Movie Review

Anukul

Anukul is a 2017 Hindi short film directed by Sujoy Ghosh. Starring Saurabh Shukla and Parambrata
Chatterjee in the lead characters, Anukul is an adaptation of a literary work of same name by the
Bengali author Satyajit Ray in 1976. Anukul is a story of a Hindi teacher, who hires an android to do
his household chores. Short film is a peek into a hypothetical future where robots are very easily
employed for various jobs. The constant struggle between man & machine forms the premise of the
film.

The film centres around an old Hindi teacher Nikunj who appoints an android “Anukul” from
Kolkata’s Chowringhee Robot Supply Corp. Anukul, who looks like human, is described to be efficient
to work continuously without "overtime" and "holidays", thus becomes a part of Nikunj's household
as a housekeeper and starts observing things and people around. He is also said to be a very
effective learner and tends to absorbs traits of his master. This is quite evident from his innocent
questions related to Bhagwad Gita about right and wrong. The film depicts the dystopian future
describing what machine tends to become when they learn from human. As the story progresses,
after some dramatic set of events, Anukul’s relationship with his master changes in many ways and
levels.

The story revolves around the country’s unemployment epidemic fuelled by replacing human jobs
with AI products. The story shows many characters resenting and revolting against the technological
revolution. Ratan, Nikunj’s bitter and newly jobless cousin who lost his 15-year job being replaced by
a robot, holds a grudge against Anukul. As the story progresses, through the turn of events, one is
forced to see a new perspective on the much-debated angle of robots and androids leading to the
destruction of human race. It makes one think, if it is the robots or the humans that is leading to
destruction.

Although the film depicts a future where robots and humans coexist, it does not show a futuristic
timeline. The entire narrative is filmed in a contemporary setting with very effective dim lighting and
an unquestioned silence mirroring the gloom surrounding the human race.

It is interesting that Satyajit Ray wrote this short story in the year 1976 and was successful in
predicting and elaborating the nuances of struggle of human with introduction of robots. Ray was a
visionary. It does not come as a surprise that a man with such intellect, wrote a story in 1976 that
feels futuristic even at current times. It must have looked like utter fiction back when he wrote it but
probably, he could conceive this as human kind’s future.

Saurabh Shukla and Parambrata Chatterjee has acted brilliantly and Sujoy Ghosh has managed to
hold viewer’s attention though natural progression and simplicity of the execution of the story.

The film is an excellent reminder of how human race is capable of and what could happen if the
control of the world goes to Machines. It also constantly reminds of what could result from the
constant unhindered pursual of technology. One is forced to think whether humans will still hold the
upper hand if we create machines who can think and execute tasks better than man himself.