‘Anuja’ Netflix Movie Review - Despite Good Intentions, It Comes Across As Exploitation Project

Anuja's main strength comes from the performance of the two lead actors - Sajda Pathan and Ananya Shanbhag. As Anuja and Palak, the girls take you through the penurious side of Delhi, where lanes are thin, overcrowded, and busy. The movie opens with Palak narrating a bedtime story about a mongoose and a family to Anuja. It's essentially about a mongoose being wrongfully blamed, punished, and meeting its demise. The animal represents all the less-privileged individuals who work for the affluent class and are often penalized by their employers. In a scene near the beginning of the film, Anuja stands between two men who have different notions about her. Mr. Verma (Nagesh Bhonsle), her boss, wants to exploit Anuja to run his business, while Mr. Mishra (Gulshan Walia), a school teacher, wants Anuja to embrace education. But what does Anuja want? She merely wants to live with her sister. People like her don't have the luxury to have grand ambitions. They have talent all right, but not the necessary help or resources. In the film, Anuja and Palak manage to get the money for a test. All the titular character has to do is arrive at the examination center.

Still, Anuja finds herself in a difficult position, forced to choose between her own freedom and her sister's. You see, after discovering Anuja's extraordinary prowess in mathematics, Mr. Verma instructs her to come to his office every day at 8 am. If she misses the appointment, she and her sister will lose their jobs. Will Anuja choose the drudgery of the garment factory or the freedom that education offers? The movie doesn't provide you with an answer. Rather, it asks you to create your own journey, your own destination. I wish it hadn't. Anuja would have been impactful if Graves had followed the story to its conclusion instead of leaving it "open for the audience" like a wannabe art house filmmaker who, after giving up midway, tells the viewers that they should take the narrative forward. By ending the movie at this crossroads, Graves only emphasizes the character's confusion. If he had shown us Anuja's decision, he would have managed to evoke a poignant reaction from within us because both options, in one way or another, lead to pain and sadness. Also, we could have understood Anuja's priorities better.

Akash Raje's cinematography makes some images intimate, like when Anuja and Palak are seen lying together. However, it also emanates the stench of ostentation when Palak explains how she exits the factory with bags or when it follows Anuja inside a mall. That mall scene, though, rings false. First, given how close the sisters are, you never believe that Anuja will just blindly run so far away from Palak. Second, it's highly unlikely that a security guard will allow a minor to enter the mall without a guardian. Third, it's the kind of scene that's solely inserted to make a point in bold letters (birds of a feather sympathize with each other). Anuja also suffers from a "gaze problem." While watching it, you feel as if the filmmaker, from his ivory tower, is saying things like, "Aww, look how these people struggle." During the end credits, the residents of the SBT Children's Home view the film, and their reactions are recorded on camera. One can't help but see this as something a group of wealthy people did for the film's PR. Graves and his team must have made Anuja with good intentions. Nevertheless, the movie eventually comes across as an exploitation project.

Final Score- [3.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times