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

Story

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.

Direction

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.

Music

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.

Verdict

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).