patrick Somerville based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Emily St. John Mandel. The miniseries premiered on HBO Max on December 16, 2021, and ran for ten episodes until January 13, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">70th Berlin International Film Festival</span> Film festival

The 70th annual Berlin International Film Festival took place from 20 February to 1 March 2020. It was the first under the leadership of new Berlin Film Festival board: business administration director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian.

<i>The Long Goodbye</i> (Riz Ahmed album) 2020 studio album by Riz Ahmed

The Long Goodbye is the second studio album by Riz Ahmed. It was released on his own record label Mongrel Records on 6 March 2020. It is a concept album and was produced by Redinho. It features guest appearances from Ahmed's mother, as well as Mindy Kaling, Mahershala Ali, Yara Shahidi, Asim Chaudhry, Hasan Minhaj, and Jay Sean. It was accompanied by a short film of the same name directed by Aneil Karia, which won Best Live Action Short Film at the 94th Academy Awards. "Mogambo" was released as a single in 2018.

<i>Encounter</i> (2021 film) 2021 film

Encounter is a 2021 crime drama thriller film, directed by Michael Pearce from a screenplay by Pearce and Joe Barton. The film stars Riz Ahmed, Octavia Spencer, Janina Gavankar, Rory Cochrane, Lucian-River Chauhan, and Aditya Geddada.

Nabhaan Rizwan is a British actor known for crime drama Informer, his supporting roles in The Accident and 1917, and the miniseries Station Eleven. More recently, he portrays Dionysus in the 2024 series Kaos.

<i>Flee</i> (film) 2021 animated documentary film

Flee is a 2021 independent adult animated documentary film directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen. An international co-production with Denmark, France, Norway, and Sweden, it follows the story of a man under the alias Amin Nawabi, who shares his hidden past of fleeing his home country of Afghanistan to Denmark for the first time. Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau serve as executive producers and narrators for the English-language dub version.

<i>Hudas Salon</i> 2021 Palestinian film

Huda's Salon is a 2021 Palestinian internationally co-produced thriller film written, directed, and produced by Hany Abu-Assad. It stars Ali Suliman, Samer Bisharat, Maisa Abd Elhadi and Manal Awad.

<i>After Love</i> (2020 film) 2020 film

After Love is a 2020 British drama film written and directed by Aleem Khan in his feature-length directorial debut. The film stars Joanna Scanlan as widow Mary Hussain discovering her husband's secret family after he dies unexpectedly.

<i>Fingernails</i> (film) 2023 film by Christos Nikou

Fingernails is a 2023 science fiction romantic drama film directed and co-written by Christos Nikou. The film stars Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White, and Luke Wilson. Cate Blanchett serves as one of the film's producers. The film follows a woman who starts working at an institute that tests whether the love between two people in a couple is real.

In Camera is a 2023 British drama film, written and directed by Naqqash Khalid, in his directorial debut. It stars Nabhaan Rizwan, Amir El-Masry and Rory Fleck Byrne.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Mogul Mowgli". Berlin International Film Festival . Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Mogul Mowgli (2020)". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Mogul Mowgli (2020)". The Numbers . Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  4. ↑ Ritman, Alex (February 21, 2020). "Riz Ahmed on Co-Writing Berlin Entry 'Mogul Mowgli' and Pushing for More Representation Onscreen". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  5. ↑ Rico, Klaritza (February 22, 2020). "'Mogul Mowgli' Star Riz Ahmed Aims to Open Conversations With Movies, Music". Variety . Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  6. ↑ Ritman, Alex (March 5, 2019). "Riz Ahmed to Play Rapper in Pulse Films' 'Mughal Mowgli' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  7. ↑ Grater, Tom (January 21, 2020). "Berlin Film Festival Adds Riz Ahmed Pic 'Mogul Mowgli', Oleg Sentsov-Directed 'Numbers'". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  8. 1 2 McNary, Dave (March 5, 2019). "Riz Ahmed to Star in, Produce Music Drama 'Mughal Mowgli'". Variety . Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  9. 1 2 Grater, Tom (March 21, 2019). "UK rap drama 'Mughal Mowgli' finalises cast with 'Informer', 'Sex Education', 'Colette' actors (exclusive)". Screen International . Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  10. ↑ "Crossing Borders". Berlin International Film Festival . January 21, 2020. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  11. ↑ Ritman, Alex (August 14, 2020). "BFI Distribution Picks Up Riz Ahmed's 'Mogul Mowgli' for U.K." The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Mogul Mowgli". Launching Films. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
  13. ↑ "New American Perspectives in Filmmaking at HIFF 2020". Vilcek Foundation. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  14. ↑ Keslassy, Elsa (December 16, 2020). "Riz Ahmed's 'Mogul Mowgli' Nabbed By Strand Releasing for U.S. (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
  15. ↑ Kenigsberg, Ben (May 28, 2021). "Summer Movies 2021: Here's What's Coming to the Big (and Small) Screen". The New York Times . Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Mogul Mowgli". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango . Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  17. ↑ "Mogul Mowgli Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  18. ↑ Dalton, Stephen (February 21, 2020). "'Mogul Mowgli': Film Review | Berlin 2020". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  19. ↑ Lodge, Guy (February 21, 2020). "'Mogul Mowgli': Film Review". Variety . Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  20. ↑ Hadadi, Roxana. "Mogul Mowgli movie review & film summary (2021) | Roger Ebert". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  21. ↑ "Mogul Mowgli review – Riz Ahmed tackles British selfhood head on". the Guardian. February 21, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  22. ↑ "Mogul Mowgli review – fierce, unrelenting film-making". the Guardian. November 1, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  23. ↑ "ANNOUNCING THE 2020 SDAFF AWARD WINNERS". 2020 San Diego Asian Film Festival. Archived from the original on March 6, 2021. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.