Review on The film "Maqbool "(Based on Shakespearean play "Macbeth")

 "Maqbool" (2004), directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, and based on Shakespeare's Macbeth, has been a critically acclaimed film. Bhardwaj has transposed Shakespeare's play, set in 11" century Scotland, to modern day India, and more specifically, to the Mumbai underworld. Though there is a similarity of plot, character and motif, the Indian adaptation 
makes some interesting changes: Lady Macbeth is shown as Nimmi, in love with Maqbool, but who is the mistress of the don, Abbaji; the three witches are represented by two corrupt, soothsaying cops, Birnam Wood becomes the sea, and Nirnmi gives birth to a child at the end of the film.
   The portrayal of gangsters in Indian Cinema has changed over the years. The 20s to early 50s were ruled by rural bandits and dacoits. Until industrialization, in the late 50s, there were westernized gangsters which were further glamourized by the 70s. The Dawood rule over Bombay, the arrival of parallel cinema in the 80s, and the godfather revolution in world cinema influenced a lot of new-wave directors like Ram Gopal Verma (Satya), Mani Ratnam (Nayakan), and Vishal Bhardwaj (Shakespeare adapted trilogy) to create a raw understated portrayal of Indian gangsters. 

THEMES AND THE STORY OF THE FILM📽️

   Power Hierarchy

     Based on Macbeth, here the European kingdom is replaced by the underbellies of Mumbai which is ruled by a Minority of Muslim gangsters. The community is interconnected and controlled by powerful Hindu politicians and local policemen. The clan ruled by its old master named Abba-ji is the leader of the pack. He has divided his power, between his two most loyal men Maqbool and Kaka. Maqbool and Kaka have their separate Muslim and Hindu subordinates who are more like a family to each other. Maqbool is threatened by Kaka’s son Guddu who could be the next heir of Abbaji’s autonomous authority, as Abbaji has given his daughter Sameera’s hands to Guddu (a Hindu Brahmin guy) to further legitimize her in the society.

 Intra Communal Conflict

    Maqbool’s loyalty to Abba ji was his first and foremost priority over conflicts with Guddu but ironically Maqbool deceived Abbaji by conspiring his murder only to resist Guddu from the Throne. Abbaji Ji was more like his father and from his own community. Although being instigated by Nimmi (Abbaji’s mistress) who had an illicit relationship with Maqbool, Maqbool sacrificed his loyalty not only due to lust for Nimmi but also because of his own greed for power to take the center and rule the city. His conflict with kaka and other Hindu subordinates takes a back seat as he directly replaces the king of the game who was comparably the closest to him.

Pseudo Secular India

Amidst the power division, Maqbool looks up to the power of Abba ji until he takes up his reign. Maqbool fails to keep the two communities together like families unlike his master, as kaka and his clan grew suspicious of Maqbool and Nimmi. The Hindu clan led by Guddu separates itself from Maqbool and rises up to become their biggest rival (one of the biggest fears of Maqbool). Guddu further threatens to rescue Sameera by frequently attacking Maqbool’s rule. Maqbool fails to keep up his reign as he turns out to be a pawn in the game of powerful upper-caste Hindu politicians who are guarded by the two policemen pandit and purohit (replacing the witches in Macbeth). Bhardwaj portrays a new-age Indian ecosystem where different communities live in harmony, they share somewhat the same corrupt human traits justifying that humanity is above religion and that it cannot control the morality of a human being. At the end of the day, both Guddu and Maqbool are two sides of the same coin.

Madonna Whore Dichotomy 

Nimmi has all the traits to be a femme fatale. She uses her beauty as a weapon to seduce and manipulate men in her life. Although a prostitute from Lucknow, Nimmi enjoys the special power of being the mistress of Abba ji. Under the wing of a powerful man, she is kept as a ‘Madonna’ protected from the lewd remarks of the community (which prefers to keep the honor of their women under the veils of modesty). While being in an illegitimate relationship as a concubine of an old man, she commits another adultery with Maqbool. After helping him to conspire the death of Abbaji, she remains protected under the reign of Maqbool (another man who inherited the power) but this time with suspicions about her character. Nimmi is a fearless woman who has broken all the boundaries of morality led by her community but as her sins get multiplied she eventually pays the price of being a rebellious woman. With the downfall of Maqbool, Nimmi becomes the ‘Whore’, more vulnerable to the curses of people leading to her insanity.

Marginalized Antagonists

Vishal Bhardwaj’s characters have gray shades to humanize their evil actions. Each and every character are directly or indirectly surrounded by their own sins. Maqbool being from a marginalized community has ambitions to find his own identity as more than a loyal right hand of his master. It’s his journey to acquire legitimacy until he actually dethrones Abbaji and views a vast hierarchy ruled by other dominant communities above him. For the first time, he experiences the power of Abbaji whom he looked up to which is far from his reality. Nimmi is thrice as marginalized as Maqbool as she is a Muslim woman who worked as a prostitute and later as a mistress of a local gangster. Moreover, she committed adultery and broke all the boundaries of legitimacy. Anarchy is an unwise option especially when an individual is already marginalized by gender, race, caste, religion, financial, and social standing in society. The results would always be tragic and destructive.

