Before watching this movie, I conducted an experiment where I asked a bunch of people to name all Seven Sister States and their capitals. The fact that none of the participants were able to name even half of the states correctly wasn’t really a surprise. But one particular answer really did catch me off guard: no one could remember Dispur being the capital city in Assam. This is especially striking because viewers have noted how Anek actually sheds light on the hard facts of insurgency, forgotten by media and government alike over time. So it makes sense that Anubhav Sinha would want to make a movie that came as a shock to many with this forgotten region at its core – something he’s been focused on ever since his last few creations Flag, Mulk and Thappad touched upon controversial social issues head-on like caste discrimination, technology abuse and police brutality across three different parts of India’s political map back in 2016
2022-06-01