Ankahi Kahaniya Review: Three Takes, Three Responses

Senior journalist Bharathi S Pradhan reviews Kunal Kapoor, Zoya Hussain, Rinku Rajguru, Delzad Hiwale, and Abhishek Banerjee starrer 'Ankahi Kahaniya'.

General Rating

In a nut-shell:

Three Takes, Three Responses

Smartly done titles (Studio Kokaachi) lead to three separate stories on longing and love. But they’re not uniform in quality and evoke different responses. Netflix could also take care of their sub-titles. Just one sample: pretty shoddy when attracted is spelt as ‘attrachted’.

Director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari spotlights the loneliness of salesman Pradeep Lahoria (Abhishek Banerjee) from little-known Gadarwara in Madhya Pradesh. It’s manifest in his fascination for and nearly-intimate friendship with a pretty mannequin in his shop. From dressing her up lovingly to being possessive about her and even taking her out on a date.

It’s practically a one-man show by Banerjee although there are other characters including Sashi (TJ Bhanu), the perky girl from back home who understands him and gives him the companionship he so longs for.

We’ve seen films like Joaquin Phoenix’s Her (2013) where he falls in love with
Samantha, an operating system (an upgraded Alexa), tailored to cater to all his
needs.

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But Tiwari’s take on loneliness stops short of going too far and stays focused
on loneliness and friendship. Which gives poignancy to the Gadarwara boy’s
loneliness and doesn’t stray into perversion.

This ‘untold story’ is easily the best in the anthology.

Saket Chaudhary’s verbose trip on infidelity and changing equations throws
together an unlikely twosome. Tanu (Zoya Hussain) is on the trail of husband
Arjun Mathur (Nikhil Dwivedi) who’s cheating on her. With her is Manav
Kapoor (Kunaal Kapoor), husband of Natasha (Palomi Ghosh), the woman
Arjun’s secretly seeing.

As Tanu and Manav track what led to their respective partners straying from
them, they discover new traits in themselves. Fortunately, it’s not the cliché of

these two gettings into a relationship. It’s a little deeper. Tanu starts off with
the belief that infidelity is a reality and that she’s better off as Mrs. Arjun
Mathur, no matter what it takes. Manav can’t stand the idea of being with a
wife who has cheated on him, he begins with wanting to call off his marriage,
ensuring the security of his kids. She’s all out to mend her marriage, he’s all out
to end his.

It is interesting how their lives finally pan out.

My least favourite is Abhishek Chaubey who uses the local theatre as a
backdrop for his love story that’s centered around glamour versus grimy reality.
Chaubey makes it really downright grotty and dirty with cobwebs, cleaning
toilets, illness, and a chawl where a man pees out of the passage railings. Ugh.

Nandu (Omkar Ketkar), the theatre boy.

Manjari (Rinku Rajguru), the girl who wants to study but does sundry
household chores before treating herself to a film at the local theatre.

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Nandu fantasises Manjari as a glamorous actress, hair blowing in the wind. She
imagines him rescuing her like a true hero from a guy she can’t stand.

Reality is quite different but they fall in love and go out to make their dreams
come true.

Is this really an untold story? You mean we haven’t seen this glamour-and-
grime mix before?

Courtesy: Netflix YouTube

Three Takes, Three ResponsesAnkahi Kahaniya Review: Three Takes, Three Responses