In a nutshell, MAQBOOL relocates Shakespeare's lurid tragedy to present-day Mumbai. 

Maqbool [Irrfan Khan] is a trusted lieutenant of underworld don Abbaji [Pankaj Kapur]. Nimmi [Tabu] is Abbaji's mistress, who hates her situation and is in love with Maqbool who, she perceives, is the only one who can get her out of her misery.

Other important members of the gang happen to be Kaka [another faithful lieutenant of Abbaji and a good friend of Maqbool; Piyush Mishra], Guddu [son of Kaka; Ajay Gehi] and Sameera [Abbaji's daughter; Masumi]. Two police officers, Pandit [Om Puri] and Purohit [Naseeruddin Shah], who also predict the future course of the lives of the protagonists, assist the gang.

Driven by his love for Nimmi and his ambition for power, Maqbool murders Abbaji and declares himself the leader of the gang. The underworld is in a state of shock and all suspect Maqbool to be the perpetrator of this crime, but no one dare say so as now it is Maqbool who rules the underworld.

Yet, Maqbool perceives a threat in the form of Kaka and Guddu, who stand in his way of absolute supremacy. This leads him to commit more crimes against people who were once dear to him. Meanwhile, the police and the politicians seem determined to see the last of him.

Circumstances spiral out of control and with little or no help from Nimmi, who is suffering an extremely difficult pregnancy and fatally severe guilt pangs which is disturbing her mental equilibrium, Maqbool finds himself surrounded on all sides.

But Maqbool has encountered harsh circumstances before; only does he have the resolve to fight it anymore? Despite the fact that MAQBOOL falls in the same genre as PARINDA, SATYA, VAASTAV and COMPANY, it's shades different from these films. It goes into the psyche of gangsters and actually peeps into their mind.