Anek (2022) – Bold topic ….

 

 

Director: Anubhav Sinha

Script: Anubhav Sinha. Seema Agarwal. Yash Keswani. 

Cast: Ayushman Khurrana. Andrea Kevichusa. Manoj Pahwa. J.D.Chakravarthi. 

Genre: Spy – action -police Story. 

Platform: Netflix

Duration: 2 Hours 25 minutes

 

 Films about the North East are conspicuous by their absence. People from the North East are usually viewed through stereotypes in real life. The political situation in the states is also far from the thoughts of the “mainland” reader. The North East also doesn’t figure anywhere in the “national” news, which is again mainly confined to the “Northern states” and the somewhat “intractable” “Southern” states.

 

Anubhav Sinha has taken a bold step in putting the North East under the lens. By one count there are close to FIFTY militant/ terrorist organisations of various shades and hues, with most of them demanding separation from the Indian Union. 

 

Netflix was repeatedly pushing this “based on my past viewing” of  “similar” films. So I decided to take the plunge finally and I wasn’t disappointed.

 

Police spy Aman, aka Joshua, hangs around in “Emma’s café” which is a hangout for people of various persuasions. Aido (Andrea Kevichusa) wants to represent India in boxing, even though she has been treated very rudely by her Hindi-speaking boxing coach, who referred to her North Eastern origin in a racist and derogatory way. However, She is determined to make the grade and trains under her father, a secret member of a militant organisation.

 

The Centre is in talks with “Tiger Sangha”, a separatist leader, who wryly tells his interviewer in Hindi, “Who said there is no progress for 30 years ? After negotiating for so many years, I have finally learned to speak in Hindi”. He claims he represents the people but everyone doesn’t see it that way.

 

“Joshua” is also actually financing one of the separatist group’s activities with a truckload of weapons and ammunition, which he tracks with the help of his “Bihari” sidekick, who prides himself on his “Bihari short fuse”. 

 

Joshua’s superiors in Delhi, mainly Abrar Bhatt, pressurise “Joshua” to bring Tiger Sangha to the negotiating table since the Home Minister (Kumud Mishra)has agreed with Tiger that Tiger will be installed as Chief Minister if he signs a peace accord. Emma’s teenage son is enamoured of the militant lifestyle, and due to a mistake of wearing a militant’s cap, he flees and joins them. Aman is heartbroken that his promise to Emma is now worthless. Informed about a police raid, Aido’s father escapes and goes underground to the new leader “Johnson”, not knowing that it Aman who has created this “False Flag” leader so that he can easily track all the terrorists who are funding themselves with drugs sent across the Indian-Myanmar border.

 

Things soon start unravelling. The various militants now stake a claim for the leadership ….. 

 

Anubhav Sinha’s record is superb because he has tackled uncomfortable topics in Thappad, Mulk, Article 15 and Bheed. The narrative is a bit complex, yet we can understand what’s happening to the various characters who are all struggling for their passions – be it “freedom” or “boxing”.

 

Yet the underlying question that is repeatedly asked is, “Who is an Indian”? “What defines an Indian”? “Joshua” soon finds that the total alienation by the “mainland” over the years is something that has to be reversed so that the locals feel they belong to the “Mainstream”. Yet various events conspire against Joshua as his promises to everyone go downhill due to the heavy pressure from his immediate boss, Abrar Bhatt, who sends a “Forest officer” – another undercover police officer, Anjaiyya, to monitor Aman/ Joshua. 

 

The “Spycraft” is decent. Though Aman is a “police officer’, he uses regular “tradecraft” to meet subagents, creates “False Flags” and tries to play off one militant organisation against the other while keeping his main aim of maintaining the peace. 

 

However, in the last half an hour, the script goes a bit haywire and has a sort of “hurried ending”. Everyone watches Aido win the boxing cup for India and she waves the Indian flag at the match. Aman and Abrar however confer whether she has finally “proved” her Indianness or does it take more from everyone to prove that they are “Indian”. 

 

Ayushman Khurrana proves once again that he is not a run-of-the-mill actor as he tackles a different role. Manoj Pahwa is superb as the oily self-centred bureaucrat who only wants “his” view to stay on top, not caring about the ground realities.

 

The real-life locations in Assam and Meghalaya[1] help enormously with local actors playing locals, lending authenticity to the script. The special effects are truly terrible. No cartridges are ejected from the wooden guns, though they “spew” bullets. The somewhat hurried ending mars an otherwise interesting film that addresses an area, its politics, and its culture straightforwardly.

 

 

 

Historical Background – 3 out of 5

Script – 3 out of 5

Direction – 4 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

 

 Total – 3.5 out of 5  

 

  [1] https://theshillongtimes.com/2021/03/15/anek-team-winds-up-shooting-in-mlaya/