Near the Jugular

January 2021

Riz Ahmed and Bassam Tariq look at their cinematic influences, including the films that inspired their new feature Mogul Mowgli.

Introduction

Introduction

‘I pray these films can equally expand your heart and karate chop you near the jugular’

The best film experiences provoke wordless reactions. They hit you so close to your core that you have no choice but submit to its truth. There is strong authorship but also a desire to connect with an audience. Which in a way might seem contradictory, but I don’t believe so. When we are truest to ourselves, the more specific and vulnerable we are, the stronger we can connect with those around us. Perhaps this comes from my Islamic understanding of creativity and its inseparable connection to Divinity; as God is described by many attributes in Islam, the one that I seem to keep returning to is Al-Khaliq, The Unprecedented Creator. Which means that every moment and every creation in existence is unprecedented; it has never existed before the way it has in front of us as it does now, and it will never again exist as such. Like that, so are we. Each one of us is a unique manifestation of God’s Divine Attributes and in celebrating our uniqueness we are affirming an Unspeakable Beauty.

These films hit Riz and me close to our jugular veins. They push us to be better, more compassionate filmmakers. These films stretch the possibilities of filmmaking and even in their supposed ‘vulgarity’ there is a submission to Divinity that perhaps the filmmakers themselves would scoff at – but that’s the reality that I see. Whether you believe or do not, it shouldn’t matter. The best films are like the best of the Sufis; they allow space for us all to exist: heretics, agnostics and believers of all shapes.

Bassam Tariq/Riz Ahmed