Symbolization in Maqbool

Vishal Bhardwaj always uses crows as omens in his Shakespeare-inspired trilogy. The ravens are seen by characters who are driven to insanity. In Maqbool, the crow is a messenger of darkness and death which is seen by Nimmi reminding the transgression committed by her. Red is also a dominant hue in the film. A Muslim gangster’s blood splashed off over a Hindu Kundali, the house decorated by red roses to Nimmi dressed up in a red suit to seduce Maqbool. Red is a symbol of passion, intensity, lust, and future deaths written in the fate of the titular character. The Hindu symbol (Kundali) made by the two corrupt police officers pandit and purohit is to predict the future of Maqbool (a Muslim gangster) signifies the vision of a new age secular India which can live in peace with each other until their identity and territory is threatened. The five deadly Sins committed by Maqbool are Greed, Pride, Envy, Lust, and Wrath which contributed to his downfall.

Conclusion

Maqbool is a man who is a part of the violent ethos of the mafia at the start of the film, and becomes an even more actively ruthless one at the end. Where is the fall of a 'good' man that gives us the myriad feelings of hope, despair and feat. that are ours at the end of a Shakespearian play? Bhardwaj's attempts to bring in, at the end of the film, moral anxieties felt by Nimmi (her mental breakdown, her question, "Is everything we have done a sin?', as wellas Maqbool's joy in seeing his child, the close-up of a dying Maqbool looking at the sky with sadness) are all calculated to evoke the desired
feelings of sympathy in the viewer, but these are not sufficient to allow us to forget the violent milieu fiom which they have sprung. Moreover,Bhardwaj's glamorization of violence - with his inclusion of actors like Tabu, the creation of a familial atmosphere at Abbaji's home that draws the viewer into the deceptive warmth of the mafia family - seems to dilute the moral power of the play.

∆ Compare the general characteristics of the Elizabethan age and Neoclassical age:-

∆ Compare the general characteristics of the Elizabethan age and Neoclassical age:-

 Elizabethan age (1550-1620)

  Introduction:-
    Elizabeth ushers in Peace and Plenty.

The Elizabethan Age is the time period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and is often considered to be a golden age in English history. It was an age considered to be the height of the English Renaissance, and saw the full flowering of English literature and English poetry. In Elizabethan theater, William Shakespeare, among others, composed and staged plays in a variety of settings that broke away from England's past style of plays. It was an age of expansion and exploration abroad, while at home the Protestant Reformation was established and successfully defended against the Catholic powers of the Continent.

The Elizabethan Age is viewed so highly because of the contrasts with the periods before and after. It was a brief period of largely internal peace between the English Reformation, with battles between Protestants and Catholics, and the battles between parliament and the monarchy that would engulf the seventeenth century. The Protestant Catholic divide was settled, for a time, by the Elizabethan Religious Settlement and parliament was still not strong enough to challenge royal absolutism.

#Characteristics of Elizabethan age:- 

 ∆ Revival of Interest in Greek Literature:-
  
The ardent revival in the study of Greek literature brought a dazzling light into many dark places of interest. The new classical influences were a great benefit. They tempered & polished the earlier rudeness of English Literature.
    
∆ Abundance of Output:-

The Elizabethan age was rich in literary productions of all kinds. Singing is impossible when one’s hearts undeclared & at any moment one may be laid prostrate.
 
Not till the accession of Queen Elizabeth, did a better state of things began to be. In the Elizabethan age, pamphlets & treatises were freely written.

Sometimes writers indulged in scurrilous abuses which were of personal character. But on the whole, the output of the literature was very wide, & after the lean years of the preceding epoch, the prodigal issue of the Elizabethan age is almost embarrassing.

∆ The New Romanticism:-

The romantic quest is, for the remote, the wonderful & the beautiful. All these desires were abundantly fed during the Elizabethan age, which is the first & the greatest romantic epoch (period).

According to Albert, “there was a daring & resolute spirit of adventure in literary as well as the other regions, & most important of these was an un-mistakable buoyancy & freshness in the strong wind of the spirit. It was the ardent youth of English Literature & the achievement was worthy of it.”

∆ Translations in Elizabethan Age:-

The Elizabethan age witnessed translation into English of several important foreign books. Many translations were as popular as the original works.

Sir Thomas North translated Plutarch’s Lives & John Florio translated Montaigne’s Essais.
No less popular were the translations in poetry. E.g. Metamorphoses by Arthur Golding, Arisoto Orlando Furioso by Sir John Harrington, Tasso’s Terusalom Liberata by Richard Carew. 

