Anurag Kashyap is back with a handful of his favourite actors Kumud Mishra, Monika Panwar and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub with the young ones Aaishvary Thackeray, Vedika Pinto and Monika Panwar.
Nishaanchi marks Kashyap’s return to his recognizable grind, this time contending with a new ensemble while preserving his signature blend of grit and dark humor. The film glints in places, yet certain stretches linger and slow the pace. If you can overlook the drag, the performances and Kashyap’s keen eye for detail elevate the viewing, making it a worthwhile watch.
It is almost a decade and a half that Anurag had come up with Gangs of Wasseypur which too was a gangster drama. He had bound a neat narrative for Nishaanchi.
In 2006, the incident of burst of bank robberies involving 3 persons. There are twins and their girlfriend. Piyush Mishra is the inspector Kamal Ajmal. A story of twin brothers caught between crime and conscience, where love, loss, and fate test the strength of their bond.The two brothers, along with Babloo’s danseuse girlfriend Rinku (Vedika Pinto), embark on a bold early-morning bank heist in Kanpur.
Babloo and Dabloo (both Aaishvary Thackeray) function as a modern echo of the Deewaar siblings and the Ram Aur Shyam brothers, blending archetypes from those classics into Kashyap’s current milieu. The film also pays homage to Al Pacino’s Tony Montana from Scarface.
Anurag Kashyap has packed all the entertainment ingredients in this action packed drama Nishaanchi, and fortunately, he manages to keep the viewer engaged all through the duration of almost 3 hours.
Most impressive among the characters is Monika Panwar in her role that of a spunky, with her soft-values intact as that of Nargis in Mother India, Vedika Pinto is pretty, vulnerable and sensuous and is individualist in her own way.
The seasoned actors Kumud Mishra, Vineet Kumar Singh and Piyush Mishra perform their parts so well that they are the sturdy pillars of this drama.
Bringing the narrative to an end, Anurag Kashyap manages to evoke that feeling in us that there could be a sequel in the offing.
For those glamour struck audience, it is better to keep away from this film as it has newcomers alongside the veterans as mentioned above. It is an interesting film, no doubt.
– Review by JYOTHI VENKATESH
Cast of Nishaanchi:
Aaishvary Thackeray Babloo/ Dabloo Nishaanchi
Vedika Pinto as Babloo’s love interest
Monika Panwar as Babloo and Dabloo’s mother
Kumud Mishra as Ambika Prasad
Girish Sharma as young Ambika Prasad
Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Inspector Kamal Ajeeb
Vineet Kumar Singh as Babloo and Dabloo’s father
Ghanshyam Garg as Bank Manager
Abhishek Sharma as Banarasi Poori Wala
Durgesh Kumar as the Bank Security Guard
Devendra Charankar as Swadesh Babu
Credits of Nishaanchi:
Production companies – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, JAR Pictures, Flip Films
Directed by Anurag Kashyap
Written by Anurag Kashyap, Ranjan Chandel, Prasoon Mishra
Produced by Ajay Rai, Ranjan Singh, Vipin Agnihotri
Cinematography – Sylvester Fonseca
Edited by Aarti Bajaj
Music by Anurag Saikia, Manan Bhardwaj, Aaishvary Thackeray, Dhruv Ghanekar
