Story: Agra (2023) follows Guru (Mohit Agarwal), a frustrated, young, single call centre employee residing in a congested two-storey house with his family. After losing his girlfriend, he suffers from mental illness, delusional fantasies and even tries to harm himself on several occasions. This Kanu Behl film delves deeper into the mind of a young Indian man and how society shapes youth through regressive values, which ultimately end up creating chaos within a household.
Review: The film begins with an extremely disturbing visual that sees Guru in a dream sequence having a meal with his girlfriend, when they start getting intimate on the dining table. Suddenly, he sees his partner standing in front of him and a mouse under him. The whole situation takes no time to quickly elaborate on this young man’s state of mind. Moving on, the movie takes us through the whole physical and mental dynamic of Guru as well as the members of his dysfunctional family, who are frustrated with their own living situation in a house that looks equally depressing.
The story sees a son who can’t distinguish between reality and illusion; a cribbing mother, who is frustrated because her husband lives with his mistress in their own home; and a man, who is torn between lust and ethics, but gives in to his selfish wants. While focusing on Guru, writers Atika Chohan and Kanu give us a quick insight into the struggles faced by each family member. It makes you feel sorry for them, but at the same time, it might remind you of a person or a family that may be going through a similar kind of uncomfortable situation in real life. A few raw scenes and dialogues, even though not obscene, irk you, but the pure realism in them keeps you glued to the screen.
In the film, when Guru’s cousin sister tries to comfort him during his mental episode, he forces himself on her and tries to abuse her. The movie sheds direct light on the consequences of sexual repression and how it can mess up an individual’s mind to fuel the situations that push him to even commit a crime that not just disarrays his life but also corrupts his relationships. The illness certainly doesn’t justify the horrendous incestuous acts, but the story is merely here to represent a form of reality.
Also Read: Exclusive | Priyanka Bose: If I’m not going to do the underdog stories like Agra, then who will?
Amid this hard living situation at home with his mental illness, Guru finds a ray of hope when he meets a widow who shares similar loneliness and feelings with him. They confide in each other and decide to start a new life. Towards the end, everything starts appearing quite hunky dory, but the film makes sure that the audience doesn’t forget the reality of a mental patient. It explores how certain events heal one’s heart but not an ill mind without proper treatment.
Some actors get recognised by great films and the extraordinary roles they portray onscreen. Agra is that film, and Guru is that character for Mohit Agarwal. He seems to have completely surrendered to his character. Priyanka Bose, who becomes the centre of this universe as soon as she enters the montage, delivers a masterclass in acting. Her character doesn’t let her past hinder her present and knows how to retain happiness with whatever comes her way.
Meanwhile, Vibha Chibber and Rahul Roy are two brilliant artists who surprise the most, playing roles that the audience could have never imagined before. Aanchal Goswami and Sonal Jha perform their parts well and add great value to the story. Ruhani Sharma, who merely has dialogue in the movie, makes sure that the audience feels her presence every time she appears on the screen with her apt and subtle expressions.
In a recent interview with The Movie Mail, Priyanka discussed the importance of actors working with an intimacy coordinator and taking control of the filming process themselves for intimate scenes, so that they can do justice to the art without the obvious awkwardness and discomfort. When you watch those sequences in Agra, thankfully, you don’t encounter the actors’ ineptitude in any of the visuals. As mentioned above, it appears as raw and real as it could get. Meanwhile, an interesting observation about the film is that the detail-oriented filmmaker ensures that his audience understands whenever a character, especially Guru, enters a trance state and loses touch with reality. Kanu impresses with his unique style of showcasing the difference between two distinct mental states of an individual with a five-second abstract optic.
Verdict: The mass audience of the country, who are not familiar with the term ‘sexual repression’ or have not even had basic sex education, might find the movie and the various scenes in it quite “bold and unsuitable”. But at the same time, it doesn’t change the fact that the film is a need of the hour and should be watched by every adult in the country. Kanu Behl, with the help of writer Atika Chohan, presents an extraordinary story and creates a world that is uncomfortable yet extremely important to be brought to light.
