Anubhav Sinha is about to release his new political drama/thriller Anek which will feature Ayushmann Khurrana as a Special Forces operative in the Northeast.
Reacting to the recently released trailer of the film that has amassed over a million views within hours of its release on YouTube, a popular YouTuber from Maharashtra, Pratik Borade called out Bollywood for its hypocrisy on the Northeast and said that if there is anyone responsible for pushing the Northeastern States and its talents to the backstage over the years more than the past politicians and media then it is Bollywood.
According to him, Bollywood never cared to tell stories of the Northeast or cast its actors in anything more than supporting roles. He added that casting northeast actors in supporting roles was also a recent development. Before 2014, Northeastern stories and actors never featured in mainstream Bollywood films even though the northeast was and still is a treasure trove of stories, cultures, legends, and an eclectic mix of colourful and rich ethnicities that live in peace and harmony.
The Link to the Anek trailer:
He was quick to call out past Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru for his neglect of the region and pointed out that Nehru appointed a shady missionary with a questionable marriage history, Harry Verrier Holman Elwin as the advisor for issues pertaining to the Tribals of the North Eastern Region. According to him, this step virtually paved the way for the missionaries to carry out an unchallenged spree of conversion of the Tribals of the region that resulted in most of the North-Eastern States converting to Christianity shunning their age-old culture and practices. He called out Verrier for being the biggest roadblock in the development of the region and Nehru for blindly trusting him and keeping the Northeast people out of the mainstream India sighting a ludicrous reason for protecting their culture and existence and at the same time converting them to Christianity at an alarming pace.
Coming back to Bollywood, he continued that after 2014, when significant development work was underway in the different North Eastern States and for the first time in decades, the armed insurgency was at an all-time low, the people in Bollywood are trying to refuel and fan the dying flames of insurgency by glamorizing and siding with the separatists in a film that is evidently sympathetic to the cause of the separatists.
He further added that it is a tragedy that even with their unlimited resources, Bollywood never cared to make a film on the Great Ahom General Lachit Borphukan who annihilated the Mughals at Saraighat and defended the freedom and honour of Assam. Sadly, Bollywood chose to glamorize mass-murderers like Akbar in their films by painting a glamorized, liberal and sanitized picture of a man who was not so. Borade said that if Bollywood cared so much for the Northeast then they should allow talents and stories of the region to come to the fore and promote them through their films and series. He added that in spite of its apparently problematic content and ideology, Anek still looks like an extremely well-made film.
The link to Pratik Borade’s video:
