Of all the plays penned by the genius bard William Shakespeare, one that seems especially relevant to our times is Macbeth. A tale about primal instincts and emotions, Macbeth deals with ambition, love, violence and death all in one breath.
Though there have been film adaptations of Macbeth by filmmakers across the world, little or no work has been done to adapt this play for an Indian film in an Indian environment. MAQBOOL seeks to be an attempt in this direction.
The backdrop for thew film is provided in the Mafia of the city of Mumbai. The central character of the story is, as the name suggests, a man by the name of Maqbool. He is the right hand man of the Mafia Don Abbaji, who has been ruling the crime world since quite a long time. Nimmi is Abbaji's mistress who hates her situation and is in love with Maqbool who she perceives, is the only one who can put her out of her misery.
Other important members of the gang happen to be Kaka, a longtime faithful of Abbaji and a good friend of Maqbool, Guddu, son of Kaka and Sameera, Abbaji's daughter and Boti, previously a member of a rival gang secretly in search of revenge. Two Police Officers, Pandit and Purohit, who also predict the future course of the lives of the protagonists, abet the gang.
Driven by his love for Nimmi and his ambition for power, Maqbool murders Abbaji and declares himself the leader of the gang. The Underworld is in a state of shock and all suspect Maqbool to be the perpetrator of this crime but no one dare say so as now it is him who rules the crime industry. Yet Maqbool perceives a threat, in the form of Kaka, Guddu and Boti who stand in his way of absolute supremacy. This leads him to commit more crimes against people who were once dear to him. Meanwhile the Police and the Politicians seem determined to see the last of him.
Circumstances spiral out of control and with little or no help from Nimmi, who is suffering an extremely difficult pregnancy and fatally severe guilt pangs which is disturbing her mental equilibrium, Maqbool finds himself surrounded on all sides. But Maqbool has encountered harsh circumstances before; only does he have the resolve to fight it anymore?
MAQBOOL seeks not to become a tame attempt to simply retell the story of Macbeth but to rediscover it in our times in an environment where even though crime has become an element witnessed in everyday life, much is left to represent the human facet underneath it. It aims not only to portray human emotions but also serve as a morality tale discriminating wisely between the right and the good and the wrong and the evil.
