Riz Ahmed’s Hamlet, directed by Aneil Karia, a British film in English and Hindi/Punjabi, a bold and vivid adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy and set in a contemporary South Asian community, was at the Toronto film festival
Illustration/Uday Mohite
Riz Ahmed, the fine British actor and musician, is stunning as Hamlet in Aneil Karia’s bold and vivid adaptation of Hamlet, one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. The film, a British film in English and Hindi/Punjabi, with a significantly South Asian/diaspora team — Riz Ahmed, Art Malik as the uncle Claudius, Sheba Chaddha as his mother Gertrude, and director Aneil Karia, was in the Centrepiece section at the recent 50th Toronto International Film Festival. It was also at the Telluride film festival, and will be at the BFI London Film Festival from October 8-19. Of course, the beloved play has a long history of film adaptations, among my most favourite being Grigori Kozintsev’s Hamlet in Russian (b/w, 1964), and Vishal Bhardwaj’s brilliant adaptation Haider, with Shahid Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Kay Kay Menon, set in Kashmir, with a screenplay by Basharat Peer and Vishal Bhardwaj, in 2014.
The story is well known to many from school days: Hamlet’s father has passed away; his mother Gertrude is marrying his uncle Claudius in unseemly haste. Hamlet is wounded and outraged, and after his father appears as a ghost (Avijit Dutt) and tells him Claudius murdered him, he is further enraged. He stages a play that makes it clear to Claudius that Hamlet knows he’s the culprit. There is the famous soliloquy, “To be or not to be…” and his lover Ophelia, and by the climax, the body count is very, very high.
Aneil Karia, who earlier directed the feature Surge and the Oscar-winning short The Long Goodbye (the Oscar was shared with Riz Ahmed, who co-wrote and acted in it), makes a bold move by setting Hamlet in contemporary London’s South Asian community. So you have a bristling film that upends expectations, with Hamlet in a kurta; there’s dancing at a shaadi (Hamlet’s gori mem lover Ophelia, played by Morfydd Clark, wears mehendi on her hands); his mother Sheba Chaddha speaks to him in Punjabi, but he replies in Shakespearean English, and someone says, “My Lord, he desires to speak with you.” One is also reminded of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo+ Juliet, that flings out the rule books and throbs with music and contemporaneity.
Karia’s direction is more interested in the how the Danish prince — a decent guy — unravels as he tries to cope with the blatant betrayals of his own family, and in the psychological nuances of tragedy. The screenwriter is Michael Lesslie (though director Aneil Karia, in an interview has credited Riz Ahmed for the script as well). There’s no Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and no Horatio.
And by setting it in contemporary time and in a South Asian community, he brings new dimensions: Elsinore Castle is now Elsinore Estates, and Uncle Claudius, furious that Hamlet has caught him out, sets his goons to finish off the prince. From one of the goons, Hamlet learns that his real estate tycoon dad has booted out old retainers including the goon, who now lives in one of those tents the homeless use —nonetheless he spares Hamlet’s life — commenting on the state of the economy, the rise of British Asians, and compassion. Additionally, setting it in the South Asian community allows Karia to bring in a kinetic energy, and cultural layers — the play Hamlet stages is transformed into a dance at a shaadi — an Indian/Brit Asian wedding staple today— in a stunning Bollywood-yet-modern dance choreographed by Akram Khan, top Brit Asian choreographer-dancer.
Riz Ahmed creates a finely calibrated, astute psychological portrait of the Danish prince who is unravelling, with emotional complexity. Art Malik is good as the skunky Claudius, and we were delighted to see Sheeba Chaddha in this film as Gertrude, strong as ever.
Cinematographer Stuart Bentley is good, and Karia and he marvellously stage the “to be or not to be” soliloquy as Hamlet is speeding dangerously in a car at night: we worry that a fatal crash may make the answer redundant. The editing, music and sound keep it engrossing. Both Riz Ahmed and Michael Lesslie are producers on the film, along with James Wilson, Allie Moore and Tommy Oliver, with production companies being Left Handed Films, Storyteller Productions and JW Films. A strong, welcome addition to Shakespeare’s adaptations.
Meenakshi Shedde, film curator, has been working with the Toronto, Berlin and other festivals worldwide for 30 years. She has been a Cannes Film Festival Jury Member and Golden Globes International Voter, and is a journalist and critic.
Reach her at meenakshi.shedde@mid-day.com
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