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Anek Movie Review : An unsettling, thought-provoking narrative from the northeast

• Times Of India

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Pathetic direction,bad story line.

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A thriller with a strong socio-political commentary, laced with action pieces, highlighting the conflicts and contradictions in the northeast.

Anek Movie Review: An unsettling, thought-provoking narrative from the northeast

• Times of India

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Samyak 55 68 days ago

Pathetic direction,bad story line.

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Anek review – gunfights, boxing and what it means to be Indian

Anubhav Sinha’s action thriller asks pertinent questions about political conflict and cultural identity

“P eace is a subjective hypothesis,” says one character in Anubhav Sinha’s new action thriller, which examines the political conflicts that have plagued Northeast India for generations. This casual aphorism – and the film itself – is riddled with ambivalence, a welcome departure from the nationalistic jingoism that has ruled Hindi cinema and its box office in recent years.

Anek asks the difficult question of what it means to be Indian, a loaded riddle in a period where Hindutva rhetoric has fostered brutal discrimination all across the country. For Aido, a Northeastern Indian boxer played by newcomer Andrea Kevichüsa, her dream of earning a spot on the national team is enough to prove her belonging in a land where her people endure racial abuse on a daily basis. For her father Wangnao (Mipham Otsal), a school teacher who covertly leads a rebel group against government forces, assimilation is associated with the stripping of cultural identity. In between stands Joshua (Ayushmann Khurrana), an undercover agent who finds his loyalty put to the test. In a nicely understated performance, Khurrana delivers his lines with a stoicism that recalls the suave charisma of 1970s Amitabh Bachchan even if, in this contemporary age, the angry young man no longer exists; he is weathered down, caged in a system that incites bloody unrest while simultaneously punishing those who fight for political autonomy.

Anek is a rare commercial film that spotlights Northeastern Indian stories, and goes out of its way to refuse to condemn guerrilla fighters as terrorists. Here, violence is not a spectacle, but rendered as the inevitable symptom of subjugation and intolerance. The film might be didactic in tone, but it is the kind of didacticism that injects political integrity into a cinematic landscape sorely lacking a backbone.

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फिल्‍म रिव्‍यू: अनेक

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Anek movie review: Ayushmann Khurrana, Andrea film swings between conviction and a cop-out

Anek movie review: ayushmann khurrana and the film stay woolly, being careful to stay in the middle of the while-on-the-one-side, but-also tightrope. anubhav sinha dips his toe into relatively unexplored territory, with mixed results..

Anek movie cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, J D Chakravarthy, Andrea Kevichusa, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra Anek movie director: Anubhav Sinha Anek movie rating: 2.5 stars

The North East states, long been dubbed the ‘seven sisters’, a phrase which has fallen into disuse these days, is the focus of Anubhav Sinha’s ‘Anek’. The title is smart, incorporating not only the acronym ‘NE’, but also talking up how this part of India, long a hotbed of insurgency and turmoil, can now be brought within the fold.

Is the film a reality check, or wish fulfilment? Sinha, who has been consistently engaging with the political in his second coming (communal politics in ‘Mulk’, gender politics in ‘Thappad’, caste politics in ‘Article 15’) dips his toe into relatively unexplored territory, with mixed results. Attempting to unravel the complex layers of a region still considered remote and faintly foreign by a large swathe of India, is in and of itself brave, and the director who has also written the movie, takes on the challenge manfully.

But the difficulties of being fully cognizant of the North East’s many-layered facets weigh upon the film: in trying to say it like it is, as well as please the many players which currently train a hawk’s eye on what the movies say and how they say it, it becomes neither this nor that.

In Mani Rathnam’s 1998 ‘Dil Se’, Shah Rukh Khan’s All India Radio reporter Amar becomes the medium through which we hear the voice of Assam’s gun-toting insurgents, as well as their sympathisers. So many years later, it is Ayushmann Khurrana’s Aman who, despite being a much more active and propulsive instrument of the state, does something similar in trying to become that conduit.

Belonging to a state-owned radio network, Amar moves from asking statist questions to looking at how long-term oppression by the armed forces, and central neglect, has impacted the people of Assam. Here, the undercover agent Aman ricochets between his feelings for the attractive Aido (Andrea Kevichusa), a talented boxer who wants to play for India, and his loyalties towards those who employ him. Part of what the film attempts is to show how Aman moves from one end of the spectrum, where he is merely following instructions, to become aware of more – not just the girl with her boxing dreams, but also a mother and teenage son who are victims of the games being played on the ground, and a man who may represent what ‘the people’ want. We get a series of expository statements, but the leading man, and the film stays woolly, being careful to stay in the middle of the while-on-the-one-side, but-also tightrope.

