Afwaah

About the film

Afwaah (transl. Rumour) is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language mystery thriller film written and directed by Sudhir Mishra. Produced by Anubhav Sinha and Bhushan Kumar under their respective banners Benaras Media Works and T-Series Films, the film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Bhumi Pednekar, Sharib Hashmi, Sumit Kaul and Sumeet Vyas. The film was released on 5 May 2023.

Plot

Rahab Ahmed, who is presumably the NRI CEO of a telecom company, drives through a single lane desert road while a speeding convoy of motorbikes and cars headed by a local goon named Chandan pass by. Within the city of Sawalpur, a rally led by local politician, Vikram Singh "Vicky Banna", is passing through a street. A sporadic stone-pelting event starts and the rally turns back. Incidentally, the Muslim neighborhood and the goons of the politician clash resulting in the terrifying death of a butcher behind a closed shop at the hands of Vikram's right-hand man Chandan.

During a lecture series, Rahab gives a talk that he came back to India because he would like to contribute here and did not feel at home in the U.S.A.

Next day, Vicky's fiancée Nivedita "Nivi" Singh has a heated altercation and accuses him of being a coward and being complicit in the violence. An irate Vicky pushes Nivi away as he gets a call from Nivi's father, Gyan Singh, who is presumably the leader of the political party. He advises Vicky to get rid of Chandan but Vicky argues that Chandan has been with them since Vicky's father's time. Gyan Singh calls a local police officer and tells him to kill Chandan. Gyan Singh next calls Nivi as he tries to explain all the political scheming to her daughter but she hangs up and smashes a picture of him in anger. Chandan calls Vicky and tells him that he is at Vicky's farmhouse and laying low for a while.

Production

The film was announced on 17 February 2022. Principal photography commenced on 21 June 2022 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 82% of 11 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10.

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV praised the film and gave it four out of five stars, describing Afwaah as an indictment of politics that thrives on building divides amongst communities. While its blows aren't always stinging, the film chooses its targets and sides wisely, and it isn't afraid to go all-in on its hatred for forces that thrive in troubled waters. The film is positioned as being based on a real-life incidents, while the reliability of the statistics shown are not backed by any real evidence.

Anna MM Vetticad of Firstpost gave 3.5 stars out 5, and she stated that this film is about how a resourceful individual or group may spread a lie like wildfire on social media, exploiting the public's confirmation bias towards the underprivileged - religious minorities, women, anybody - until that deception is accepted as the truth. Afwaah is riveting cinema. Riveting and incredibly relevant.

Key details