Anek Movie Review: Feels distant; like North-East

AnekUA Thriller mysteryDir Anubhav SinhaCast Ayushmann Khurrana Manoj Pahwa Andrea KevichuumlsaRating 35Frankly therersquos simply too much simultaneously happening in this film with no time for the audience to sit and stare at the characters theyrsquore casually gazing at Such that no one gets sufficiently humanised despite the meagre attempts Which makes them lookfeel rather distant Or only as distant as Indiarsquos North East feels to the rest of the countryWhich is where this film is set mdash with no specific state mentioned among the lsquoseven sistersrsquo Basically North East as the region where a battle for secession is on with several rebel groups as pawns in the fray and allegiances to people in Myanmar across the border impliedWatch VideoThis ethnic conflict reads like Nagaland alright With the boss Tiger Sanga Loitongbam Dorendra of a group like NSCN leading talks for a peace accord with the Indian government Of all a Kashmiri Muslim Manoj Pahwa as a national security adviser type heads Indiarsquos security apparatus in the region from New Delhi This could be an empirical fantasyA forever sniffling Ayushmann Khurrana is his hattakatta hound on the ground playing an undercover Indian spy forming and fighting rebel groupsHow distant in turn can such a copspy be from the people he surveys mdash no matter how far they are from the world he comes from Without letting his guards down of course This aspect is touched upon although not in a way that say a James Bond or Jason Bourne have the capacity to go full rogueKhurranarsquos character seems to be somewhat close to a local girl Andrea Kevichuumlsa with personal ambitions in internationallevel boxing mdash a feat thatrsquos achievable only behind a national flagIf this was the story of this girl alone itrsquod be closer to the biopic of Mary Kom 2014 the world boxing champion from Manipur another North East state going through an insurgency or liberation war against India as it wereSports alone is the fount of personal nationalisms it seems Petty discrimination is the rule otherwise This film makes that point well Nicholas Kharkongorrsquos Axone 2019 was a more personal insiderrsquos take on the kind of segregationprejudice people from the North East face in Mainland India meaning east of the lsquoChicken NeckrsquoAnek focusses more on North East as the stagetheatre of wider political conflict As if the region and its macro problems came first and a story followed Itrsquos the kind of issuebased commentary as an actionthriller in Hindi mainstream films that director Prakash Jha began specialising in postGangaaJal 2003 down to Chakravyuh 2012 on NaxalismSince Mulk 2018 writerdirector Anubhav Sinha has emerged as an equally politicallyaware voice with the gumption and guts to go that extra distance to make his humanistic case mdash God knows that isnrsquot easy to pull off Yoursquove anyway gotta walk a thin line Taking offence is everybodyrsquos instant form of defenceThe best way of course is to show donrsquot tell In that sense my favourite sequence a rare one for this film is quite simply a montage of a young boy against a lilting background score returning from the ravages of war mdash it was his debut through destruction Sure you can watch portions of Anek as a lsquowar moviersquo too But please donrsquotIt is really about the ruthlessness of a paternal state that operates no differently from mafia since control and power is the purpose and that can be achieved only through monopoly over violence Peace is futile it appears Everything is politics selfinterest and slogansDoes the entire film move you in the same way the scene I mentioned above does Not quite Irsquom afraid I guess specific is more universal I found myself too distracted to connect with anyone in particular on screen mdash tighter plotting fewer parts focussing on the lead couldrsquove helped Donrsquot know Or maybe the script itself doesnrsquot flow seamlessly enough for you to not meander in the mesh on occasionWhat yoursquore left with is to unreservedly applaud the larger intention of this conversationstarter still Or what itrsquos trying to say mdash spelling it out in so many wordsThis gritty story about shutting off voices of the very people yoursquore seeking peace for mdash by closing down internet denying human rights etc mdash is of course not about the North East alone Itrsquos about every political conflict there isDoes it make you read up more on the region per se mdash the lay of those lands or how Article 371 that applies to Assam Manipur Mizoram Arunachal among other states is different from Article 370 repealed from Kashmir or why does the ethnic conflict still persist in NagalandhellipJust read up more Itrsquos more than what mainstream visual news inspires us ever A good film will do just fine thank you

Anek Movie Review: Feels distant; like North-East

Anek
U/A: Thriller, mystery
Dir: Anubhav Sinha
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Manoj Pahwa, Andrea Kevichüsa
Rating: 3/5

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Home / Entertainment / Bollywood News / Article / Anek Movie Review: Feels distant; like North-East

Anek Movie Review: Feels distant; like North-East

AnekU/A: Thriller, mysteryDir: Anubhav SinhaCast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Manoj Pahwa, Andrea KevichüsaRating: 3/5

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Latest Photos

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Mid-Day Fast

Anek
U/A: Thriller, mystery
Dir: Anubhav Sinha
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Manoj Pahwa, Andrea Kevichüsa
Rating: 3/5