MOGUL MOWGLI

United Kingdom

Director: Bassam Tariq

Cast: Riz Ahmed, Aiysha Hart, Anjana Vasan, Alyy Khan, Nabhaan Rizwan, Kiran Sonia Sawar

Genre: drama

86 minutes – English, Urdu (2020)

A British Pakistani rapper is on the cusp of his first world tour, when he is struck down by an illness that threatens to derail his big break.  Forced to move back in with his family, he begins to struggle to his place in the world, torn between an international music career and the traditions of his conservative Pakistani parents.  Through rap music, Qawwali and the fever dreams of an inherited illness, Zed confronts his relationship to his own culture, faith and family.

With an electric performance by Riz Ahmed in the lead role this thematically well-crafted work gets under the real skin of contemporary Muslim life in Britain.

Co-written with Riz Ahmed, Bassam Tariq’s MOGUL MOWGLI won the FIPRESCI Prize in the Panorama section of the 2020 Berlinale. This follows the success of Bassam Tariq’s highly awarded 2019 short documentary, Ghosts Of Sugar Land.  Emmy Award-winner Riz Ahmed’s long filmography includes Road to Guantanamo; Shifty; Four Lions; Nightcrawler; The Reluctant Fundamentalist; Sound of Metal; The OA; Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; The Night Of, amongst others.

‘Performed with forthright sincerity Mogul Mowgli tackles the complexities of 21st-century British selfhood head on…’ 
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

‘Ahmed affirms his standing as one of Britain’s most vital, risky actors’
Guy Lodge, Variety

‘A remarkably fresh and engaging film filled with catchy music and some of the best rap lyrics ever written for the big screen – Ahmed mesmerises in this powerful drama about dislocation from what truly matters.’
Stephen A Russell