Riz Ahmed’s Hamlet is for anyone who feels “helpless” and “Gaslit” in this political moment

When you think about the world of the English playwright William ShakespeareThe chances are that you do not depict the early modern English text scattered with Hindi. But you may have to be. In HamletIn 2025 review of Shakespare’s game About a Danish Prince, who seeks to avenge his father’s death, slowly descends into madness, director ANEIL KARIA Conveyed the famous story on the streets of London and the city Live South Asian community. In this reconnect, with a protagonist The night of ‘S Riz Ahmed in the role of the title, the Hamlet family is not a real royal, but rather the property rights. His father is the head of Elsinore, a profitable empire of real estate that changes the landscape of London. Its clothes are not made of luxurious fabrics or rich velvet, but instead consist of a simple white turtle. The court surrounding the Hamlet family (in this case entrepreneurs and a mixture of divine and divine) do not celebrate rich meats and wine, but rather samosas and traditional Indian sweets. And everyone speaks Hindi. It is safe to say, this is not the issuance of your English teacher Hamlet.

The project, which premiered at the 50th annual Toronto Film Festival, was almost 14 years in production, defended by Ahmed, who had a long -term dream of taking on the role of the infamous opposite. While it was a long process to see the movie until its premiere, the wait was undoubtedly worth it, considering it to be a story that – though it was written 400 years ago – is a timetable than ever. “Hamlet is about sadness, and Hamlet saddens his father, but he also saddens an illusion of how he thought the world was,” says Ahmed Refinery29. “He thought it was much fairer and just a part than it is to be.”

If this sounds familiar, reflecting, let’s say, the listings of your own magazine or conversations you have in your own circle of friends and group talks – that’s exactly the point. Throughout the world, social and political injustices, the review of human rights, the ongoing genocide and climate disasters remained a steady and uninterrupted attack. “I think a lot of people feel like that now, right?” Ahmed says of Hamlet’s awareness. “Many injustices are presented to us in a way that is shocking and we all feel a little helpless about it and we feel a little parachute about it, and then we feel partners in it.”

While the items may be different, in essence, Ahmed adds, this idea of ​​feeling powerless and trying to do something to change that is Hamlet’s journey. “Shakespeare wrote this story 500 years ago, and here we are today, we are still spending this journey.”

The decision for Ahmed and Karia to place history in a South Asia community is the one that came easily. Given Ahmed’s history, it made the most meaning. “It’s as simple as I associate with this game and I wanted to play this role,” says Ahmed. “Riz is southern Asia, so that means his family must be southern Asia,” Karia adds. “And all of a sudden you go there. We have a South Asian hamlet.”

While the decision to place this particular version of Hamlet In the spread of South Asia, London, it was one of the necessity – the fact that Ahmed himself is South Asia and the response from his own experiences is natural for such a narrowly prisoner, you cannot help tell the story within this particular community in this particular time.

“It became much richer than we could ever imagine,” Ahmed says of the grounding of history in this community. Karia adds: “We are constantly surprised by how these somewhat archaic and fantastic or fantastic details in Shakespeare, such as the world of ghost, family, honor, family reset, and like that, which may feel fantastic to some.

“I felt that there was some discussion between the modern existence of South Asia and this ancient text, which was really interesting.”

Embedded in Shakespeare’s original game is the idea of ​​heritage and genealogy. That is why, after returning to Denmark, Hamlet is initially so fast to fall on the line, accepting his uncle Claudius as the new king and his own father (though only to the public). He has been guided by a obedience to his mother and the belief that this is the best for the country and the genealogy. And this, as Hamlet seeks the truth about his father’s death, motivates him to do so by any means necessary, following the idea that he is avenging, but also maintaining his father’s legacy through justice.

In Ahmed’s 2025 adjustment, the bets – and the reasoning – remain the same, but is encouraged by the shift to a South Asian community, in which The duty of the family remains a powerful doctrine This transfers with the expectations and weight of generations. Not to mention the emphasis on respect and appreciation of one’s elders. We see this as soon as the film opens when Hamlet, taking part in traditional funeral ceremonies for his father, looks at Claudius’s uncle (played by Art Malik) to guide what to do.

In the world of Ahmed’s Hamlet, as in the Diaspora community, both on screen and real life, which meets family expectations is of the utmost importance. And viewers watch Ahmed browse this push and pull between duty and screen desire, as he first navigates his sadness, then his martyrdom and finally his anger.

This rage, which ignites when Hamlet visits his father’s ghost, who reveals that he was assassinated by Hamlet Claudius’s uncle, is what changes the course of the game and the orbit of Hamlet’s life. While the initial game presents Hamlet slowly crazy, with his visions from his father surrounded as fantastic illusions, the contemporary takes more room for interpretation. Instead, and Small spoilers in frontIt leans to the idea of ​​spirituality, a large part of many communities and identity in South Asia.

While this spirituality is inherent in the culture presented on the screen, observed through rituals and ceremonies, Hamlet also faces symbols of Hindu deities, one at a particularly central moment, causing internal reflection. With the introduction of these deities and the idea of ​​spirituality in this way, Hamlet’s beliefs are not represented as illusions, but have roots in something real – or at least believer: faith. Means that when Hamlet do He finally reaches his breath, at a central and incredibly public moment (one of which Ahmed, who is horrified between devastating desperate and comedian unhinged, shines), the public is not necessarily presented with a man who has gone crazy, but someone who applies to his feelings.

While the result of Ahmed’s Karia and Hamlet remains the same as the game, the way we view the title and his actions has changed. And that feels like an update very 2025.

Like what do you see? What would you say for a while R29, here?

Riz Ahmed just proved that he is officially a man

Riz Ahmed got married secretly

Francesca Amewudah-Rivers can play Juliet. Period.