Anek may not have worked its charm at the box office, but the film has opened a dialogue about the discrimination against the north-east Indians. For that, Ayushmann Khurrana credits filmmaker Anubhav Sinha who, after the brave Article 15 (2019), approached him again for the social drama. “Anubhav and I have developed a deep bond after Article 15. We were discussing different subjects [for our next]. He was in touch with a lot of people from the north-east; there were a lot of triggers and personal experiences [that shaped Anek],” says the actor.

The film, focusing on the otherisation of a community, has come at an interesting time. Of late, the country has witnessed a raging debate on whether Hindi should be considered the national language. Asked about his stand on the subject, Khurrana states in no uncertain terms, “We cannot put one language on a pedestal. We need to respect each and every language. In our daily life, we speak an amalgamation of different languages — say, English, Hindi, Urdu and so on. Putting [Hindi] on a pedestal is unfair to a person who hasn’t spoken Hindi since childhood.”