The Anushree Experiments does everything that an ideal indie-film should.
It breaks free from a conventional narrative, unafraid of its abstract treatment in parts, leaving a few things incomplete and unexplained.
The lack of production values is aptly substituted by down-to-earth performances, smart photography and unfussy making.
The title is a subtle pointer to the Gandhian traits of the lead character who, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s My Experiments With Truth, goes on a hunger-strike, to get what she wants at home.
Anushree is like any other girl you’d come across in a neighbourhood.
Just past her teens, she’s neither making great progress as a student nor fits the bill of her father’s heir in his industry. Her priorities keep changing, she isn’t politically correct and her love life isn’t transparent enough.
She’s however clear on one thing, she will not get married to a groom her parents suggest. She wants more from life and craves to explore, but lacks a direction.
The atmosphere, as the story builds on, is constructed with adequate care. Anushree keeps plucking guavas from a neighbour’s house, freeing chickens from her cage.
There are gossips that travel from house to house about the men who meet Anushree, a maid who’s scared to talk, a pipe that keeps leaking and a ‘ pellilla-perayya ’ bringing several marriage prospects, even as she gets livid.
Though Aparna Malladi chooses the visual medium to tell us the story; her love for history, activism and literature too are sprinkled throughout. There are references to Margaret Thatcher, Shakespeare, Eleanor Roosevelt, Phoolan Devi, etc.
With the lead protagonist showing her rebel-streaks many a time, most of the references are well in place.
The maker makes Anushree meet several characters of the books she reads as she goes on a fast. That’s when the film gets into its own shell and redundancy creeps in.
The heart of the film lies in Anushree’s repeated conflicts with her parents, sister and how she ultimately rises above it. It’s a relief to see a woman’s character like Anushree, who makes mistakes and yet does not rely on others to find her way in life. Given a middle-class setting, similar to the ones you see in Sekhar Kammula’s films, the apprehensions of the parents in giving freedom to her daughter, is justified.
The film has people primarily speaking in English, though there’s enough Hindi and Telugu usage to lend familiarity to the Hyderabadi setting. At 108 minutes, the film’s length just feels right.
Ulrika Krishnamurti, essaying the lead character, remains oblivious of the camera placed in front of her.
Aparna Malladi shows she too is a confident actor, overshadowing the presence of popular television actor Meka Ramakrishna.
– Srivathsan Nadadhur
The Anushree Experiments
Cast : Ulrika Krishnamurti, Aparna Malladi, Meka Ramakrishna
Director : Aparna Malladi
