A NEW film starring Riz Ahmed as Hamlet, which is set in a British south Asian family, makes it more believable and “feels real”, the actor said.
Ahmed, 43, plays the titular role in a fresh adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy, directed by Aneil Karia, and featuring as co-stars Art Malik (Claudius), Sheeba Chadha (Gertrude), Morfydd Clark (Ophelia), Joe Alwyn (Laertes) and Timothy Spall (Polonius).
In a scene from Hamlet© Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for The Red Sea International Film
In this modern version, Elsinore is a major real estate company, run by Hamlet’s father, whose death sets off triggers a series of events, many of which Ahmed is confident will resonate with south Asian audiences.
Art Malik, Morfydd Clark, Sheeba Chadha, Ahmed and Aneil Karia at the film’s screening during the 69th BFI London Film Festival in October© Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for The Red Sea International Film
In an interview with Eastern Eye ahead of the film being released next Friday (6), Ahmed said, “There’s so many elements of the original Shakespeare play – it’s about spirituality, family, honour, duty, who you can and can’t marry. All of these things, they just stop being fantastical, and they start feeling real when you put it in this kind of environment.”
Ahmed also drew Hamlet’s parallels with the Bhagvad Gita, the holy Hindu text.
Another scene from the film© Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for The Red Sea International Film
“What is Hamlet about? It’s about somebody who is caught between his family and his duty, who’s torn about whether he should take up arms against his blood relations or just be loyal to them because they’re his blood relations,” he said.
“That’s also at the heart of the story of the Gita. And it’s interesting, because Shakespeare didn’t write a lot of original stories. Hamlet is adapted from an ancient myth, a Nordic myth, from the Scandinavian countries.
“But those that myths also came from somewhere else.”
Ahmed came up with the idea as a teenager and started writing it with Michael Lesslie 13 years ago.
From its striking opening scene to the tragic end, Hamlet features Ahmed in every shot and makes for a captivating watch.
Lesslie has been faithful to Shakespeare in retaining the lines from the play; the only exception are the lines at the start of the film, with a verse from the Gita.
Ahmed said, “It’ll just actually help loads of people connect to it, and also because it just feels fresh.”
He added, “We’ve got lots of evidence of trade between ancient India and the Vikings and all this kind of stuff. This is drawn from a very old place, this story of Hamlet, and so we wanted to join those dots, and that’s why the first words you hear in our adaptation are the words from the Gita.”
Ahmed has previously worked with Karia, on the Oscar-winning short, The Long Goodbye. For their Hamlet, the pair put the story’s focus on family ties, as seen through the eyes of Hamlet.
Karia told Eastern Eye, “People often think of this Shakespearean play as having a kind of formal, or stiffness as to how it’s delivered. For me, the most exciting challenge was how can we make it an emotional experience instead of an intellectual exercise?
“How can we lock the viewer into the emotional and psychological landscape… of the reality of Hamlet? How can we make it feel visceral and natural and propulsive?
“How can we be on Hamlet’s shoulder, kind of living and breathing it with it?”
At just under two hours, the film is shorter than stage adaptations of Hamlet, said to be the Bard’s longest play.
Over the years, several prominent names from the UK and US have performed Hamlet, such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Jude Law, Tom Hiddlestone, as well as John Gielgud, Richard Burton, Peter O’Toole and Laurence Olivier.
Karia acknowledged it can be a “daunting prospect, taking on this kind of revered ancient text”.
However, he said, “What I had to ultimately do is realise no one’s always making the definitive version of this text. It’s forever shifting, and people are finding different ways into it, and that’s just what we had to do. Can we bring a new cinematic way that tells the story in a manner you haven’t quite felt before? We can only ever do our version, so you just have to trust it and look into that.”
Hamlet’s most recognisable part is the “to be or not to be” soliloquy – movie goers will be treated to a thrilling version of these lines in the new film.
Another highlight is a stunning dance sequence choreographed by Akram Khan to the soundtrack of an old and popular south Asian folk song.
Hamlet’s family are all south Asian actors (Malik as Claudius the uncle, Chadha as Gertrude the mum), while Polonious, Laertes and Ophelia are white.
Karia explained how the characters were cast. “Polonius plays this really important, integral role in the family,” the director said. “In our version, Elsinore is a property development corporation.
“It felt really interesting that Polonius, the right-hand man, is a white man who’s kind of subservient in the business dynamic, to Claudius. But, in many other ways, he will always be dominant [to Claudius] in that sense, you know. And it brought this interesting kind of tension and complexity to all those relationships.”
Ahmed added, “He’s kind of like a political fixer, the go-between; so he’s a person who is able to interface with the white establishment for the family. For that reason, it felt important to have that kind of layer.”
Chadha told Eastern Eye, “I’m just very happy to get the chance to do this. The text is Shakespeare, the story and the setting is a south Asian family. For me, there’s no conflict in any of this. The way it’s been adapted, it’s just so beautifully done, it flows and it doesn’t require you to push or manufacture stuff.”
Veteran actor Malik masks the menace of Claudius with a restraint that’s in contrast to Chadha’s role as a grieving widow and a mum concerned about her son.
“As actors, we have to find a line that makes sense to us and is real to me. Claudius has a decision to make – his elder brother is dying, and there is a huge empire, a construction company. It is something that has to be protected and has to be maintained for the future. “What do you do with a brother that’s dying, somebody you love, you’ve respected, he’s looked after you, he’s brought you up.
“So my way of looking at it was that I could bring about a compassionate death to him with the caveat that I would look after his widow, my sister-in-law. I would look after my nephew, who would now become my son. That is a decision I, as an actor, make on the character.
“The character makes that decision, you then have to live with the consequences of that.”
He added, “The world is full of stories. The Lion King is Hamlet. We can take stories from anywhere. It doesn’t really matter where these stories originate.
“What we have to do is to be honest with the story and let it happen. We have to have the courage, as Riz has had with this, to say, ‘this is the story I’m going to do. I’m going to set it in the modern world. I’ve lived with this story since I was a 13-year-old, and here it is.’”
Hamlet is in cinemas on February 6
