Axone (pronounced Akhuni), named after a traditional Naga dish, is a bittersweet film portraying the struggles faced by Northeastern Indians in the national capital of New Delhi. Directed by Nicholas Kharkongor, the story revolves around a group of North-easterners getting together to host a wedding party in an apartment and their attempt to cook a special dish for the occasion.
The racial slurs, the out-of-place feels, the sexist comments, the hampering of the right to cook and consume what one wants - all of these pains are packed into a neat 97-minute film that also raises a toast to the lives of these regular people. Each of the lead characters (Upasna, Chanbi, Minam) manage to leave an impression. The supporting cast is okay-to-good, with some getting remarkable scenes to themselves (like the drunk friend). The tone jumps frequently between happy to angry to upsetting but the performances manage to hold it together.
Even the 'comic relief' character gets a memorable scene where he gets called a "****ing Indian" and asks his Northeastern counterparts whether they don't consider themselves Indians. One of the characters' backstory is based on a horrific real-life racist bullying incident and to the director's credit, it fits incredibly well into the film's structure. The humour too is cent per cent situational and doesn't go overboard. While the film carries all the traits of a direct-to-OTT movie, Axone thankfully doesn't fall into the list of 'message movies' that bite off more than they can chew.
Food wins! Friendship wins! Sisterhood wins! Love wins!
The racial slurs, the out-of-place feels, the sexist comments, the hampering of the right to cook and consume what one wants - all of these pains are packed into a neat 97-minute film that also raises a toast to the lives of these regular people. Each of the lead characters (Upasna, Chanbi, Minam) manage to leave an impression. The supporting cast is okay-to-good, with some getting remarkable scenes to themselves (like the drunk friend). The tone jumps frequently between happy to angry to upsetting but the performances manage to hold it together.
Even the 'comic relief' character gets a memorable scene where he gets called a "****ing Indian" and asks his Northeastern counterparts whether they don't consider themselves Indians. One of the characters' backstory is based on a horrific real-life racist bullying incident and to the director's credit, it fits incredibly well into the film's structure. The humour too is cent per cent situational and doesn't go overboard. While the film carries all the traits of a direct-to-OTT movie, Axone thankfully doesn't fall into the list of 'message movies' that bite off more than they can chew.
Food wins! Friendship wins! Sisterhood wins! Love wins!