There is a lot of such lived-in nuance in Mulk, and the film uses it like a hammer to address the anxieties that Indian Muslims have to deal with every day. Murad Ali with his kurta, beard and skull cap could be seen as less of a person than a signifier. He is also a retired advocate who just started growing his beard because “hamare yahaan sunnat hai.” Murad has issues with his community but that does not mean he wants to be separated from it. My own father has recently retired and given in to the comforts of a kurta, and every time he steps out I worry if he would be seen as “too Muslim”. Mulk posits: who are we to tell these old men how to live?