Anamadheya Ashok Kumar movie review: Kishore and Harshil Koushik shine in whodunit mystery

3.5/5

Anamadheya Ashok Kumar movie story: On the day that reputed criminal lawyer Anand Bhat (Sudheendran Nair) sits down for an exclusive interview with a journalist, Praveen Rajshekar (Kishore), he is slain by an intruder, while the latter is knocked unconscious. When Praveen comes to, he sees someone, presumably the intruder, and stabs him in self-defense. Turns out, the person he stabbed was a retired police official, and Praveen is hauled in for questioning in the murder of the lawyer and the attack on the former cop.

His version is that he too is a victim and witnessed the attack, but Circle Inspector Athirath (Harshil Koushik), who is investigating the crime, isn’t convinced. So, what is Praveen’s role in this crime? Why was a highly-ranked ex-cop at the lawyer’s house?

Also read: Anamadheya Ashok Kumar trailer: Is Kishore a victim, criminal or witness? 

Anamadheya Ashok Kumar movie review: A high-profile murder, a grievously injured ex-cop, a journalist who is either the perpetrator or an unwitting victim, and a police officer trying to piece together this jigsaw puzzle – this is what is at the center of debutant director Sagar Kumar’s Anamadheya Ashok Kumar. The title refers to the Indian legalese for an unknown/anonymous victim or perpetrator in a crime. How that is relevant to the story is what you’ll have to see in theatres.

Sagar’s film is concise, all of 104 in run-time, with only a handful of characters and a couple of locations at play. The conversations between the investigating officer and the journalist, each trying to suss the other one out, while also hashing out a probable scenario of events are at the crux of the narrative. Kishore and Harshil take center stage and both do not disappoint – they are the load-bearing beams of Sagar’s story.

Kishore, of course, is in his element, with Harshil matching him step-for-step, while also keeping their performances subtle and grounded. The dialogues are largely crisp and apt, with the stray loaded statement slid in as well. A line or two does get repeated, but that’s because Harshil, as Athirath, does not buy into the version of events as told by Praveen. With the what, where, and how of the crime established early on, it’s the why and who that baffles Athirath.

There is some amount of spoon-feeding from the director, which, I thought, added a few minutes to the film and could have, perhaps, been done away with. There were a couple of elements that I figured out way before the actual reveal, which would have made sense even without an explainer. The background score is also perfect, never overbearing, but setting just the right mood. The visuals are pretty basic, but then that’s to be expected given that 95% of the film takes place in a makeshift interrogation room.

Also read: Anamadheya Ashok Kumar actor Kishore: 'Cinema is one of the last remaining means for people to voice issues and raise questions' 

Anamadheya Ashok Kumar movie verdict: Anamadheya Ashok Kumar is a gripping whodunit mystery, with director Sagar expertly keeping audiences guessing how it’s going to turn out. It does not have star power driving it but falls on the strength of the performances of the two protagonists, both of who do not disappoint.