Anya

STORY: Hellbent on exposing corruption in India, especially towards the downtrodden members of the community, Mumbai-based documentary filmmaker Divya (Raima Sen) picks up her pen and pad to interview the suppressed and forgotten. While the intent of the movie is noble, its execution is anything but.

REVIEW: The film opens to Divya pacing back and forth, worried sick over having to miss this year’s film-festival circuit as her documentary on poverty—among other social evils we are told she deeply cares about—is yet to be conceptualised. Her ‘friend’ Deepak (Bhushan Pradhan) is quick to suggest that they hire a pickpocketer from the slums of Mumbai for a sting operation on sex traffickers and bondage labourers. In comes Sartak (Prathamesh Parab), whose Mumbaiyya slang and colourful dress sense is just not enough to shine light on the impoverished lifestyle he supposedly leads. With a basic spy camera and daily pay of one grand, Sartak begins his round of interviews that—had it not been for those ticker-esque titles—would have easily passed off as some school project, collectively.

Simmy Joseph’s social drama is erected on a rocky foundation: the director tries to say too much in too little time, and with no preparation whatsoever. Except for Atul Kulkarni and Raima Sen’s unsuccessful attempt at making ‘Anya’ look purposeful and all-knowing, the film has everything else going against it: the poorly designed set, shoddy post-production work and a script that doesn’t know what it desires to convey to the masses.

In one frame, we are waging a war against forced displacement, then we quickly move over to the non-existent sexual tension between the documaker and her former-lover-turned-writer Arindam (Atul Kulkarni). ‘Anya’ needed to make up its mind before going on the floors. To add insult to injury, Krishna Raaj inserts a background score that is deafening and unfit for a serious subject like corruption.

At a time when voicing your unpopular opinion is labelled a crime and you a criminal, team ‘Anya’ is definitely bold enough to call a spade a spade. But, with no real framework to fall back on, this film will most likely be sidelined.