Dir: Aneil Karia, US/UK, 2025, 113 mins, English, some Hindi with subtitles
Cast: Riz Ahmed, Art Malik, Sheeba Chaddha, Morfydd Clark
Review by Carol Allen
The opening of the film is a masterstroke in terms of setting the scene, showing us the Hindu death ritual of the son, Hamlet (Riz Ahmed) washing the body of his late father (Avijit Dutt) while the priest recites the prayers for the dead. We then move into the funeral, after which Hamlet learns that his mother Gertrude (Sheeba Chaddha) is planning to marry his father’s brother Claudius (Art Malik) – unlike in Shakespeare’s play where they are already married. This does give Karia a brilliant opportunity to give us a full Indian wedding later, at which the mummers, briefed by Hamlet, perform a colourful re-enaction of the murder of Hamlet Snr.
The text has also been drastically cut in order to keep the story’s focus on the mental and emotional disintegration of Hamlet himself. Polonius (Timothy Spall), advisor to the family business, Elsinore Construction Group, has no chance to pontificate, Ophelia (Morfydd Clark) no mad scene though she does have some strong confrontations with Hamlet, while Gertrude for much of the time is reduced to being the quiet and compliant wife – though she does come into her own after the now very bloody murder of Polonius. Claudius too loses a lot of his best speeches but Malik gives great presence and an often malign energy to the role. Joe Alwyn, recently seen as Shakespeare’s brother in law in Hamnet, makes a strong impression as Laertes, particularly in his response to Polonius’s death.
Ahmed as Hamlet brings his trademark intensity.in the role. The early soliloquy “Oh that this too, too solid flesh would melt”, delivered over the bed where his father died, is very moving but the famous “To be or not to be” speech, delivered while he is driving his car at a dangerous speed and nearly crashes, is very cinematic but the words get lost in the action. The all important scene where the ghost reveals his murder to his son however is one of the most effective, played out at night on the roof of one of Elsinore’s development projects with the lights of London the background and the ghost talking in his native Hindi.
Ahmed and Karia first worked together on the Oscar winning short film The Long Goodbye a few years ago and were obviously keen to work together again. This groundbreaking collaboration with Lesslie sometimes strains a little to fit Shakespeare’s ideas into their concept but it not only shows both courage and imagination but demonstrates once more that the bard was a man for all seasons, whose universal stories are meat for all cultures too,
About the Author
