Rating: 3/5
Anurag Kashyap’s latest venture, Nishaanchi, presents itself as a labyrinthine narrative that demands patience and interpretive skill from its viewers. Like the film’s own lyrical admission – “understanding us is more challenging than deciphering Khusro, Ghalib, or Meer” – this offering requires serious commitment from audiences.
Cast & Crew
Starring: Aaishvary Thackeray, Vedika Pinto, Kumud Mishra, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, Monika Panwar, Vineet Kumar Singh
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Runtime: 2 hours 56 minutes
Language: Hindi
Release: Theatrical
The Good
Aaishvary Thackeray delivers a commanding debut performance, seamlessly inhabiting dual roles that showcase remarkable range and screen presence.
The Challenging
The film’s extended runtime and editing choices may test viewer endurance, making this more of an acquired taste than universal entertainment.
Who Should Watch
Dedicated Kashyap enthusiasts and those who appreciate unconventional storytelling approaches.
The Kashyap Experience
Entering Anurag Kashyap’s cinematic universe typically promises unflinching honesty in storytelling, and Nishaanchi certainly delivers on this front. The film presents a raw, uncompromising narrative crafted with genuine conviction. However, the relationship between artistic integrity and audience accessibility remains complex throughout this nearly three-hour journey.
The opening sequence sets an ambitious tone with its credit sequence accompanying “Fillam Dekho,” a song that essentially serves as the film’s manifesto about its own complexity and artistic aspirations.
Narrative Structure
Nishaanchi weaves between multiple timelines while maintaining a relatively straightforward core premise. The story follows Babloo Nishaanchi, a would-be gangster, and his twin brother Dabloo. Alongside Babloo’s girlfriend Rinku, they attempt to establish their criminal enterprise, only to face immediate consequences during their inaugural bank robbery. This incident catalyzes a broader exploration of love, betrayal, vengeance, and cyclical violence.
The narrative architecture reflects Kashyap’s signature approach: brutal realism embedded within familial dynamics. The twins, both portrayed with impressive dexterity by Aaishvary Thackeray, are children of Manjiri, a state-level archer, and Jabardast Pehelwaan. This family unit faces disruption when an external threat, embodied by Kumud Mishra’s character, enters their lives with designs on Manjiri.
The film operates on dual narrative tracks – the parental generation’s story providing context and foundation, while the sons’ contemporary struggles drive toward resolution. This temporal juggling act forms both the film’s ambitious scope and its potential weakness.
Performance Highlights
Aaishvary Thackeray’s debut performance stands as the film’s strongest asset. His portrayal of the twin brothers demonstrates remarkable versatility, creating distinctly different personalities that feel authentically separate despite sharing the same actor. This technical and artistic achievement anchors the film’s more experimental elements.
Vedika Pinto brings credible energy to Rinku, while the supporting ensemble provides solid foundation work. However, the true scene-stealers prove to be Monika Panwar and Vineet Kumar Singh, whose character arcs possess such compelling depth that they occasionally eclipse the central narrative focus.
Less successful are the antagonistic roles filled by Kumud Mishra and Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub. Despite these actors’ proven capabilities, their characters feel underutilized, representing missed opportunities in a story that depends heavily on meaningful conflict.
Final Verdict
Nishaanchi presents viewers with a choice: embrace its challenging artistic vision or seek more immediately accessible entertainment elsewhere. Like much of Kashyap’s work, it demands active engagement rather than passive consumption. While the film’s ambitions occasionally exceed its execution, particularly in pacing and structure, it offers enough compelling elements to reward patient viewers.
This is cinema as puzzle rather than simple entertainment – complex, sometimes frustrating, but ultimately rewarding for those willing to invest the necessary time and attention.
