Thread by @ChitraAhanthem

yo folks: I am feeling sadistic. Should I go watch #Anek first day first show and do a tweet review? Been pitching for an #OwnVoice review to media houses but no one's interested.

https://twitter.com/ChitraAhanthem/status/1522145543782551552

Keep me in your thoughts people. This is a difficult mission. Pray I have my sanity intact after this

Just found out I booked ticket for tomorrow. So cancelled and lost 150 bucks and got another ticket. Not good omens I tell you 🤣🤪

First half of #Anek an overload of everything you have read of NE India in mainstream media. Problem being, everything has been boxed in. Two words in Manipuri, a Naga folk song, jymphong bring worn by a few women in scenes, that's their idea of diversity. It is a MESS. More soon

The opening voiceover does say NE India is made of different states. But after that one line, they conflate everything into a lump. 'Joshua' as a name is all it takes for #AyushmannKhurrana to be looked on as the saviour and trusted by everyone. His real name is Aman (peace)

By the end of #Anek my narrow eyes will surely become Indian like with all the eye rolling and my reactions of shock over all the nonsense 👀

Major problem with #Anek - it doesn't situate the film anywhere. Everyone says 'North East' then a scene in 2nd half where the Khurraana character spouts how states in South India are to the north of others. Telangana is North of Tamil Nadu so is it N India, he asks. Duh?!

Khurraana is Aman (peace) who is in the IPS and is into covert missions. He becomes 'Joshua' and viola, locals around him come running to him with problems to solve. As if! So he comes to 'North East' to hammer a peace accord with Tiger Sangha and Govt of India

Tiger Sangha is fashioned after Muivah of NSCN (IM). Too many nods: the blue flag his outfit uses, an official saying his mentor went away abroad and died there (Phizo) and that he shouldn't demand for a separate flag and constitution. 2nd half, his aide speaks to him in Manipuri

The bits of dialogues in Nagamese and Manipuri are their way of inclusivity and showing they are clued in. Problem? Sangha is neither a Manipuri or Naga clan name. Let's say it is fiction but then why present a kichdi of everything unsavoury?

The film has been shot in Meghalaya so the dresses worn by women characters in many scenes are from there. Again, doesn't add up with the language being spoken. Of course, Nagamese and Manipuri are in bits, the majority dialogue between locals are in Hindi which is laughable 🤭

#Anek conflates the entire NE India. It can't save itself with the dialogue baazi of we are one, we are India. The film skirts around racism, prejudices around food (you guys drink and eat dog meat right says a coach to another), chinky is mentioned, nepalis are referenced but

It all comes out fake. Aido wants to represent India in the boxing stage and gets picked up in a raid in a pub one night before the match (cue racism mentions). Her opponent says she isn't cut out for the India thing. She has to prove she is good. Convenient plot points eh?

The Aido track is very Mary Kom ish. With her father being a separatist leader against the Tiger Sangha and Govt of India peace talks,her insistence on playing for India comes out all fake and very improbable. #Anek is #Uri in parts, #ChakDe in some.

On the Kapil Sharma show, the director said that while casting for the role of Aido, he googled for beauty pageant winners from NE India states. How i wish he had googled more to check if he knew enough to be talking of the many issues in the region #Anek

#AyushmannKhurrana in #Anek is the moral crusader and mainland saviour all rolled into one. When his character says 'Dont you want peace? It is a simple matter', it whitewashes the entire political narratives of ALL states in NE India.

And of course, 'Armed Forces Special Powers Act' is mentioned only once in the entire film when Tiger Sangha says in the opening scenes to a journalist that 'Nehru and Patel sent forces after 1947 along with AFSPA'. Factually wrong as the Act came to effect at different intervals

All those saying #Anek is just a film and that it is fiction and creative licence and stuff, listen to how the film director and lead actor are going about with their 'love and respect for NE' (mind you, without the 'India' there isn't any context) WITHOUT knowing enough

Getting a few actors from the region and then sprinkling the film with misplaced narratives is appropriation and misrepresentation. A few actors from NE India but not one script consultant from the region to check for sensitivity smacks of tokenism

Am done with my tweet review of #Anek so ending this with a rating of a minus 1 star. It is a bit better than Yeh Gulistaan Hamaara, Tango Charlie, Mary Kom, Jagga Jassoos (for the Manipur portion) which are all minus 10.

PS : I deserve a bravery award (is that too much to ask) for having taken on (and surviving barely!) the task of watching #Anek and another award for doing the greater good and all that sezz...because I watched the film, you don't have to now 🤪🤣

PPS : Tiger Sangha (aka Muivah) having his aide speaking to him in Manipuri is the best example of director and script writer #AnubhavSinha having failed to have any idea about conflict in
#NorthEastIndia (North East is a direction dude). It was the worst irony.

Muivah is a Tangkhul Naga from Manipur and his demand for Greater Nagaland puts him at odds with the Manipuri rebel groups. Of course #Anek is a movie again but the mainland cast goes around with 'this is a story of Northeast by its own people' Whatdafaaq as Aido says in the film

Adding another OMG moment from #Anek There is a raid at a rival faction rebel group's place and one guy says 'mapaan thokk o' in Manipuri twice which got subtitled as 'Go outside' but it actually means 'urinate/pee'. Go outside would be 'mapaan da thokk o'
#LostInTranslation

The @timesofindia film review gave #Anek 4/5 stars and called it 'An unsettling, thought-provoking narrative from the northeast' WhatTheFaa 🤣🤣🤣

@ThePrintIndia review gives #Anek 4/5 stars saying:
'It's heartening to see people from the Northeast represent themselves on screen, speaking their own language and their ‘Hindi’. It's a message for India.' What IS the message kind fellows?

@the_hindu review says 'a deeply-political film that asks why people of certain parts of India have to repeatedly prove their love and worth for the country' without asking where the film is set and mentions #TangoCharlie in the same breath! Fail.