Mulk Review: Taapsee Pannu and Rishi Kapoor Starrer Is A Gripping Film

Rishi Kapoor-Taapsee Pannu starrer Mulk is 'a jolting reminder of a harsh socio-political reality'. It is also a gripping riveting drama,passionately drawn from newspaper headlines.' The movie revolves around a terror suspect Shahid Mohammed (Prateik Babbar), his father Murad Ali Mohammed (Rishi Kapoor), and the defence lawyer, Aarti Mohammed (Taapsee Pannu). The start shows that Prateik Babbar is a terrorist, and is involved in a bomb blast. Prateik goes absconding, and this leads to the police knocking down Rishi Kapoor's home, and arresting him and other members of the family, assuming that they know about their son's whereabouts. 

Mulk holds immense promise right at the start as the director captures cultural and communal harmony with Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb of Varanasi, where Hindus begin their mornings to the sound of aazaan, where a hindu person can eat kebabs on the sly at his Muslim neighbor’s home. Cinematographer Ewan Mulligan’s constantly moving camera shows the chaos of everyday life as well as the underlying sense of harmony. At the same time, there are the hidden flashpoints, the discords, and fissures. A Hindu neighbor is willing to share in the happiness and festivities of the Mohammed family but won’t eat their food, even if its pure vegetarian. There are jibes about lack of education and jihad in the community. No wonder a tiny spark of jingoistic nationalism is enough to bring the neighborhood camaraderie and amity down.

Rishi Kapoor and Taapsee Pannu walk away with the most dramatic moments but Manoj Pahwa as Ali Mohammed’s wronged brother Bilal is heartbreaking and Kumud Mishra as the judge gets to speak some compelling common sense about the Constitution and elections that we could well pay heed to. Mulk is a work that doesn't take sides, doesn't make the Indian Muslim community a portrait of injured innocence.

Taapsee Pannu