Machinations in Delhi , ably carried out by senior sarkaari officials (Manoj Pahwa pointedly playing a Kashmiri Muslim, and Kumud Mishra smiling darkly through his crafty babu) pull strings in the faraway state where we see people play football, sing songs, strum the guitar, and land punches in the ring, all the stuff people do ‘in the North East’. We hear racist, crude remarks like ‘chilli chicken’ (one among the many pejoratives used for people from the North East) being flung about. We see rows of young men, their hands tied to bamboo sticks, being beaten mercilessly. We see a rag-tag bunch of armed insurgents being caught in the crossfire: one is a young boy who wants to be a farmer, another just ‘wants to go home’. We see a powerful leader who is pushing for ‘peace’, but is involved in all kinds of illegal activities. These are strong strands but they never quite become an impactful whole: while the film is at it, we are also given, inexplicably, a rah-rah ‘Uri’-like moment, where a surgical strike takes place and the mission is successful.

Aman speaks of his belief in the Constitution more than once. He also gets an ‘Article 15’ moment when he brings up the vexed ‘Who Is An Indian’ question, sparring with another man on the same mission (J D Chakravarthy), on a hillside. While they go back and forth, ranging all over the country (Andhra/ Telangana/ Tamil Nadu/ UP/ Bihar/ Kashmir), we know exactly how it will end. That we are all Indians, that there is ‘ekta’ in ‘anek’ (unity in diversity). Aman tells us we should hear ‘the people’ more than just once -in-five-years ; we should hear them all the time. For a film which states this so firmly, and so many times, we have to strain to hear those voices.

Once in a while we also hear the deep-rooted cynicism that immediately cuts close to the bone, and which belongs much more to what this film is striving for: do ‘they’ want ‘peace’ or ‘a peace accord’? There’s a difference, and only those who know, know. There’s also this: ‘who really wants peace, because war is much more profitable’. These are the moments which feel true. And then the film swings back to its springy safety net. Conviction or cop-out? Your decision will depend on which side of the fence you are on.

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The premiere episode of The Great Indian Kapil Show, which saw Ranbir Kapoor, Riddhima Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor as its first guests, felt like a reheated airport snack served in a designer wrap. Though Ranbir Kapoor and Sunil Grover's 'Gutthi' had moment on the show, it failed to elicit any laughs. You can watch it on Netflix.

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Anek Movie Review: Ayushmann Khurrana outshines in this moderately-gripping tale of injustice

Helmed by anubhav sinha and starring ayushmann khurrana, anek is a partially gripping tale of discrimination. read our review..

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“Peace maintain karne se aasan hota hain, war maintain karna. Isiliye sab karte hain. Tum bhi, hum bhi” - no, that’s not how Anek starts. But it roughly gives you an idea of how diversity somewhere, is still a bookish term. Anek marks filmmaker Anubhav Sinha’s second collaboration with Ayushmann Khurrana after Article 15 (2019). Sinha is mostly known for simplifying political issues for laymen. Did he do so too with Anek? Umm, moderately, we would say.

The note during the start of Anek goes, ‘With love to the people of North East India’. And that’s one of the best parts about the film. The film takes you on a journey of injustice and uprising, all at once. Another best part? The casting. Sinha’s attempt was to make his film look authentic, and so it did. Instead of transforming the who's who to suit the role, he cast stars from the region to make the film look believable. And trust us you, it did have a mammoth role to play. Anek somewhere felt a little too stretched and dragged in bits. But we will get to that later.

Protagonist Ayushmann Khurrana (known as Amman/Joshua) is an undercover agent in the film. He works for the Indian government. After triumphing several challenging political unrests, Amman changes his name to Joshua to keep a close watch on the political unrest in India’s North-Eastern region with rebels ganging up against the Indian government. The reason? People from the North-Eastern borders want a separate country of their own and do not think of themselves as a part of India. Barring one girl, Aido (played by Andrea Kevich¼sa), who wants to play for India as a boxer despite being judged as a massage/parlour wali for how she looks.

In fact, the film begins with how people from the North East have often faced discrimination for their frame, looks, and culture. How, they have often been called chinki, chilly chicken, Chinese. And it’s so unfair! Years of injustice, which resulted in the formation of many a radical group in the states that doesn’t want to work in tandem with the Indian government. And that’s what Joshua’s mission is. To ensure Tiger Sangha (leader of the largest militant group in the NE states), signs a peace treaty with the government. But that’s no easy task. He's to combat another militant group, Johnson too. But there's a twist to it and we are in no way going to ruin it for you.

For the mission, Joshua resides in the North-Eastern states like it’s his own. Has befriended a militant group leader's daughter (Aido), as the phrase goes ‘keep your friends close and enemies closer’, to keep a close watch on all that’s happening. But his loyalty is put to test when his seniors think he is taking decisions from his heart instead of his mind.

Bollywood has its own habit of introducing signatures that become iconic to the character. For instance, Pushpa’s chin rub or Laila’s wicked smile. In Anek, Ayushmann does a nose sniff during intense situations. But boy, he does shine as Joshua! His tenacity, love for the nation, and dialogue delivery is all that you understand by the term gripping. And so is debutante, Andrea. She does have a smaller role compared to Ayushmann but even thinking of taking on an athlete's role for a Bollywood debut, leave alone perfecting it, is in itself worthy of a gazillion kudos.