∆ Spirit of Independence

In spite of borrowings from abroad, the authors of this age showed a spirit of independence & creativeness.
Shakespeare borrowed freely, but by the alembic of his creative imaginations, he transformed the dross into gold.
Spenser introduced the ‘Spenserian Stanza’, & from his works, we got the impression of inventiveness & intrepidity.
On the whole, the outlook of the writers during the age was broad & independent.

∆ Development of Drama

During the Elizabethan Age, drama made a swift & wonderful leap into maturity. The drama reached the splendid perfection in the hands of Shakespeare & Ben Jonson, though in the concluding part of the age, particularly in Jacobean Age, there was a decline of drama standards.

Popularity of Poetry:-
Poetry enjoyed its hey-day during the Elizabethan age. The whole of the age lived in a state of poetic fervour.
Songs, lyrics & sonnets were produced in plenty, & England became nest of the singing birds. In versification, there was a marked improvement.

Melody & Pictorialism were introduced in poetry by Spenser.

∆ Prose and Novel

For the first time, prose rose to the position of first rate importance.

Even the development of poetical drama between 1579 A.D. -1629 A.D., is hardly more extraordinary than the sudden expansion of English prose & its adaptation to every kind of literary requirement.”

The dead weight of the Latin & English prose acquired a tradition & universal application.

English Novel made its first proper appearance during this age.

The Neo-Classical Age(1660-1788)

Introduction:-

 This period goes by the names "the Enlightenment,"  "the Age of Reason," and "the Neo-Classical Age."
     
There was a great turning away from religion as primary way of life.People had been caught up in religious schism and sometimes outright warfare from 1534, the year Henry VIII split away from the Catholic church, until the Glorious Revolution of 1589. England now turned its attention to politics and scientific/logical analysis & reason.

   belief had been based on authority; restoration brought the scientific method

∆We can divide the era into three sub-periods.
 
1) 1660-1700 Restoration Literature:-

Dryden was the main literary figure of this period. He wrote in the modes popular in that time - verse, comedy, tragedy, hero plays, ode, satire, translation, & critical essay. The style of the time is less ornate than before, with a more plain, straightforward approach.
 
 
2) 1700-1745 The Augustan period:-

The literature of this era is "chiefly a literature of wit, concerned with civilizatino and social relationships, and consequently, it is critical and in some degree moral or satiric" (Abrams 832). It is called the Augustan period because the golden era of Roman writing was under the Emperor Augustus. This period tried to emulate the earlier one.

3) 1745-1785 The Samuel Johnson period:-

This was a period of intense prose writing. Earlier periods had tended to produce great poetry, but not great poetry so much.
 
∆ Characteristics of Neo- classical Age:-

1) Imitation of Classics:-

One of the most important features of the Neoclassical literature is the imitation of the classics of ancient Greek and Roman literature.

Although the Renaissance writers had imitated the classics, whereas Renaissance writers mere derived inspirations from the classics rather than copying the models of the past, the Neoclassical writers strictly adhered to the authority of their models. Thus Neoclassical literature can be called as ‘Traditional’.

2) Concept of Nature:-

The concept of nature was also an important characteristic of the Neoclassical age. By nature, they never meant the forest nature, but for them, nature meant the general human nature.

The general human nature was not what the ordinary men and women felt and thought, but the standard view of human nature as held by Homer and Horace.

Like their static view of the world, the Neoclassical writers thought of human nature also was something static and standard, which is the same in all men and remains the same at all times. Thus their view of nature as well as of man, world, and genre was static and standard.

3) Concept of Man:-

The Neoclassical literature considers man as a limited being, having limited power. A large number of satires and works of the period attack the man for his pride and advise him to remain content with his limited power of knowledge. Thus man in Neoclassical literature remains a being of limited means and power.

4) The New Restraint:-

Writers started inventing new words and regularising vocabulary and grammar. Complex bodily metaphysical language such as Shakespeare used in his major tragedies was clarified and simplified.

∆Literary Forms:-

Among the Neoclassical forms of literature, the most famous were the essay, both in verse and prose. While drama declined and almost disappeared during the later part of the period, Novel made its beginnings. The literature of the age was mostly comic and satiric. An important failure of the age was to produce tragedy.

∆Neoclassical Drama:-

-Neoclassical drama falls into two phases-

•Restoration Drama (later 17th century)
•Sentimental Drama (18th century)

In the Restoration Age, drama rose in the form of Comedy of Manners. But in the second phase, it declined as the Elizabethan dramas like those of Shakespeare were reproduced and age itself did not produce drama. Thus the decline of drama happened.

∆\ Conclusion:-

The Neoclassical Period in literature brought a sense of decorum and stability to writers. There were rules to be carefully followed. It was a time of careful moral appearance, though appearances were more valued than honesty. However, some of England’s most brilliant literature can be credited to this era.

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