Maqbool

Maqbool

MAIN CAST:
Irfan Khan -- Maqbool

Tabu -- Nimmi

Pankaj Kapoor -- Abbaji

Piyush Mishra -- Kaka

BRIEF PLOT OVERVIEW:
Maqbool is a modernized Indian version of Shakespeare's Macbeth. It follows Miyan Maqbool's journey through the world of organized crime, his lust for power battling with his humanity, and his eventual demise.

FILM -- 4/5
The script could have been a bit tighter, but Maqbool is well-written as a whole. The dialogue is exceptional, like Nimmi's seduction quotes: "There are 12 moles on my body. Do you want to...count them?" The quality of the physical film is surprisingly poor considering its release date; to make up for this loss in picture quality, the movie features a lot of great camerawork and direction. I especially love the scene in the beginning where a character's blood spatters on a frosted window, which is decorated with a horoscope table.

CHARACTERS -- 5/5
If there's one thing Maqbool can boast about, it has to be the incredible acting. Irfan Khan is incredible as Miyan Maqbool. Tabu is a vision as the Lady Macbeth-inspired Nimmi, a deliciously manipulative and equally fascinating character. Both Tabu and Khan manage to create complex characters through intense stares, dialogue delivery, body language, and subtle motions that really add to Nimmi/Maqbools' personalities. While Pankaj Kapoor's godfather voice is a little annoying, his talent is anything but. Om Puri has a supporting role as an inspector who functions in the capacity of a fortune teller, quite like the weird sisters in the original Macbeth. The cast is worthy of universal. praise.

SOUNDTRACK -- 4.5/5

There are no random song breaks in Maqbool, but there is traditional music carefully integrated in to the film, and it flows nicely. I especially love the wedding song Tabu dances to. The background music is incredible! Unlike most modern thrillers, which just throw in a bunch of pounding notes and melodramatic chords, Maqbool's music is tuned to our emotions; it does not distract us from the story, but rather engrosses us in it.

OVERALL -- 4/5
Maqbool is not an awe-inspiring, earth-shattering story, although it comes close to being so, if only by virtue of the power of its Shakespearean source material. But it is definitely one of the better movies I've seen in the past few years, with high-quality direction and top-notch performances from the cast. At the very least, you should give Maqbool a rental, and I definitely plan on buying a copy.

TOTAL SCORE -- 17.5/20 (great)