Mustache is a 2023 American comedy drama film written and directed by Imran J. Khan and starring Atharva Verma and Alicia Silverstone.
Premise In the mid-1990s in Silicon Valley, Ilyas is a 14-year-old Pakistani-American who is forced to leave his private Islamic school to attend a public school. Adding to his struggles is a mustache that he has been growing since he was ten, to his chagrin.
Cast Atharva Verma as Ilyas Rizwan Manji as Hameed Meesha Shafi as Asiya Ayana Manji as Yasmeen Shaheryar Rana as Musa Mojeane Sadr as Sadia Alicia Silverstone as Miss Martin Melody Cao as Liz Krishna Manivannan as Arun Hasan Minhaj as Hasan Esa as young Ilyas Armaan Jawandha as Aasim
Release The film premiered at 2023 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival on March 12, 2023. Quiver Distribution released the film digitally on July 31, 2026.
Reception On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of eight critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on five critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Mimi Calzada of The Daily Texan gave the film a positive review and wrote, "Mustache makes for an outstanding directorial feature debut from Imran Khan, which hugely benefits from Verma’s charming and endearing performance. Easily relatable, laugh-out-loud funny and downright delightful, Mustache solidifies itself as one of the best films in the SXSW 2023 lineup."
Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter also gave the film a positive review and wrote, "A religion-themed comedy can be a tricky proposition, even if the tone is predominantly respectful, but Khan strikes a satisfying balance between satire and deference that’s enjoyable without excessively pushing boundaries."
The film won the Audience Award in the Narrative Feature competition at South by Southwest.
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