Maqbool, Muslims and movies

Maqbool, Muslims and movies
By: Mayank Shekhar
February 22, 2004
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To the just opinion of some, Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool is the best film of the year (whether that be 2003 when the film was made or 2004 when the film opened in the theatres).

A prominent comparison in the press, though debatably going overboard, called it “the best Hindi film since Sholay”.

If such generous compliments must bestow upon Bhardwaj, just back from showcasing Maqbool at the Berlin film festival, an unbearable heaviness of being or a feeling of self-importance, it doesn’t show.

Earthy, like his film, relatively less written about music composer turned filmmaker Bhardwaj, in his sweet UP accent, seems happy alright.

But that’s predominantly because, with the positive response to his remarkably original adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, he feels he can thankfully continue to make movies for a decade or so.

His two-film filmography (Makdee, Maqbool) is proof enough that he must.

Excerpts from an interview:

Besides Kishore Kumar who practically did everything at the movies, you’re perhaps the only music composer who’s directed films. Is there any synthesis or similarity between the two jobs?
Both are completely different tasks, besides the fact that they both demand honesty. I felt I could make movies because I had a sense of drama.

I am not sure about other technicians, but music composers are usually treated as ‘outsiders’ to a film, just as their music is considered as an element ‘outside’ of the film.

The director, before a film, will ask a composer to play the songs in his ‘bank’. I used to tell them that I don’t ‘bank’ music. I am like a tailor. I make clothes to fit the subject.

But you’re expected to stock a ‘love song’, a ‘longing, separation song’, a ‘maa-baap song’… The director on the other hand says, “We’ll get drunk one night and you play your songs.”

So as a music director, you’re essentially a prostitute being asked to perform ‘mujra’. A criticism of my work has been that my music is good but it’s way too situational.

With that temperament, I knew I was a misfit - my shop was going to shut any way. It would frustrate me when I’d ask the filmmakers I was working with about their script or story line. They’d think I was interfering.

Often I would opt out of certain films because of that. But working with those directors, I also realised that I could make better movies than them.

Quentin Tarantino, when asked which film school he went to, said, “I went to the films.” Is that the case with you too?
For me the world of cinema opened up in ’94 when I watched one of (Krzystof) Keislowski’s films from the Trilogy (Red, White, Blue) at the Mumbai film festival. Then, Amol Palekar once took me to see Keislowski’s Decalogue at the Trivandrum festival and I was blown.

I began to see Ray’s movies to realise how he had been doing stuff that became contemporary European cinema later. In what’s called Hindi ‘commercial’ cinema, it’s but rare that you encounter films like Amar Akbar Anthony, Naseeb or Sholay when you can sit like a kid and enjoy.

At Sterling cinema, when I heard an entire audience shriek in unison in the syringe-poking scene in (Tarantino’s) Pulp Fiction, I figured what they call the ‘power of cinema’.

Firstly, it’s good that I got exposed to world cinema, for I would have otherwise ended up making inferior stuff, since my schooling was primarily in Hindi movies.

Secondly, I made a lot of really bad stuff for TV in the beginning of my career, which is good, since I got rid of all the bad influences early on.

What’s striking in Maqbool is its Muslim household setting. The ethos and milieu is so strong that in some bylane scenes, you can almost smell the succulent kababs. Is the milieu familiar to you?
I am in fact more of a Muslim that Abbas (Tyrewala, co-scriptwriter). I had a lot of Muslim friends growing up in Meerut, though I belonged to a strictly Brahmin family.

A staunch Hindu friend of my father once complained to him that I am always outside the masjid eating Haleem! Of course, my father was extremely liberal and frankly I have been fascinated by the Muslim culture. Also the community is caricatured in our movies.

The ‘niyaaz’ has never appeared before. Neither has what they call ‘tehzeeb’ been much actualised in Hindi movies.

Another strong point about Maqbool is of course the much-appreciated Abbaji (Pankaj Kapur). Wasn’t Naseeruddin Shah meant to play the role?
Yes, he was. He had also begun to grow a beard for it. But later he felt that it would be a repetition of stuff he’s done before, and that the cop’s role (Inspector Purohit) may get the much-deserved significance if he played it.

Initially everyone involved in the film were opposed to the idea of Pankaj Kapur playing ‘Abbaji’, they just couldn’t visualise him in the role.

But the role’s treatment seems too heavily inspired by Marlon Brando in The Godfather.
I think it’s the voice that makes him Brando. The character is a perpetual paan-eater and Pankaj once asked me about how long did I think he could be eating paan since.

I said since he was 15 years old. So he took a couple of days and worked out a deep voice to suit such a man. If the films per se harks one back to The Godfather, it’s because of the shot taking style, which has little movements and is aimed to hold moments.

Also, the film has similar essentials of strong family values and the old world charm. The attempt is to show the times of, say Kareem Lala or Haji Mastan. Of course it is a fantasy world, for the underworld now is a (less romantic) world of terrorism.

But this ‘meeting scene’ in which Abbaji is offered Rs 30 crore, he expresses a physically restrained, teethy smile, straight off Don Corleone. You notice it because the smile isn’t consistent; he is able to laugh in subsequent parts of the film.
You’re right. I agree with you on that particular scene. That was a brief he probably took upon himself.

A scene where Abbaji forces a ‘paan’ down a politician’s throat ably exudes the menace within the don’s calm demeanour that makes him who he is. We’re told Maqbool, being number two in the mafiosi enterprise, is a dangerous man. But we’re not convincingly shown any menacing quality that makes him who he is.
We attempted it in the introduction to all the characters in the opening sequence, when they all go on a killing spree. But there are times you’re not exactly successful. May be we should include it in the prequel to Maqbool (see box).

Now with a fine film behind you, are you set for a directorial career as against a music composer’s?
I’ve a feeling, yes. It’s likely that I won’t be unemployed as a director for 10 to 15 years. People have also stopped approaching me for music direction, since they believe I’ve become a film maker now.

But of course, I’ll continue to do background scores, and music is an important component of filmmaking as well.

Maqbool trivia

Naseeruddin Shah himself approached Om Puri to play his buddy-cop (Inspector Pandit) in the film.

Bhardwaj was convinced about Pankaj Kapur’s ability to play Abbaji when reminded of his role of a “zabardast (convincing) Thakur” in the television series Kab Tak Pukaroon.

Pankaj Kapur was originally meant to play ‘Kakaji’, a role finally essayed by Piyush Mishra.

Anurag Kashyap had a minor role in the introduction of the film (later deleted) - an unusual killing scene in which filmmaker Kashyap’s body is poured with beer, sauce and sizzlers.

Mani Ratnam suggested to Bhardwaj that he include a portion in the script where the lead protagonists Maqbool and Nimmi make merry after they’ve killed Abbaji.

Bhardwaj wanted to insert it but was apprehensive of fiddling with the screenplay while the shoot had begun.

Vidhu Vindod Chopra guided Bhardwaj to produce the film himself and put him in touch with NFDC.

NFDC, approached to co-produce the film, wanted to lower its Rs 5 crore budget, and include a ‘star’ in the line-up as well.

Farrukh Dhondy made several suggestions that were incorporated in the final draft of Maqbool.