Ever since he rose to prominence in Four Lions, Riz Ahmed’s acting career has gone from strength to strength. From an excellent supporting role in Nightcrawler to a historic Emmy win for The Night Of, his stock keeps rising. In Mogul Mowgli, Ahmed leads with a performance that is his most personal and affecting yet.
Set around the life of up and coming MC Zed/Zaheer, Mogul Mowgli tackles questions of family, identity, religion, integrity and illness with a tense, psychological edge. The script, co-written by Ahmed and director Bassam Tariq, sharply riffs on British-Pakistani culture and politics in a way that never feels forced. It’s an engaging, heartfelt rumination that feels so personal to the writers but emotionally hooks you from the outset. As Zed faces tough decisions following a diagnosis of a generative disease, he grapples with his personal demons in an unsettling, hallucinatory way.
Ahmed argues that the film is: “like a Curb Your Enthusiasm moment put through a Muslim filter”, which to a large extent is accurate. Despite the film’s heavy subject matter and discomforting look at the human psyche, there are excellent moments of humour scattered throughout the script that gives it welcome levity. Anchoring this flurry of ideas and emotions, though, is a sizzling lead performance from Ahmed. He effortlessly shifts through the gears of the emotional spectrum, tackling the film’s hard-hitting, complex tones with ease. It’s a performance so personal and introspective, deftly balanced with heart to enable an instant connection to the character.
Equally, integrating Ahmed’s own impressive rap career (check out The Long Goodbye) into the film’s plot is crucial to its success. The vicious delivery that goes into his rapping unlock other facets of the character to connect to, spitting about his background, identity and politics with a venom that cuts through the film like a knife does butter. Modern films can often be too on-the-nose politically, effectively telling the audience what to think, though this isn’t the case here. Mogul Mowgli confronts politics in an engaging way that feels organic and this applies for each other theme dealt with. There are so many important questions in the script, woven so seamlessly together that it never makes the film convoluted, a testament to solid direction and editing.
With regards to the editing, it is certainly the pick of the technical plaudits for the film. The deliberately jarring, discomforting hallucinations about Zed’s deepest fears are ever so finely sprinkled into the plot, expertly blurring reality. These sequences are the manifestation of nightmares, adding a flavour of psychological horror to the film that whilst unexpected, works brilliantly. Unfortunately, where the film lets itself down is the technical aspects behind these moments. The colouring is bland, the sound mixing, as it is through most of the film, is annoyingly inconsistent, leaving a little to be desired. For maximum effect, these sequences need bold visuals and sound to match, which sadly they lacked.
The Verdict
What it lacks in audio-visual elements, Mogul Mowgli more than makes up for with a personal, superbly-led story that consistently hits the right emotional beats. It’s a story of struggle and triumph, clashing ideas and identities that psychologically probe both protagonist and audience. It gracefully switches tones in a way that’s never contradictory and is always well executed. Supported by a currently career-best performance for Riz Ahmed (before Sound of Metal releases), this film is a gripping, emotive and thought-provoking examination of British-Pakistani culture.
Rating: 8/10
Words by Elliott Jones