Yet another gripping moment in Anek is the return of JD Chakravarthy to Bollywood. But we wish Sinha made better use of this collaboration. We understand it’s a cameo but by the time his character comes to a simmer, his cameo is over. Just like that! In fact, little after Ayushmann and Chakravarthy have a tete-a-tete about origin, diversity and nationality and you feel something more is coming, Chakravarthy is nowhere to be seen. His entry will make you curious but by the time it warms up, his role is over.

While we aren’t sure if Sinha attempted to pull off an Article 15 with Anek, the film somewhere lacks that one pinch of salt that makes a broth tasty. Some parts look dragged and stretched, while certain characters come and go and you end up asking yourself, ‘Who was he/she?’, until the half-baked character is gone forever. There's gripping fight scenes, drama, punches, politics and blows but you'll always feel 'Kisi cheez ki toh kami hain' .

Another interesting part about the film is the repetition of “mujhe ghar jaana hain” dialogue. Rings a bell? Alia Bhatt in Raazi! We know it’s become a meme but a rebel in Anek, awry of the situation around him, cries out loud and utters the same words in almost the same situation as the Meghna Gulzar film. If you know, you know.

All in all, Anek is a decent watch. If political thrillers fascinate you, it might as well be your weekend pick. However, if you were to go keeping the same expectation as Article 15, then you might return disappointed. But we would like you to keep the two films distinct and enjoy both as two separate dishes. Who knows, Anek might actually be the conversation starter yet again in the era of political thrillers. Doesn't seem too distant, does it? ALSO READ | Anek star Ayushmann Khurrana says 'South films know the pulse of the public' | Interview Published By: Tanushree Roy Published On: May 27, 2022 --- ENDS ---

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• Anek Movie Review

Anek Devesh Sharma, March 31, 2023

• Times Of India

critic's rating:  3.5/5 A character in the film points out that if you rub off the names, most Indians won't be able to name the seven Northeastern states of our country on a map. And we agree with this sorry state of affairs. The North East is a much neglected region mired in political conflict. It has been given a short shrift by the establishment. Its denizens are racially abused in the rest of India. The alienation and a lack of opportunities have led to the youth taking up arms and demanding independence from India. As the film points out, numerous peace accords have been signed, but there's no sign of real peace. The assimilation of the people of the North East into greater India and its overall development has been one of the talking points of Anek. Another is the idea of Indianness. We are still bound by regional affiliations and language barriers. It inhibits us from thinking of ourselves as Indians first. What's the formula for turning us into Indians?—the film asks the philosophical question. Another question it asks is why people from the marginalised layer have to prove their Indianness. Why can't the majority accept them as citizens just like them? Anek is a hugely political film. It shows how violence by state agencies leads to the radicalisation of the youth. A Kashmiri Muslim is shown to be the government's fixer for the region. The irony indeed. And when this character says that the voices of the people from everywhere should be heard, the satire deepens. The film also showcases a surgical strike across the border in Myanmar. A character says that not only will we do a surgical strike, we’ll also make a film about it. That’s a solid burn towards Uri alright. The story of the film revolves around secret agent Aman (Ayuhmann Khurrana), who goes by the name of Joshua. He opens a cafe in a city somewhere in the North East and sets it up as his base of operations. He has been sent by the government to neutralise Tiger Sanga (Loitongbam Dorendra Singh), a militant leader who runs a parallel government in the region. The government wants him to fall in line and sign a peace accord. Along the way, he meets boxer Aido (Andrea Kevichusa) and her father, teacher Wangnao (Mipham Otsal). Aido wants to become a part of India’s boxing team as she thinks recognition in sports would give her a platform to highlight the problems of her region on a national and international scale. Wangnao is a revolutionary who believes in becoming self-sufficient. He feels independence isn’t necessarily earned through guns but can be won through social reforms as well. Coming in touch with them changes him. He begins to question the motives of his handler, Abrar (Manoj Pahwa), Delhi’s fixer for the North East, and that of the wily minister (Kumud Mishra), who oversees their operations. He vows to work towards real peace and not just flimsy solutions and that puts him in the bad books of his own secret agency. The film has been imaginatively shot by Ewan Mulligan. The North East is a beautiful region and more filmmakers should go and explore the place. While the political message packs a punch, its power is somewhat diminished by the execution and the writing, which is rusty in places. Also, you feel that you’re listening to political ideology rather than actual conversations. After a while, it does get heavy-handed and verbose. But Anubhav Sinha has dared to say and show certain harsh truths about the region. His courage can’t be denied. The film’s heart beats with love for the region, and that’s its biggest strength. It’s saying in large bold letters that we should celebrate our diversity while being united, and we certainly need to hear that more in today's times. Ayushmann Khurrana is at his sincere best as an undercover agent who develops a conscience. He underscores his versatility once more through his rock solid performance. He has stamped his authority yet again as a dependable performer. Manoj Pahwa gives him able company, playing the minder who has sold his soul with ruthless efficiency. Their scenes together add a layer to the film. J.D. Chakravarthy too makes his presence felt as another field agent sent to keep an eye on Aman. Newbie Andrea Kevichusa has a charming screen presence and remains true to the requirements of her role. Let’s hope she gets more mainstream Hindi films in the future. Mipham Otsal and Loitongbam Dorendra Singh look so real, it doesn’t feel like they're acting. An inspired piece of casting indeed. Watch the movie for all the ugly truths it explores and for the inspired acting of the ensemble cast.

