Directed by Nicholas Kharkongor
Cast : Sayani Gupta, Lin Laishram, Tenzin Dalha ,Vinay Pathak, Rohan
Joshi, Dolly Ahluwalia
Producers : Siddharth Anand Kumar, Vikram Mehra,
Executive producers: Shoaib
Lokhandwala, Nitin Nair, Gaurav Sharma, Sahil Sharma
Music by Tajdar Junaid
Cinematography
by Parasher Baruah
Language:
Hindi with mixed languages and subtitles.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/qjjSDKFPKvk
(The aim and
intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the
whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged
for a proper review!)
Food is a reflection of our culture, the basis of who we are and what we love. The celebration and sharing of food communicates, connects and unifies people. Director Nicholas Kharkongor
artfully uses the culinary adventures with Axone, an important ingredient in Northeastern Cuisine for a wedding celebration as the conduit to present the allegory of discrimination, and racism in Indian
society especially highlighting the prejudices against Northeast Indians.
Despite having a culinary understanding, I too was oblivious of what was Axone ( pronounced as Akhuni ). These are fermented soya beans, an important ingredient in northeastern regional cuisine, used to add an umami flavor to traditional recipes. The word
with Sumi language origins, is a combination of two
words Axo-ne, "Axo" meaning "aroma" or "smell"
and "ne" or "nhe" meaning "deep" or
"strong", combining to “strong
smell". Cooking this fermented protein rich legume is quite a pungent process and not to everyone's taste, playing an appropriate metaphor of intolerance and racism in the country's capital.
In mainstream Bollywood, some movies have been made about multi cultural integration, prejudices, alienation and identity issues focusing on North Indians and South Indians, Axone, may be the first movie made focusing on Northeast Indians.
The Director Nicholas Kharkongor in the movie Axone walks you through the lives of migrant Northeastern Indians from Nagaland, Sikkim, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur,and Arunachal Pradesh, highlighting the discrimination, harassment and bigotry they face in North India. But keeping it balanced he exposes the biases amidst the North-easterners themselves, and their prejudices against the north Indians too. While showcasing these he also shows hope that society progresses to be tolerant and respectful of differences!
The Director Nicholas Kharkongor in the movie Axone walks you through the lives of migrant Northeastern Indians from Nagaland, Sikkim, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur,and Arunachal Pradesh, highlighting the discrimination, harassment and bigotry they face in North India. But keeping it balanced he exposes the biases amidst the North-easterners themselves, and their prejudices against the north Indians too. While showcasing these he also shows hope that society progresses to be tolerant and respectful of differences!
The movie revolves around a group of Northeast Indian friends Chanbi, Upasna and Zorem living in Delhi, who plan to cook their traditional dish with Axone for their friend Minham's wedding celebration. It's a day's journey of funny and sad misadventures involved in procuring Axone, to finding the right cooking space which will not bother the neighbors' noses to finally the wedding celebration. In its shadow the movie shows cultural stereotyping, racial discrimination, alienation, biases, insensitive behaviors, and intolerance. The movie also touches on identity conflicts, friendships, relationship issues, community spirit, goodwill and camaraderie. The celebration ends with glimmer of mutual respect and amity .
This kind of reflection is very relevant in today’s date and times
when racial and religious discrimination is on the increase in India, yet there
is hope because sisters and brothers of secularism with belief of ‘unity in
diversity’ are standing together.
The movie has characteristics of drama or play, either because
the director is himself a playwright turned director or because the movie is
based on a short play “Not just Akhuni”! The cast has many first time northeastern actors doing an excellent job, Lin Laishram as Chanbi comes out strong,
Tenzin Dalha as Zorem with his calm
persona shows he always has a plan B to problems. Sayani Gupta a film institute
grad built her character well as Upasana with the appropriate accent and
quirks. Rohan Joshi as ‘hyper’ Shiv showed great comic enthusiasm and made a
good impact to lighten a dense topic.
Check out this movie in theater tomorrow. Indie Meme which
brings meaningful independent films from South Asia to Austin audiences, presents
Axone in theaters on Wednesday, February 26th at AFS cinema, Austin. To add to you
experience, the Director Nicholas Kharkongor will be in attendance, who will also
have a Q&A session after the movie screening.
IndieMeme in collaboration
with BollywoodFilmCritic is having a giveaway today. Your comments and likes of
the review may give you a chance to win a Movie ticket for tomorrows’
screening. Check out show times, links and address below.
Date And Time
7:00 PM – 9:30 PM CST
Location
AFS Cinema
6259 Middle Fiskville Road
Austin, TX 78752
