Anek

Film 'Anek' is the truth of this time. If you are living with the truth, then this film is a nightmare for you. It's 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.

While Sinha has become a master with his combination of presenting a social issue while making it engaging and entertaining, that becomes a hit-and-miss here with Anek to an unfortunately large extent. It is still a brave attempt overall and most importantly, does spark dialogue as it intended to.

ANEk rides on the Ayushmann Khurrana platform of socially aware films but starts and ends with the mic passed on to the actor whose story is being told. This is a step in the right direction. It corrects what Aysuhmann's last film left to be desired. However, Anek isn't just about the North East region of India. Anek is ambitious. Almost too ambitious for its own good. It's less film and more an idea. The idea of moving towards participatory democracy. The idea of India transitioning into the United States of India.

Anubhav Sinha is a fantastic questioner. You can see that he hates leaving any question unasked and that habit is at the forefront in this film. His questions are often challenging and occasionally even existential. The hope is that his insatiable urge of asking questions will rub off on the moviegoers and will make them imbibe critical thinking that our education system has largely kept at bay.

The movie stays on brand with this theme and even ends with a question. Reasoning is simple. The film wants the public to come up with answers to those questions instead of being didactic about its point. And the film does its job of giving every side enough footage to appear unbiased - the government, the disillusioned government officer, the politicised rebel group, the militant group who represents the voice of the people, the group whose entire struggle is nudging mainland India to recognise them for real and not just on paper. Unlike other political thrillers, this film is extremely nuanced. So much so that I've seen people thinking it's muddled because of it. It's a fair concern because the film is noticeably marred by what I call as the Batman vs Superman syndrome.

The editor has done the entire crew dirty. Their job is so choppy that it does terrible injustice towards everyone else from the actors to writers to cinematographers all of whom have done a near-perfect job. There are scenes where you can actually tell that they were cut to shorten the film and thus end up being pointless. There are also a few plotholes (why is Joshua having a change of heart 3 years into his stay in the unnamed state of the NE) which demand a level of suspension of disbelief that you don't expect from a film this rooted in reality. Add to that the production value of the film is cheap probably because of its tight budget.

Ayushmann Khurrana, however, does his level best to carry this film despite all its shortcomings. His performance lifts the film and keeps you engaged even when the editing zones you out. His shades of gray are more impressive than his transition into the empathetic man - the latter he has done often throughout his career. Watch out for his scene right after the viral North-South language scene. It's a career-high, award-worthy performance that involves a nihilistic question that is bound to make literally everyone uncomfortable and ends with a statement that would rile up a large chunk of his audience. It's a shame though that the film doesn't give him enough action sequences because the man was bulked up enough to pull it off. Andrea does a phenomenal job for a debutante. She is consistent throughout the film. Seasoned actors Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa and Loitongbam Dorendra live up to their names specially the latter two who get ample footage in the film.

Despite all the issues that plague this film, its highs are so thoroughly engaging and leave such a slow burner impact on you with its very relevant questions that they almost make up for the lows. Hopefully, we will get the director's cut of this film someday which would do justice to it.

First, people need to understand the situation in the NE before watching this film . Only then will they understand.

Second, this is not for masses. It is for the audience of the highest class. So please, if you come across reviews saying "slow", "boring" etc, prolly they are masala film fans. You are watching a film that requires your utmost attention otherwise everything will go over head and this is where the highest class audience excel at, that is, paying attention.

Now coming to the main film, the makers have tried to include literally 3-4 plots into a 2hr 30 mins film, an operation to keep peace, a sports angle, the Tiger Sangha angle etc. Had they focused on only the rebels story, this film would have been terrific but sadly juggling between one plot to another, you really cannot digest everything, even the best audience can't. They come to watch a film with a proper one plot and at the max 2 plot film but this one has too many to digest, this is where Anek falters big time.

Setting of this film is great. Gives off proper NE vibes . The action sequences are few but are well choreographed despite limited budget. The one where the Johnson rebels get cornered in a small jungle, that part is really well made. The sequence following that made me emotional.

The 1st half requires your utmost attention while the 2nd half is quite interesting.

Ayushmann khurana has finally ventured into a different kind of social message film. A first timer as an agent , he does a commendable job. Rest everyone have also done a terrific job, especially that little boy who joins the Johnson army.

Another negative is it gets too preachy often and they disrupt the flow of the film.

Overall, a good one time watch only if you are ready to watch patiently about an important topic.

Don't take side and view this with a neutral instance.

This movie is not concluding anything. It's just trying to portray perspective of different people.

ANEK - 8.2 1st half, 6.5 2nd half. Overall 7.5/10 (more weightage to first half these days as if that isn't fancy, nobody will go till the end)

It opens a new door to Indian cinema which talks about geo-politics of the most complicated democracy in the world with 22 official languages with no national language and national sport as such. Why? Well, it isn't democratic yet to decide on one, the very oneness we miss as a country. This film lays bare the very dirty and polluted politics of India and its policies to deal with separatists. We Indians are at one side and the separatists toil to scramble the ladder of recognition but they are pulled back with two choices, either die or chant Jai Hind and be with us. Quite not fair, right? Well, for the majority of us, it is fair. The India is politics and not its people.

Ayushman's best work so far with no flaw as such. The North-east crew was quite brilliant. I loved the way they hid the state name and all jeeps had NE on their name plates. Great direction. Punchy dialogues. A bit lenghty and boring in the second half as the prologue of the movie in the first half was covered fantastically and it was all about executing that in the 2nd half with a bitter and gory war at 3 fronts. Won't give spoilers. Do not just join the bandwagon of that population which doesn't even watch and start criticizing just by seeing the names. A great movie buff decides all by himself. A must watch to know this side as well.