Trailer : Anek

Tnn, may 27, 2022, 12:30 pm ist.

STORY: Joshua, a covert operative, is tasked to create a situation that will force rebel leader Tiger Sangha to the negotiation table for a peace treaty which has been in limbo for years. Will Joshua succeed in his mission and will peace really prevail? REVIEW: Anubhav Sinha’s Anek is a layered narrative about efforts to negotiate a peace treaty in the northeast with a separatist group, a process that has gone on for decades without a conclusion. A covert operative, Aman (Ayushmann Khurrana), who goes by the alias Joshua, is tasked with creating a situation that brings Tiger Sangha (Loitongbam Dorendra), the top rebel leader of the region, to the negotiation table. Along the way, Aman finds that everything isn’t as black and white as he had initially thought and finds himself conflicted, emotionally and professionally. With conversational dialogues interspersed throughout the narrative, Anek brings you face to face with the undercurrents of discrimination and alienation from ‘mainland’ India that exist in different pockets of the northeast. At times uncomfortably so, but then that is the intent of the narration. Sinha doesn’t use heavy-duty, seetimaar lines or overt jingoism. What works here is subtlety in the dialogues and performances, and some nuanced writing that brings out the essence of the grey that Sinha set out to depict through the film. Anek, through its runtime, draws subtle parallels between the northeast and other parts of the country, in particular Jammu and Kashmir. For instance, Manoj Pahwa’s character, Abrar Butt, Aman’s superior and a Kashmiri himself, looks out of an airplane’s window while on a flight to the northeast. Taking in the breathtaking view, he says, “ Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast, Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast ” – Khusro’s well-known line that describes the picturesque beauty of Kashmir. Through the window of that plane, the director offers you a glimpse of the outer beauty and inner turmoil of both regions. The film is engaging, but it could have done with a tighter screen time. It’s a tad slow pre-interval and comparatively fast-paced post that, and unpacks a lot in that timespan. With some powerful performances by Ayushmann Khurrana, Manoj Pahwa, Andrea Kevichüsa, Kumud Mishra, Loitongbam Dorendra, and JD Chakraverti, the film leaves the audience with plenty of unsettling questions – primarily, what makes you an Indian. The use of silences, regional dialect, folk songs and the background score, the production design, the visual tone, cinematography and action pieces, lend themselves well to the narrative. Anubhav Sinha continues his run as a conscience-keeper of sorts, making one film after another - Mulk, Article 15, Thappad - that force you to think about equality and justice in the context of religion, caste, gender, and now region. PS: Can you identify all the states of the northeast on a map if the names were removed?

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Anek Movie Review: Ayushmann Khurrana, Anubhav Sinha's political thriller has its heart in the right place

Updated May 27, 2022, 10:47 AM IST

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Anek (2022)

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Anek Movie Review (2022)

Anubhav sinha’s ‘anek’, with ayushmann khurrana, takes us into the problems in the north east, but the socio-dramatic punch of this duo’s earlier work is missing..

Anek Movie Cast & Crew

Anubhav Sinha may be one of the most important, and also one of the most earnest Hindi filmmakers today. Ever since he made that U-turn with Mulk, he has been a man on a mission. There's a Bhagat Singh line used in Article 15 , that it takes a loud voice to make the deaf hear. That's his guiding philosophy, which is why his films function at two levels: at the surface level, there's the story, and beneath that basic narrative, there is the scaffolding of a ton of research. And yet, these are not simple-minded "message movies". In Article 15 , the dominant-caste protagonist is no simple-minded saviour. He doesn't parachute down and rescue the Dalit girl. He has to first earn the right to save that girl, which means he has to educate himself first about life in rural India, understand what he is dealing with, and finally descend into a metaphorical swamp that symbolises all the muck that has permeated our society. Only then can he save the girl. There is this great line his wife delivers: " Hero nahin chahiye. Bas aise log chahiye jo hero ka wait na kare. " We don't need a hero. We need people who don't wait for heroes.

Accordingly, Ayushmann Khurrana is not the "hero" of Anubhav's new film, Anek . The film is set in the North East, which forms the "NE" in the title design of "ANEK".  He is not even the protagonist. Nor is he the saviour. Like in Article 15 , he is a somewhat cocky man who comes to a new place and realises he is out of his depth, and he becomes our guide through the unrest in the region. His name is significant. Anubhav likes naming his characters along the lines of their function in the plot. In Article 15 , you may recall the Dalit activist. His name was Nishad, which is the name of a caste ranked lower down in the varna system. (Ekalavya, for instance, was a Nishada.) In Anek , we get a jingoistic soldier who speaks as though every line of his was written by Sunny Deol from Gadar . His name, aptly, is Veer. And Ayushmann is named Aman, which means peace. He works on secret missions for India, apparently to bring about… peace.

