The hype...
MOGUL MOWGLI
RIZ AHMED IS BACK, IN A CULTURE-CLASH DRAMA EXPLORING WHAT IT MEANS TO REPRESENT A COMMUNITY
‘It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,’ says Riz Ahmed of his lead role in Mogul Mowgli (out now), the film he cowrote and produced with director Bassam Tariq. ‘Psychologically, it took me to a dark place, one of real despair.’
Zed, played by Ahmed, is a British-Pakistani rapper living in New York who is struck down by a muscle-wasting degenerative disease on the eve of his big break. To portray this struggle, Ahmed had to lose 1Okg in three weeks, which brought both physical and emotional challenges to the part. His character is forced to return home to London, where he discovers his family thinks he’s a sell-out who has forgotten his culture. At its heart, this is an exploration of family ties and the bicultural experience.
‘We are all links in a chain of inheritance,’ says Ahmed. ‘He has his father’s genes and his ancestors’ trauma.’ As Zed undergoes painful treatment, he hallucinates about his personal history and his place in British and Pakistani history. ‘Ultimately, he is just a stepping stone for the next generation.’
” WE ARE ALL LINKS IN A CHAIN OF INHERITANCE – HE HAS HIS FATHER’S GENES AND HIS ANCESTORS’ TRAUMA”
He raps skilfully throughout, and the film’s name is even taken from a song title – Half Moghul Half Mowgli – by Swet Shop Boys, the hip-hop group co-founded by Ahmed. It signifies the dual inheritance of child immigrants: ‘On the one hand, there’s this amazing history and rich cultural tradition that we have within us as represented by the Mughal empire,’ says Ahmed. ‘On the other hand, we are like the Jungle Book character Mowgli, in that we were transported by the white imagination from our places of ancestral belonging into this foreign urban jungle, always having to remain vigilant for our survival, and always threatened with being booted out.’
The electrifying story and performance is Ahmed’s most personal yet, drawn directly from Ahmed and Tariq’s own experiences. ‘It’s very cathartic to tell your story and have ownership of it,’ Ahmed says. ‘It’s liberating to be able to say: “Our stories matter and are worthy of being told.”’ Mogul Mowgli is in cinemas now