Zulfiqar (film)

Zulfiqar
Film poster
Directed by	Srijit Mukherjee
Produced by	Shrikant Mohta Mahendra Soni
Written by	Srijit Mukherji
Screenplay by	Srijit Mukherji
Starring	Prosenjit Chatterjee Dev Jisshu Sengupta Parambrata Chatterjee Ankush Hazra Kaushik Sen Neel Mukherjee Kanchan Mullick Rahul Banerjee Paoli Dam Nusrat Jahan June Malia Kyra Dutt
Music by	Anupam Roy
Cinematography	Soumik Haldar
Edited by	Srijit Mukherji Anindya Chattopadhyay
Production company	Shree Venkatesh Films[1]
Distributed by	Shree Venkatesh Films
Release dates	7 October 2016
Country	India
Language	Bengali
Budget	₹4 crore (US$590,000)
Box office	₹7 crore (US$1.0 million)

Zulfiqar is a 2016 Indian Bengali language crime drama film directed by Srijit Mukherji.^[2] The film is based on adaptation of two of William Shakespeare’s tragedies: Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.^[3] The shooting of the film started in January 2016. The film was released on 7 October 2016 during Durga Puja to bad reviews but wass a huge box office success.^[4] The songs and music of the film is a hit and topped the charts.^[5]

Plot

The film portrays the story of the much loved man Zulfiqar Ahmed (Prosenjit Chatterjee), who happens to be a Robin Hood-esque figure and the most prominent member of The Syndicate - a powerful organization which oversees most of the happenings in the heart of the city. Basheer Khan (Kaushik Sen), a member of The Syndicate is a nationalist, a gangster and the best friend of Zulfiqar, who does not support terrorism. Tony Braganza (Parambrata Chatterjee) is the brain of The Syndicate who oversees the financial things of the organization, and Markaz Ali (Dev) is the brawn. If need be, Tony can shoot a bullet, but he is a man of the papers. Tony and Markaz have grown up together and they are inseparable. Kashinath Kundu (Jisshu Sengupta) is the wily and scheming guy of The Syndicate, who have an ambition for power. Zulfiqar is more equal than the others who carries his aura lightly, but even in this group of equals, his opinion on matters of business and policy weigh a bit more. Not everyone likes this including Kashinath Kundu who fuels Basheer's growing individuality and makes him believe that Zulfiqar was the one who gave shelter to Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists who came to West Bengal some days earlier by showing him some fake photographs and documents.

Basheer, fully convinced about Zulfiqar's involvement in helping the terrorists to hide in West Bengal, reluctantly decides to kill him with the other conspirators on the auspicious occasion of Eid al-Fitr. Karishma Ahmed (Paoli Dam), Zulfiqar's wife sees hallucinations of some upcoming danger that is yet to take place with Zulfiqar and repeatedly prevents him from going out on Eid al-Fitr. Zulfiqar, to calm down his wife, decides not to get out. But Danish, Zulfiqar gangmate, escorts him to go out. Tony and Markaz had no idea about the conspiracy and they were prevented from attending the meeting by Tribhuban Gupta (Srijato) who held both of them for some other cause. Qasim (Aryann Roy) shoots first with other conspirators, including Basheer Khan, Kashinath Kundu, Kaushik Sinha (Sujan Mukhopadhyay), Mithilesh (Prasun Gayen) and kill Zulfiqar to end his rule once and for all.

After Zulfiqar's death, Basheer Khan delivers an oration defending his actions and for the moment the crowd, which have gathered outside the assassination spot to know the reasons for Zulfiqar's murder, is on the conspirators's side. However, Tony and Markaz, with a subtle and eloquent speech over Zulfiqar's corpse deftly turns public opinion against the assassins by manipulating the emotions of the common people. Tony, even as he states his intentions against it, rouses the mob to avenge Zulfiqar's murder. The conspirators go into hiding, but one by one Markaz, Tony and Laltu finds and kills Tribhuban, Shishir Tili, Qasim and Sinha. Basheer reveals that his beloved wife Pariza Khan (June Maliah) had committed suicide under the stress of his absence after which he and Kashinath prepare for a gang war against Tony, Markaz, Zulfiqar's nephew Akhtar Ahmed (Ankush Hazra), a corrupt policeman Laltu Das (Rahul Banerjee) and Tony's favourite aide Chenno Bablu (Kanchan Mullick). That night, Zulfiqar's ghost appears to Basheer and tell him,he too will know everything when the right time comes and then once more the ghost will appear. The two groups break into a fight. Danish is shot first and before his last breath he whispers something to Basheer. Kashinath inadvertently reveals his conspiracy against Zulfiqar, the faking of the photographs and how he brainwashed Basheer into killing his best friend, after which Basheer informs him what Danish told him in his last moments- Kashinath is the illegitimate brother of Pariza. Now both of them indulges in a hand-to-hand combat, which ends when they kill each other. With his dying breath, Basheer again sees the ghost of Zulfiqar, as promised before.

The remaining part of the story follows the romantic relationship of Tony with Akhtar's sister, Albeena Ahmed (Kyra Dutt) and Markaz's relationship with Rani Talapatra (Nusrat Jahan), their fates, the break up of The Syndicate, with Akhtar systematically removing every obstacle in his path, including Markaz, Tony, Chheno Bablu, Laltu, and Rani, ultimately becoming the new, all-powerful gangster of the area.

Cast

Soundtrack

Zulfiqar
Soundtrack album by Anupam Roy
Released	2016
Recorded	2016
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	Shree Venkatesh Films
Producer	Shrikant Mohta Mahendra Soni
Anupam Roy chronology
Shaheb Bibi Golaam (2016) Zulfiqar (2016)

Reception

Critical response

The film was widely panned by critics.The film was rated 2.5/5 by reviewers of The Times of India. The reviewers lambasted the storytelling, acting, costume design etc. commenting-"The result of the Shakespearean 'fusion' is a film that is an overcooked, hyperventilating stream of images and sound stretching for well over two hours".^[11] Editors from Indian Express also critiqued the Shakespearean adoption rating the film 2/5.^[12]

Controversy

The film was subjected to controversy as it showed the leading characters, mostly Muslims, associated with illegal activities. Chairman of the State Minorities Commission Imtiaz Ali Shah reported the incident to the Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, following which Mukherji had agreed to address the issues. Sources said Banerjee herself ordered some cuts in the film.^[13]

Assistant Professor at Aliah University Mohammad Reyaz wrote a critique of stereotyping of Muslims in the film which led to the director Srijit Mukherji responding with a note on Facebook.^[14]

References

Further reading

• "Zulfiqar: Yet another stereotype of the Muslim 'other' in Kolkata". Dailyo. 

External links

• Zulfiqar at the Internet Movie Database