But how do you define peace? This is the point Anubhav wants us to dwell on in Anek , whose crux is the signing of a peace accord with a man who heads the most powerful separatist group in the region. (We learn there are many such groups.) There is a line that goes: One man's peace is another man's chaos. So if Delhi, the power centre, wants peace in the North East, it is by unleashing armed forces and unimaginable horrors on those regions. Through men like Aman, Delhi captures the militants and can claim to have obtained peace, but the civilians are left in chaos. At another point, peace is defined as something that is confused with control. Think about that for a minute! Finally, we get this thought: Is it possible that nobody really wants this peace, that unrest is the natural state of affairs?

The big problem in Anek is that a lot of this comes in the form of in-your-face dialogue, which makes us feel like we are listening to a political manifesto. "Delhi is like a landlord." "Violence is not a solution." "People know nothing about our struggle." "Indians do not accept diversity." "Soldiers look at our children like terrorists, and many of these children are 10th-class dropouts." There are discussions about elections every five years that change nothing, or how to define an Indian. Aman's voice-overs are better: there's at least a bit of poetry in them, a sense of self-examination and a diary-like making sense of what is happening. But the other lines, though true, are far too simplistic – as are some of the character arcs. When a boy sings a beautiful song, we know something bad is going to happen. He is either going to die, or the song on his lips will soon be replaced with a gun in his hands. We know this because it is an inevitability we have witnessed in countless films about war.

The powerful visual images and conceptual touches work much better. Anek makes us wonder what Mary Kom must have felt after winning her medals and holding up the Indian flag. Pride, certainly – but perhaps there was also the confusion of representing a country that doesn't really treat you as one of its citizens. This character, a boxer, is played by Andrea Kevichüsa. It is an awkward performance, but the character serves a purpose: her boxing matches are contrasted with actual fighting in her region. Two forms of combat – that's a nice conceptual touch, and Ewan Mulligan's cinematography brings out both the beauty of bloodletting as well as the tragedy. Even better is the small romance that she has with a mainland Indian. It is used metaphorically, that someone from her region cannot trust anyone from the rest of her country. 

But these conceits are few and far between, and Anek , for the most part, becomes a series of mini-sermons, an op-ed piece in the form of a film. Anubhav tries to shape this information into conversations, but we are always aware that we are being spoon-fed a bitter pill. Research is important, but it is more important that the audience is unaware of how much research has gone into a film. That is when the fourth wall drops and we truly enter the world of the movie. If Anubhav Sinha wants to continue on this path, this is something he might want to think about. A two-and-a-half hour film cannot cover everything. Anek does have its strengths. It does not take sides. Both mainland India and the North East are shown to have their own issues and sly agendas. And the film has some solid performances, especially the one by Manoj Pahwa as a man from Delhi whose cheerful exterior hides all shades of sinister motives. But the gut-punch of a Mulk is missing.

After the film, I wondered why. There, too, we had explicit dialogues like who is a jihadi . There, too, we had a Hindu woman with the very Hindu name of Aarti. There, too, we had lines like this one: "It is not a religious community that killed Gandhi but one man." But in that film, and in Thappad , and in Article 15 , we were following one narrative about one person or one family. So by concentrating and by containing a large issue among a small group of people we got to know as individuals, we had an automatic emotional hook. A "region" is more abstract than a "person", and perhaps the reason Anek stays aloof is because everyone is given equal space, and it's not just one narrative about one person or one family. If you think along those lines, Anek is certainly a more inclusive movie than those earlier ones, even if that, again, is more of an interesting concept than a compelling work of drama.

About Author

Baradwaj Rangan

National Award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, former deputy editor of The Hindu and senior editor of Film Companion, has carved a niche for himself over the years as a powerful voice in cinema, especially the Tamil film industry, with his reviews of films. While he was pursuing his chemical engineering degree, he was fascinated with the writing and analysis of world cinema by American critics. Baradwaj completed his Master’s degree in Advertising and Public Relations through scholarship. His first review was for the Hindi film Dum, published on January 30, 2003, in the Madras Plus supplement of The Economic Times. He then started critiquing Tamil films in 2014 and did a review on the film Subramaniapuram, while also debuting as a writer in the unreleased rom-com Kadhal 2 Kalyanam. Furthermore, Baradwaj has authored two books - Conversations with Mani Ratnam, 2012, and A Journey Through Indian Cinema, 2014. In 2017, he joined Film Companion South and continued to show his prowess in critiquing for the next five years garnering a wide viewership and a fan following of his own before announcing to be a part of Galatta Media in March 2022.

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Anek movie review: A Kashmiri Muslim symbolising the ruthless Indian establishment in the North-East? C’mon!

Visually spectacular, politically blurred, well-meaning and yet Anek fails to reach out across the barrier of the screen

Language: Hindi with snatches of other languages   

Two men embody the manipulative Indian establishment in Anek (Many), which is set in an unspecified, strife-torn state in the country’s North-East. Aman ( Ayushmann Khurrana ), whose name means “peace”, is an undercover policeman going by the alias Joshua on this assignment. He is cruelly apathetic towards the local populace and maintains a blinkered focus on his mission to facilitate the Central government’s plans for the place. Abrar (Manoj Pahwa) is a stone-hearted bureaucrat negotiating a peace deal with insurgent groups on behalf of the Centre. From his name, speech and a conversation in the film, one assumes that Aman is a Hindu with roots in some part of the Hindi belt. No assumptions need to be made about Abrar: multiple indicators are served to leave us in no doubt that he is a Kashmiri Muslim.   

