MOGUL MOWGLI- reviewed by Shabnam Palesa Mohamed
(12 November - 22 November - online and free at European Film festival SA)
Making a film that has both art and commercial appeal is a stand-up and applaud feat. In fact, if I wasn’t watching this film from the comfort of my home, I might stand up in the cinema, and slow clap.
Riz Ahmed in Mogul Mowgli
Mogul Mowgli nails this Holy Grail appeal with authentic, out-the-box imagination. It’s a film about Zaheer Anwar – a British-Pakistani rap artist whose slam poetry speaks to being a POC, identity, the challenges of immigration, assimilation, and love - certainly some of the best rap lyrics written for screen. I was reminded of Eminem film, 8 Mile. Except this time, I could relate to the character better.
Anwar’s mother adores him, but it is his loving father who is his champion. On a trip home to visit his doting parents, who he hasn’t seen in two years, there are relatable scenes where he is called a “coconut” for changing his name from Zaheer to Zed. Just one week before he goes on a dream rap tour to Europe, Anwar increasingly loses feeling in his legs, gets into a scuffle with a fan, and collapses outside a mosque that he hasn’t been to, in years. There’s also an amusingly ridiculous debate scene involving a marijuana joint that Muslims and non-Muslims may understand. You decide who is right!
Still from Mogul Mowgli
His hospital chapter is fascinating. From discussions about chilli rituals to ward off nazr or the “evil eye” that made him sick, to his father arranging traditional cupping (hijama) treatment to heal his legs. But the scenes that stand out - because we are never told who he is - are Anwar’s hallucinations of a mysterious man with a flower veil who bizarrely stalks him. As a child, Anwar saw this man at a Qawaali (Sufi style singing) event at his father’s modest restaurant. These scenes are interspersed with surreal, almost time travel-like scenes of Anwar on a train his father fled in after the British colonial partition of India. Because of this pain, Anwar seeks POC unity with African-American rappers.
It turns out Anwar has a hereditary auto-immune disease, which he is angry at his father for not telling him about. Meanwhile, his father does everything, from bathing him, to pray for him. His manager becomes stressed about the rap tour and brings in a replacement, a typical “Gucci gang” mumble rapper, who Anwar despises for polluting the art of conscious lyrics. Anwar is forced to sell one of his songs to the third eye tattooed fan, almost as painful for him as his mom working at a grocery store.
Riz Ahmed
Bismillah, Anwar has a biopsy. He is told his disease is degenerative and chronic. There is an experimental treatment, but it comes with chemo-like side effects and possible infertility. He is advised to save his sperm before the infusion treatment. His ex-girlfriend Bina phones just as he awkwardly stares at the ‘material’ intended to motivate him to release sperm - to be frozen just in case he wants kids. Bina doesn’t want to get back together; Anwar’s career has always been a priority.
Nelson Mandela makes an appearance, well, his name anyway. RPK the sex lyrics rapper says “Without apartheid, there would be no Mandela. Without you, there would be no me”. Ahmed’s acting is so brilliant, I could sense him wanting to mentally vomit. Gaunt and weak, there is a heart-breaking scene where Anwar, on the floor, has his stressed, arguing parents removed from his hospital room. Having recovered from a rare form of leukaemia myself, I could relate to his anguish, and his parent’s grief.
The closing scene, of his traditional father rapping with him as he sits on the toilet, is probably my favourite. But it’s the last shot that lingers in my mind. He looks towards the camera, and his expression changes. Did he see the veiled man again? Was it him or his father hiding on that train? Who was laying on the floor in the hospital? What was on his face after his seizure? The EUFF organisers chose the perfect film to whet my appetite to watch the other eleven! Bravo to the writers Riz Ahmed and Bassam Tariq. Does Zed recover? You will have to watch, and like me, will him to walk.
Catch this and 11 other films at the European Film Festival (12-22 November - online - click on this link to book - https://films.eurofilmfest.co.za/
ends
Shabnam Palesa Mohamed is an award-winning activist, author, poet, radio journalist, and former documentary filmmaker. She manages the Centre for Fine Art, Animation and Design in Durban.
Shabnam Palesa Mohamed