Nishaanchi review: Sorry, why isn’t this a series?

NishaanchiUA Crime dramaDir Anurag KashyapCast Aaishvary Thackeray Vedika PintoRating As a film is Nishaanchi niche I think every effort and more has been made to ensure the answer to that question is a big noTo be fair in the context of Hindi films simply the existence of songs and dances assists most movies from ducking the suicidal allegation of being anything boringly dark or sufficiently arthouse This film has a pretty peppy soundtrack alrightAnd not in a mukhdaantaramelody sort of way More as a sendupTake the group of unlikely qawaals wearing red shades purple jackets over green kurtas at a ldquonationalist akhadardquo singing Dear Country with a stress between the countryrsquos two syllables like a bhajan in English to the motherland being her brave sons The tune shifts to Manoj Kumarrsquos Mere Desh Ki Dharti at some pointThe sheer ludicrousness of it hits you in mysterious ways that you feel okay to watch this sheer lunacy later in the picture all over againItrsquos a bit like the Channel V spoofs that only those from the rsquo90s vintage are likely to recall Or for that matter the moviersquos catchy comicbook title sequence that if Irsquom not mistaken is also its trailerLikewise while Nishaanchi opens with the azaan which is good omen mdash the sequence that follows is that of an amateur bank robbery establishing its genre that is a heist thriller after allTherersquos a hero Aaishvary Thackeray who has a twin Therersquos a heroine Vedika Pinto who apparently has agency so to say even if shersquos drawn to her stalker Except for a film primarily about the hero hence heroine villain mother I canrsquot find myself getting glued to any Whyrsquos that Itrsquos a good questionI donrsquot have an answer But hypothetically speaking Irsquom willing to make a guessWhat if for a mainstream entertainer there was a wellknown actor for the hero insteadYou could first be viscerally drawn to his range based on past performances mdash morphing into a Kanpuriya sadakchhaap hero in a double role kicking ass on the frickinrsquo streets pushing personal envelope if nothing elseFully adds to the damn characterTo give a random example Take Animal 2023 for whatever you thought of it Take Ranbir Kapoor out of it Itrsquos not half the film it isThe debutant for all the obvious talents Aaishvary Thackeray no knock hardly exudes the main character charm to captivate you with his firsttime presence aloneThe reasonrsquos not him Itrsquos the casting for a supposedly lsquocommercialrsquo picture like this fully centred on the brave hero or rather two of him Takes getting used to let alone to root for Somehow television handles this handicap better Which is probably why itrsquos more fun when the same lead shorn of similar expectations is in his teens avenging his dadrsquos death Itrsquos a kid you get itThe boy goes to jail He returns and joins the local thugs Is that what the filmrsquos about Thatrsquos a better question Whatrsquos the film about or should it be about anything at allI watched it with my thoughts alternating between scattered reels adlibs improvisations casual asides rustic oneliners running like lsquopotarsquo gunk from a runny nose going ldquoHey thatrsquos funnyrdquoldquoOkay thatrsquos a great scenerdquo ldquoAlright whatrsquos happening nowrdquo ldquoIrsquom sorry whatrsquos going on againrdquo ldquoAh good touchrdquohellip Feels like free verse rather than a film thatrsquos tightly plottedSomewhere between shotsscenes that equal movies and network TV serials more interested in gently meandering coverage of events alone is obviously the OTT series that seamlessly allows for bothWhich is why after three hours of the same inside a dark hall staring at my Uber I had to eventually ask ldquoSorry why is Nishaanchi not a frickinrsquo series againrdquo Usually one asks the same question in reverse when directors more often stretch movie scripts into series instead example FarziNishaanchi is writtendirected by Anurag Kashyap Black Friday DevD Over two decades given his own influence over Indian filmmakers besides film buffs of course itrsquod be fair to say Kashyap is Kool Aid himself Fairer still to say he doesnrsquot drink itThat is if you merely look at the range of genres hersquos traversed even lately mdash sports drama Mukkabaaz psychological thriller Psycho Raman romance Manmarziyaan Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat magical realist Choked scifi thriller DobaaraahellipGangs of Wasseypur 2012 remains his confirmed masterpiece Did he force drink that Kool Aid Can see but canrsquot say for sure yetYup therersquos the mother who looks as old as the son brilliant Monika Pawar in place of Richa Chadha or the intergenerational villain like Tigmanshu Dhuliarsquos Ramadheer Singh Kumud Mishra or the cop Mohd Zeeshan Ayub who I thought was speaking like Piyush Mishra and the kids Babloo Dabloo who could well be cousins of Babua Perpendicular DefinitehellipBut Gangs of Wasseypur was majestic in its sweep patiently narrating the history of Biharrsquos coal belt without the unnecessary trappings of a threeact structure It wouldrsquove been the greatest OTT show ever was it to open in 2025 There was no Netflix thenNishaanchi is only half way through The second part is postinterval rather than a sequel Hard to bet if itrsquoll come together as satisfyingly as Gangs 2But then again we are only three episodes of the six down so far Irsquom totally down for the next lot mdash ideally working from home Or well theatre againYUCK WHATEVER GOOD SUPER AWESOME

Nishaanchi review: Sorry, why isn’t this a series?

Nishaanchi
U/A: Crime, drama
Dir: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Aaishvary Thackeray, Vedika Pinto
Rating: **

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Home / Entertainment / Bollywood News / Article / Nishaanchi review: Sorry, why isn’t this a series?

Nishaanchi review: Sorry, why isn’t this a series?

NishaanchiU/A: Crime, dramaDir: Anurag KashyapCast: Aaishvary Thackeray, Vedika Pinto Rating: **

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Nishaanchi
U/A: Crime, drama
Dir: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Aaishvary Thackeray, Vedika Pinto
Rating: **