Abrar’s identity is one of the few fronts on which the film is lucid. By the time he enters the scene early in Anek , the storytelling is already beset by a vagueness that it is unable to shake off till the end. Considering the blatant Islamophobia raging across today’s India and the reality of politics in Kashmir, the decision to show a Kashmiri Muslim symbolising politicking by the Indian establishment in the troubled North-East is ironic, inexplicable and mindless.   

Producer-writer-director Anubhav Sinha’s newest venture should have been a landmark for Hindi cinema. It is, after all, that rare Hindi film to be set in India’s North-East, and is clearly well-intentioned. For that, it must get points. Representation, however, is not merely about setting a story in a marginalised community. How effectively that community’s story is told is as important. Anek begins with in-your-face messaging on racism towards North-Easterners and concludes by rubbing in our faces a lesson on ekta mein anekta (unity in diversity) through a peppy song. Between these ends lie a scattered plotline, poor characterisation and stuffy dialogues that paint a hazy portrait of North-Eastern India.

Aido ( Andrea Kevichusa ) in Anek wishes to represent India in the boxing ring but is battling discrimination in the selection process and racism. Meanwhile, the Central government is trying to win over an influential insurgent leader. With familiar buzzwords such as “ vikas ” tossed around, and keeping in mind the nuts and bolts of the depicted situation, the real-life backdrop appears to be the Nagaland Peace Accord.   

Aido is in a relationship with Aman who she knows only as Joshua. Her father views India as an enemy and does not want her to play for the country. She believes that grabbing the spotlight as a sportsperson will help her direct attention to the plight of her people.

Also in the picture are a Central Minister (Kumud Mishra) who keeps referring to an unseen “Saheb” (evidently our present PM), a verbose IPS officer (J.D. Chekravarthy) from Telangana, a child militant, and an oddly acted, tackily written episode that appears to be spoofing Uri: The Surgical Strike , though with what goal is unclear since the film’s politics is as ambiguous as everything else about it.

Anek is in Hindi, which does not sit well with the location. A smattering of mother tongues and English can be heard floating around, but the blend just does not fit. After the first half-hour though, this issue recedes into the background in the face of so much else that does not work.   

For one, characters in Anek do not have real conversations like real people – they philosophise, sermonise or debate. Not a single individual is well-rounded in the script and not a single local is given emotional resonance.   

Aido is so sketchily written and Kevichusa’s performance so uninspired that it is difficult to care for her cause. The pretty model from Nagaland is debuting as an actor in Anek , so it might be unfair to expect her to rise above the curiously detached writing, but the usually reliable Khurrana’s frigid acting here is mystifying. The chemistry between Khurrana and Kevichusa is the coldest shared by any two artistes on this side of the Arctic Circle.     

Anek has a docu-feature-like feel, but is neither as educational as a substantial documentary could be nor as affecting as a fiction feature should be when situated in a neglected land wracked by violence. The film reveals nothing more about the region beyond the basics: that it is politically volatile and sidelined by the rest of India. Ethnic diversity and other complex reasons for internecine battles are not broached.   

In the absence of comprehensively written characters, Anek just does not reach out across the barrier of the screen. Despite over-expository dialogues, the film seems to be communicating with itself rather than the audience.   

The only memorable member of the cast is Mipham Otsal playing a teacher, social worker and rebel. “ It is easier to maintain war than peace,” he says at one point, explaining the hopelessness of the circumstances in the North-East. Why is there not more where that came from?   

The element that consistently stands out in Anek is Ewan Mulligan’s exquisite cinematography. Mulligan shoots the magnificent landscape at hand with imagination, giving us frames that go beyond just capturing great natural beauty. A recurring motif of human blood staining waters is disturbing and heartbreaking. The image of rows of bamboo cages from which we see human hands sticking out while screams emanating from within indicate torture reveals more about the Indian state’s callousness and failure to win local hearts than the rest of Anek in its entirety. These visuals could not have happened without Sinha. It’s hard to fathom why he has not injected the same poignance and richness into his writing here. (Note: Sinha wrote the story and dialogues, he shares the credit for the screenplay with Sima Agarwal and Yash Keswani.)     

Since 2018’s Mulk , Sinha has come to be associated with cinema that raises its voice for communities often ignored by the Hindi film industry. Mulk featured a Hindu lawyer defending a member of her Muslim husband’s family in court in a terror case. In Article 15 , an upper-caste policeman is schooled in the practice of caste during a rural posting while a brave underground Dalit leader fights against caste persecution. In Thappad , a wife decides that one slap from her husband is one slap too many. Sinha’s courage and clarity of vision on his chosen themes has been beyond debate even if you disagree with that vision.

