Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama
Year: 2022
Running time: 2 hours 27 minutes
Director: Anubhav Sinha
Cast: Ayushman Khurana, Andrea Kevichusa, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa
Kid rating: PG-13
I was looking forward to watching Anek but when it released its time in the theater was so short that I had to wait for its release on Amazon Prime. Given its star cast and the fact that Ayushmann Khurrana chooses interesting projects I had high hopes for Anek, but it left me a little disappointed.
Anek is about India’s north-eastern states. The story revolves around separatists who don’t believe their voices are being heard by the politicians of Delhi. Ayushmann Khurrana plays an undercover government agent, Aman, who is sent to the north eastern states to ferret out information about faction groups. As cafe-owner Joshua, he gets to know the locals and starts seeing their point of view.
Aido (Andrea), is a friend of Joshua’s. She is a boxer and wants to compete for India so that when she’s on the world stage people will listen to her voice about the injustice meted out to her people. Her father meanwhile, as the head of one of the militant groups feels that there is no hope in talks with the Indian government and that violence is necessary. In the mix also are the politicians – the wily minister (Kumud Mishra) and his right hand man Abrar Bhatt (Pahwa) who want to sign a peace accord with one of the larger militant groups, the Tiger Sangha.
The many layers to the story become clear to us little by little. Given that the topic is complex, and the film a little dense, the viewer is left to his own means to piece together the story. Having a voice-over, or even a character narrating the story (maybe as a flashback), would have really helped make the film and the film’s core issue more approachable and understandable for the average movie-goer.
The film is told from the point of view of the north easterners, estranged from the Indian mainland and facing racism even as Indian citizens. The politicians are shown as wanting a peace accord accord but not really caring about long-term resolution. In the middle is Joshua who comes into this initially at the behest of his politician masters, but then makes up his own mind.
The films pace is sporadic. There are bursts of quick action interspersed with lulls so the film never really takes off. Director Anubhav Sinha picks important topics about the state of the country, and has a penchant for dishing out home-truths. He also directed the fabulous Article 15 but while that was superbly intense Anek falters.
Ayushmann Khurrana looks very different from his usual self and his acting is not as good – there was this particular mode he seemed to go into at times, where I could not tell if his character was angry or frustrated or just plain at his wit’s end. Northeastern actress Andrea Kevichusko is quite good and the supporting cast also does well. While the film is earnest and tries to tell some truths it can’t get across its message in an interesting fashion. Anek suffers from clunky writing and lackluster storytelling.
Kidwise: Violence, and talk of violence.
