Zed (Riz Ahmed) slips into the bathroom and sits on the toilet while his thumbs frantically run over his phone screen. His mindset is in his career as a rapper. He can see his dreams slowly coming true, one performance at a time...

All of a sudden, an ache in his leg stronger than his ambition stifles his trajectory. In Mogul Mowgli, an initially unidentifiable illness forces the British Pakistani rapper’s growth as a musician and son through his struggle to step away from the future, interrupting the momentum of his career, and remain in the present where his family and friendships are.

Writer and director Bassam Tariq co-wrote the film with Riz Ahmed. While working on the film, they were both traveling, sharing drafts and scenes with each other; Ahmed would write a page and then Tariq would write a page. Slowly the film started “coming to life” as they read over the script to each other and refined the story of Zed. 

“He [Ahmed] is someone that is giving me so much insight that I was like, I need to be honest here and I need to be like, ‘dude, we’re doing this together so let’s write this together. You deserve the credit,’” Tariq says. “He was a bit sheepish about it in the beginning because he didn’t want it, but he deserves it.” 

Mogul Mowgli includes songs that were made specifically for the movie. Ahmed, who has been making music and rapping since he was a teenager under the name Riz MC, developed the lyrics that would accompany and shape the script as well. 

“I think we were trying to write the film, and then understand how the raps would be moments of realization and not just flourish — but they’re moments where he’s learning something,” Tariq explains. 

One of the prominent songs in the film is “Toba Tek Singh,” titled after a short story by Saadat Hasan Manto that takes place during the 1947 Partition. Details like these are what make Mogul Mowgli authentic, Tariq says; he wanted to make something so honest and true to the culture of the world that it is radical in itself. 

“I just want it to be about something that’s very specific and not worry if people are going to catch on,” he says. 

Tariq states that by upholding a truth that speaks from his own experience in the diaspora as someone born in Pakistan and grew up in the U.S., he is making something that can then resonate with people like him and people who have similar experiences. One of those experiences highlighted in the film is the importance of the family structure that spans many different cultures. 

“Living with our family structures, if anything happens to us, it happens to all of us,” he says. 

The family has a strong presence in Mogul Mowgli, as it directly follows the relationship between Zed and his father, Bashir (Alyy Khan). In the beginning, Bashir wants to have a connection with his son. He doesn’t compliment his music or applaud how far he’s come because inside, he wishes his son was there with him. When an illness affects Zed’s ability to move and take care of himself, his father has to step in. The progression of their relationship is told through intimate and vulnerable interactions in the bathroom. Slowly, Zed lets his father in to offer help, literally and figuratively. 

“In some ways, it’s like the father is giving the son the space to be,” Tariq explains. When Zed finally lets his father in, he shows him his love for music and the performances he has missed out on. “And then he says, ‘c’mon in, you never came to my shows so I’ll give you one here.’ I get really excited, because it’s like we all kind of need each other to keep moving forward sometimes.” 

Ahmed and Tariq collaborated throughout the process to highlight each of their own experiences, even when filming. In fact, they workshopped a vulnerable and powerful phone call scene the day before they filmed it. They spent the day blocking and reading over the lines. “We would find that language together of what it is."

Then, they almost threw it out. Tariq suggested they tackle it again after breaking for lunch. What resulted was a one-shot of Zed on the phone with his love interest. Tariq never envisioned incorporating one long, continuous shot in the film, but it felt right. 

“I just want to do what’s right for the film,” he says. “It felt like you want to be with him through that journey of being very uncomfortable where he’s trying to ask for something and he’s so immature and still thinking he can maybe get a pity thing out of her or something, and it’s just not working.” 

Zed goes from a man on the brink of a world tour to being confined to a hospital bed. While stuck at home, he is away from his dreams abroad, yet his past success can’t be ignored. He feels a sense of survivor’s guilt knowing he made it so far with a family still at home. Stuck in bed surrounded by the faces he grew up with bolsters that feeling. It is a feeling that is familiar to many who have been wild enough to chase a dream no one around them ever thought possible. Tariq says his work specifically explores this feeling, one he is incredibly familiar with himself. As the words of “Toba Tek Singh” rumble around Zed’s mind and eventually through the speakers of the radio, we understand just what Tariq is talking about.

 “You want to understand who you are outside of your family, but the reality is that growth comes from both ways, so it’s a tough thing,” he says — a thing also beautifully explored in Mogul Mowgli.

Mogul Mowgli is now available On Demand & Digital.

Photography courtesy of BFI Distribution.