With Anek though, it is tough to decipher what he is trying to say considering that the only establishment figure who is ultimately shown developing some feelings for the people of the North-East is the one that would be deemed the normative Indian by narrow minds. What was Sinha thinking when he opted to write a Kashmiri Muslim as an establishment figure? And was he not struck by the condescension in the words of a north Indian boxer who loses to an opponent from the North-East and encourages her with these words: “ Bahut badiya. Ja khel India. Haq hai tera .” (Great work! Go play for India. It’s your right)?

While it is a relief that Anek is not characterised by the ugly jingoism of recent Hindi films, the answer to divisive cinema cannot be an unimmersive narrative. Visually spectacular, politically blurred, well-meaning, preachy yet impassive – if only there was more to say than this about a Hindi film that has cared, and dared, to go into a part of India towards which most of the rest of India is indifferent.

Rating: 2 (out of 5 stars)  

This review was first published when Anek was released in theatres in May 2022. The film is now streaming on Netflix.  

Anna M.M. Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specialises in the intersection of cinema with feminist and other socio-political concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial  

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Anek Movie Review: Ayushmann Khurrana's Film Turns Out To Be A Muffled Voice Despite A Powerful Concept

"Main tere fight ke liye cheer nahin kar sakta, tum mere fight ke liye cheer kar nahin sakti. Hum sab aise hi tragedy mein rehte hain," says a character to another in Anubhav Sinha's latest political thriller Anek.

However, this Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer does manage to give you a couple of reasons to cheer and raises some pertinent questions in your mind despite its cluttered screenplay and bumpy execution.

What's Yay: Performances, Subject Of The Film

What's Nay: Hodgepodge Screenplay, Average Execution

Set in Northeast India, Anek begins with Aido (Andrea Kevichusa) enduring racial abuse during a police raid at a pub. We soon learn that she is an aspiring boxer who harbours the dream of earning a spot in the national team to play for India.

On the other hand, her father Wangnao (Mipham Otsal) is a school teacher who secretly heads a rebel group called Johnson against the government forces. There's also a teenager Nico whose mother fears that he might join Johnson's group and end up dead.

Amid this, Joshua AKA Aman (Ayushmann Khurrana), an undercover cop who works for India's security force is sent to the Northeast to get one of the biggest insurgent groups, Tiger Sangha to sign a peace accord with the Indian government. His mission could be achieved by eliminating the only threat- Johnson.

In order to step closer to his goal, Joshua befriends Aido who falls for him. However, as Joshua digs deeper, he realises that there's more to the political conflicts which could put his loyalty to the test.

After Mulk , Article 15 and Thappad, director Anubhav Sinha picks up another burning topic for storytelling. With Anek , and tries to shed light on the socio-political conflicts and identity politics in Northeast India. While it is quite laudable of Sinha to choose a story that's rarely told on the big screen, the film fails to make a loud noise.

Heard of the saying, 'Too many cooks spoil the broth'? Well, that's exactly what happens with Anek. "Mujh main 100 kirdaar hain, Par kahani ek hai, Mere kai chehare hai, Ek main anek main," Anubhav Sinha takes these lines from one of the songs in his film a tad too seriously, and throws in many sub-plots.

From racial discrimination, identity politics, guns landing up in the hands of young blood to calling out people's hypocrisy of celebrating Northeast Indians only when they win medals, the director tries to squeeze in too many topics in his script. As a result of this, the screenplay ends up chaotic which in turn, dilutes the overall impact.

There are times when the narrative gets boring and Anubhav Sinha barely manages to hold a tight grip over it. Thus, the end result fails to be a thought-provoking piece.

Performances

Ayushmann Khurrana delivers an understated performance as Joshua/Aman. The actor enacts his part with honesty and conviction and gets to mouth some solid dialogues. Nagaland model Andrea Kevichusa makes a confident debut on screen with Anek . She lends a certain authenticity to her character which in turn, makes the film more real.

Manoj Pahwa and Kumud Mishra are reliable as ever in their respective parts. It's nice to watch JD Chakravarthi on screen after a long time. One wished that the writers had made his role a little more meatier. The rest of the cast including Mipham Otsal pull off their parts effectively.

Technical Aspects

Be it lush green, virgin beauty of the forests or glistening red of the blood flowing through the streams, cinematographer Ewan Mulligan introduces you to the Northeast through his visuals in an engaging manner. Yasha Ramchandani's editing scissors should have snipped off some unnecessary frames which in turn, would have made the film taut.

With the use of some Northeast songs in his narrative, Anubhav Sinha gives us a sneak-peek into the cultural diversity of those parts. The 'Voice Of Anek' which features rap by Sunidhi Chauhan makes for an energetic listen.

In a crucial scene, when Aido discovers a startling truth about Joshua, she rebukes him harshly and exclaims , "What a waste!" Those words also sum up your disappointment as Ayushmann Khurrana's Anek falls short of being a powerful voice unlike his previous collaboration with Anubhav Sinha ( Article 15 ).

We give 2.5 stars out of 5 to Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer Anek.

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Anek Movie Review: Ayushmann Khurrana’s Message Loses In Translation, Creating A Complicated Chaos!

Anubhav sinha had so much to showcase, but he chose the wrong platform to do so..

