Film Review -Mulk

Genre: Drama
Rating: 3.5/5
140 minutes 
Director : Anubhav Sinha 

 If the first half set the tone with ‘Naach gaane ke liye theek hai, par hum khaana kahaan khaate hain inke yahaan?’ voiced by a Hindu guest at retired advocate Murad Ali Mohammed’s (Rishi Kapoor) 65th birthday party, the second half has the ‘hum aur woh’ polemic which threatens to lay bare the socio-political fabric plaguing our society and the nation since 1947.
Murad Ali, the patriarch of a joint family, lives in a 90-year-old ancestral haveli in Benares. When his younger brother Bilaal’s (Manoj Pahwa) wilful son Shahid (Prateik Babbar) is named as an accused in a bomb blast which claims 18 lives, doors are closed on the family — their Hindu neighbours turn their backs towards them, their house is pelted with stones and their reputation is torn to shreds. And after Shahid is killed in an encounter, matters are made worse when his father Billal is named as an accomplice and jailed.
It’s Anubhav Sinha’s best film to date. In the first half, he manages to flesh out each character, especially that of Murad’s Hindu daughter-in-law Aarti (Taapsee Pannu) who’s flown in from Germany for her father-in-law’s birthday celebrations.
Rishi Kapoor eases comfortably into his role of a lawyer — who feels his roots are entrenched in India — battling to prove his brother innocent. Sinha ups the ante when Aarti takes over as defence counsel, sparring with prosecutor (Ashutosh Rana) who slots all Muslims as no-gooders.
Manoj Pahwa is outstanding while Rishi Kapoor, Taapsee Pannu, Rajat Kapoor as the anti-terrorist officer and Kumud Mishra, in a tailor-made role as the judge, excel.
Although the courtroom exchanges feel a bit extended, Sinha pulls no punches, and astutely drives the message home — whether it’s the discussion of the religion of an unborn child in an intercaste marriage, defining jihaad, or Murad refusing to accept Shahid’s body.