The official trailer of Riz Ahmed’s feature film — Mogul Mowgli — has released on Tuesday and it has erupted a range of emotions in his fans and followers all across the globe.
Riz plays Zed, a New York-based British-Pakistani rapper in this striking drama. His rapid rise and fame is threatened by a looming illness, forcing him to return to the UK to his family. The feature film is co-written by Riz himself, who made full use of his talents as a hip-hop star Riz MC. It also marks the debut of documentary film-maker Bassam Tariq.
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In the beginning of the trailer, Zed chants: “They all ask you ‘where you from?’ ‘Nah, where you really from?’ The question seems simple but the answer is kinda long. Britain’s where I’m born and love a cup of tea and that but where my genes are from, people don’t really MC and that. Now Everybody, everywhere want their country back! If you want me back to where I’m from then bruv, I need a map.”
And this rap probably sets the tone of the entire film where a British-Pakistani rapper is conflicted between pursuing his passion and staying connected to his roots, his people who matter to him while also struggling with an illness that threatens his career, right on the cusp of his first world tour.
“Mogul Mowgli grew out of conversations Bassam and I had over a few years, about coming from a certain background economically and culturally and now earning our livings as artists,” Riz said while talking to Empire.
Mogul Mowgli will premiere at this year’s BFI London Film Festival on October 10th. In February, the film also bagged the Critics Award at 70th International Berlin Film Festival. It will be released in UK cinemas on October 30th, 2020.
An electrifying @rizwanahmed spits bars in the first trailer for @curry_crayola‘s #MogulMowgli – in cinemas across the UK from 30 October pic.twitter.com/Wmu1cTvsmN
— BFI (@BFI) September 29, 2020
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