Star Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Andrea Kevichüsa, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Mipham Otsal, Loitongbam Dorendra Singh, JD Chakravarthy

Director: Anubhav Sinha

What’s Good: It says the right thing but chooses the wrong voice!

What’s Bad: Complicates the chaos, rather than untangling the mess

Loo Break: You’ll want one but the hope of the film getting better won’t allow you to leave

Watch or Not?: If you can welcome slow-burning films that don’t end on a high, go ahead

Language: Hindi

Available On: Theatrical release

Runtime: 147 Minutes

Set in an unnamed North-Eastern state, Anubhav Sinha’s story introduces us to the two sides of the tale – one led by a militant leader of the state’s largest rebel group Tiger Sanga (Loitongbam Dorendra Singh), and the other (not so much) headlined by an undercover cop Joshua (Ayushmann Khurrana) who plays the tunes of high ranked Indian politicians wanting to sign the peace accord for their own benefits. Somewhere in the middle of these two, there is another active rebel group named ‘Johnson’, members of which start to mess up the mission.

Joshua’s boss Abrar Bhatt (Manoj Pahwa) asks him to control Johnson (which has another twist to it, which I won’t spoil for you) to get Tiger Sanga to sign the peace treaty. Joshua tries to control Johnson by honey-trapping a talented boxer Aido (Andrea Kevichusa) ultimately falling for her. But because this is an action-thriller & not a rom-drama (directed by Anubhav Sinha & not Kabir Khan), the love story slowly fades into asking questions like how “peace never reaches to the people for whom these high-ranking officials are apparently fighting for.”

Anek Movie Review: Script Analysis

The first thought I had after watching this film was, that Anubhav Sinha has fallen into his own trap. Post some brilliant attempts in Mulk, Article 15, Thappad, it was only time for the ‘law of averages’ to kick in and make things more aware for his upcoming projects. All the above-mentioned films were tackling to one major problem & so does Anek, but the major difference in why those are entertaining films is in the treatment of their subjects. Though how hard-hitting your message is, it won’t hit hard enough if there’s no solid connection between the viewers & the subject.

I totally understand and get the fact that it’s not at all easy to accumulate all this in one story and force-feeds the viewers more than they can digest, but then why not explore the web-series route? Anubhav Sinha, Sima Agarwal & Yash Keswani’s screenplay introduces the issue extremely well but falters when it comes to executing it. The love track between Ayushmann & Andrea, the establishment of the rebel group Johnson, the real issues faced by people of Northeast India, the unseen politics going behind the curtains, Aido living a parallel life fighting for India and against it at the same time and what not? Anubhav Sinha had so much to showcase, but he chose the wrong platform to do so.

Sinha brings back his tried & tested duo (Article 15) of Ewan Mulligan & Yasha Ramchandani for cinematography, and editing respectively but this time things are different. Though Ewan continues to play with the melancholic shades in his camerawork, Yasha gets no scope of crisping things up. Ewan captures the chilling flavour of Northeast India through his drone shots beautifully tearing apart the smoke of clouds.

Anek Movie Review: Star Performance

Donning cargos, zippers and lighting cigarettes, Ayushmann Khurrana’s Joshua looks uber-smart nailing the physical abilities of his character. It’s the mental abilities that fall short due to an extremely convoluted plot. He never gets the film to himself to establish any connection with the viewers. Model from Nagaland Andrea Kevichüsa breaks the debate of region-based representation in the films , acting like a boxer coming from Northeast India. Very similar to Ayushmann’s character, she’s a perfect fit for how well her character performs physically but takes a step back when it comes to acting in a scene that requires drama, and emotions.

Kumud Mishra & Manoj Pahwa own all the ingredients to be these mastermind politicians and manage to create this sinister aura around them throughout the film. Mipham Otsal as Aido’s father Wangnao delivers an earnest performance, demanding to be explored more. Loitongbam Dorendra Singh as Tiger Sanga is a compelling casting and despite the language barrier, he manages to communicate effectively through his actions. JD Chakravarthy gets to be a part couple of important scenes, leaving a great impact and also being another contender of ‘characters having the potential to explode if written properly’.

Anek Movie Review: Direction, Music

Anubhav Sinha bites off more than he can chew with the route he takes for this subject. ‘Didactic’ would be a mutual keyword you’d find in some detailed reviews regarding this film, but more than that I feel the storytelling gradually turns into a lecture in which you land without much of a backstory to everything happening.

Mangesh Dhakde’s background score exudes ‘chills’ in every literal scene. It goes brutally unnoticed because of the chaos happening on-screen, but I can still hear those typewriter clicks in my mind. Anurag Saikia’s songs are more misses than hits. The title track is lifeless. The farmer’s folk song is a melancholic addition. Oh, Mama! takes you to the world of Bohemian Rhapsody & that’s the only track I took back home.

Anek Movie Review: The Last Word

All said and done, Anek is not a rotten film at all, it just chose to be in the wrong form on the wrong platform. I still wish Anubhav Sinha to gather the courage (and some more details) to give us a gripping show about the same subject.

Anek Trailer

Anek releases on 27 May, 2022.

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