Sudhir Mishra’s Afwaah is a powerful intervention in the time of WhatsApp forwards and IT cells. The political thriller traces how an afwaah or rumour changes the course of multiple lives.
The film opens with a young, power-hungry politician Vicky Singh (Sumeet Vyas) delivering a stump speech in Rajasthan’s Sawalpur as his cavalcade makes its way through a Muslim-majority neighbourhood. Violence soon breaks out, and Vicky’s trusted aide Chandan (Sharib Hashmi) kills a Muslim butcher in his shop. The video goes viral, eliciting anger from Vicky’s fiance Nivi (Bhumi Pednekar)
Nivi actually turns out to be the central character, not Vicky Singh Bana. She is horrified at the violence and runs away in a bid, to escape her destiny as the wife of a politician.
Parallelly, there is another man on a journey in Sawalpur. Rahab Ahmed (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a US-returned advertising professional is on his way to meet his writer wife at a literature festival in Nahargarh.
When and how the two run into each other — a Hindu woman and a Muslim man — is the central tension in the story and becomes fodder for Sawalpur’s dirty politics. All the political catchphrases of contemporary India find space in the plot – from love jihad to vigilante mobs to cattle transporters to viral hate videos. But the film tries hard to not get too preachy.
Nivi and Rahab’s paths cross when Vicky’s goons are trying to convince her to come back home, and Rahab intervenes. She gets into the car with him and flees.
A rumour is spread by Vicky’s social media aide that this is a case of ‘Love Jihad’. The term is repeated multiple times in the movie and a murderous mob is unleashed upon them by Vicky Singh. But by the time the rumours spread, it’s not just his political goons, but also citizen vigilante groups that are hunting them.
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Layered perfomances
The actors are not presented as stock black-and-white characters but are carefully layered.
The ensemble cast delivers flawless performances, but it is Sharib Hashmi that stands out. Hashmi, now a popular face after his role as JK Talpade in Amazon Prime’sThe Family Man, doesn’t miss a beat as Chandan, the brash, loyal and subservient goon. He evokes sympathy despite being a murderer, as the film touches upon the ideas of social mobility and ‘loyalty’ that keep him tethered to Vicky.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays the US-returned ‘woke’ elite without going over the top. His anger, confusion and helplessness are conveyed with a subtlety that makes his performance impactful. Bhumi Pednekar keeps up her track record of almost-effortless performances. She is convincing as the small-town woman, who is educated in Delhi, but has her life and husband picked out by her powerful king-maker father.
Despite her small role, TJ Bhanu is a complete delight as sub-inspector Jyoti. She makes you both sympathise and laugh with her as she keeps a check on her boyfriend and boss, Inspector Samar (Sumit Kaul), who’s married to someone else.
Sumeet Vyas has come a long way since his breakout role as Mikesh in TVF’s Permanent Roommates, and as Vicky, he truly shines. He manages to make you hate him, as he wields command over his underlings and Nivi.
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Screenplay is the star
The star of the film is the screenplay, written by Sudhir Mishra, Nisarg Mehta, and Shiva Shankar Bajpai.
“For ‘Afwaah’, the idea was, what if the monster chasing you is a rumour,” said Sudhir Mishra to ThePrint.
The chaos in the film is cleverly woven together with references to lynching over beef, tension among Hindu-Muslim communities, the grip of social media and Whatsapp and of course, the power of rumour. The humour is dark and ironic and directed towards the audience as much as it is towards characters and their own actions and flaws.
The contrast between the chaos of murderous men trying to find the truck in which Chandan is travelling and the elite attending the literature fest inside a high-security fort plays out towards the last half hour of the film.
Even as a fest attendee quotes Benedict Anderson, no one is willing to provide a helping hand to Rahab and Nivi. It is the empty talk of the academics.
The female characters stand out for both their lack of agency and their mediation within the patriarchal system. Nivi realises that running from one toxic man and becoming another’s wife is not the life she wants.
Jyoti comes to terms with the fact that her boss is simply exploiting her. Her mother, instead of questioning her morality, tells her to get the best out of her boss while his lust for her lasts.
They’re also deeply flawed, and real. Nivi has no qualms about behaving like a feudal overlord’s daughter. Jyoti too terrorises a young woman into not registering an FIR in order to save Samar. They are all ultimately making the best out of a terrible situation. As Rahab tells Nivi, “There is no virtue in being a good man.”
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)