Review of Anwar (2007) by Sanyam J — 02 May 2008

You watch a movie like Anwar and immediately you think to yourself: 'These are the sorts of movies India should be submitting to the Baftas and the Oscars', and Manish Jha delivers this incredible story note-perfectly.

Anwar is, at heart, a love story and unfolds to reveal its subject in its broadest sense: (love of one's career, love - or lack of love - for one's country etc.) and also captures the true spectrum of love: the blissful awakenings, the pleasure, the joy and the rejections, refusals and slow breaking of hearts.

Stunning visuals combine with a cast of characters so brilliantly conceived one could almost find them in the pages of a novel by Vikram Seth and along with deft performances, editing and dialogue, present one of the finest films to come out of Hindi cinema.

Anwar (the film) is thought-provoking, questioning, unhappy, longing, haunting and fundamentally achieves what we need cinema (from time to time, at least) to be: the sort of medium that shakes us from our slumber with explosions and loud shouts, demanding us to listen, to have our ideas and beliefs challenged and queried.