Mogul Mowgli

BROWN RAP Anothe Riz Ahmed project dealing with the possible derailment of a music career due to a health issue? Yes, and this may be Oscar nomination number two for the young upstar(t). "Mogul Mowgli" does an excellent job of setting up the trending career of British born to Pakistani parents rapper Zed - easy since it parallels the real life of actor, writer, rapper Ahmed (Riz MC to you), but it is the physical and mental torment that ensues with a family visit that is the real pulse in the film. Attacked by his more traditional circle who find it hard to recognize the high flying rapper, and attacked by his body's immune system because it cannot recognize itself, Zed the rapper and Zaheer the son sees his rosy world come crashing to a violent halt in a double whammy of identity theft. During a frantic hospital stay on the eve of a major tour, an unsettling past haunts a desperate Zaheer in a series of hallucinatory sequences as he searches for his mind and his body. The historical context, left unexplained except for a few cloudy clues, refers to the 1947 Pakistani and Indian partition, more specifically the short story "Toba Tek Singh" that deals with the repercussions of creating a border and shuffling people based on religious lines. Oh those crazy Brits. Identity is a complex struggle Zaheer is forced to reconcile as his life crumbles, and he is literally and figuratively stuck in no man's land. Borderless. Slickly edited, from flashy concert scenes to humble immigrant apartment life, "Mogul Mowgli" flows freely from English to Urdu in a wonderful rhythm, especially poignant when father and son move from stilted social niceties to butting stubborn heads. All of this heaviness boils down to the Riz Ahmed and Ally Khan show, and a damn fine show it is. - hipCRANK

A solid performance by Riz Ahmed with a story with unlimited potential that is lazy and in need of a major rewrite. A five star performance. A 2 1/2 star direction and 2 1/2 star story that drags often.

Riz Ahmed elevates a film that was merely pedestrian to somewhat entertaining. Ahmed, who co-wrote, can't make up for the lack of words on the page, but does his best with a nuanced performance with all the facial expressions he had in his arsenal. Besides Ahmed's genius, this is a slog at times, with things happening too quickly at times and repetitive at others. When the film reaches the fantasy it took me out of the movie. Worth watching, but a definite mixed bag. Final Score: 6/10

Riz continues to shine. This film is deep. Dark. And a wonderful showcase for the continued evolution of Riz's incredible ability to shape-shift into the characters he portrays. Not a perfect film, but perfect for what it is. Intense. Bold. Brave.

nice flick, original

After seeing him in "Sound of Metal" and here, he's almost the same character: intense musician facing a health crisis. Here it's superimposed on his ethnic and religious background and his life choices diverging from them. He's great, different than the drummer guy but the same, and the movie is effective at conveying the pressure and emotion of the contradictions of being British born but not seen as British. I wish it had gone further and really explored the heritage and faith issues rather than just fast cuts and flashbacks. It also deserves a better conclusion, we see promise but no fulfillment. A well done movie overall, I look forward to the director's next and hopefully more mature work.

Yum n Ivory yhu hi I’m

Despite a really strong central performance from Ahmed this film just meandered too much and could have done with cutting about fifty percent of its artsy apparition scenes that just didn't really go anywhere.

There is so much meaning to this movie! This shows you a side of a south-asian British born in a house with south Asian culture - we see the clash from "what I like" to "what my culture wants". It show that we are put in a box from our own people, and from the people outside. Its a masterpiece. I don't want to spend all day on rotten tomato explaining how I felt. I think you would love the movie if you felt racism, or has some anger that we are told to stay in our lane, that "we" should go back to our county.

I saw this because my wife, who is from Pakistan, wanted to see it. She was very dissapointed. The film itself is extremely pretentious and disjointed and the acting is self concious. We had the highest hopes for this but it was difficult to make it through the entire film.