Agra (2023 film)

Agra is a 2023 Hindi-language Indian drama film, co-written and directed by Kanu Behl. It features debutant Mohit Agarwal, Priyanka Bose, Ruhani Sharma, Vibha Chibber, Sonal Jha and Aanchal Goswami in pivotal roles. The film follows Guru, a young single call center employee who still lives with his parents. Consumed by frustration, he plunges into a fever bordering on insanity, between pathetic fantasies, dating apps and hysterical self-harm.

It premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival Directors' Fortnight on 24 May 2023 with the description, "Agra grasps the reality of patriarchy in India through the prism of male sexual misery".

Cast

 * Mohit Agarwal as Guru
 * Priyanka Bose as Priti
 * Ruhani Sharma as Mala
 * Rahul Roy as Daddy ji
 * Vibha Chibber as Mummy ji
 * Sonal Jha as Aunty ji
 * Aanchal Goswami as Chhavi, Guru's cousin

Production
In November 2022, the film was selected for India’s Film Bazaar strand, which is a part of Film Bazaar, the South Asia film project market operated by India’s National Film Development Corporation.

Agra was filmed in June and July 2019. In 2020, when the film was in the middle of post production, It was held up for five months due to COVID-19 pandemic. It was shot on location in Agra.

Release
The film premiered at 2023 Cannes Film Festival in Directors' Fortnight on 24 May 2023.

In August 2023, it was selected at 2023 Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, where it won the Best Indie Film award and Best Performance in Film (male) award for Mohit Agarwal.

It was screened at the 28th Busan International Film Festival in 'A Window on Asian Cinema' on 7 October 2023, as well as at the 20th Hong Kong Asian Film Festival (zh:香港亞洲電影節) on 31 October and 12 November 2023. It was also screened at the MAMI film festival 2023 where it won the Special Jury Price.

Reception
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes website, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10.

Agra which had its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the 76th Cannes Film Festival received a 5-minute standing ovation.

Fabien Lemercier reviewing for Cineuropa praised the film and wrote, "A hard-hitting and audacious film that will leave no one indifferent and that only a formally talented filmmaker like Kanu Behl could bring to a safe harbour beyond its ambient darkness." Namrata Joshi for ScreenDaily wrote in review that in the film "The characters are developed well and have complexity to them, and the terrific ensemble cast elevates the film; particularly Bose, Agarwal and Roy..."

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave a positive review and described it as "a triumphal return to Cannes". Anna M. M. Vetticad wrote on Himal Southasian: "Agra is an unsettling reminder of why society should study the victim-turned-victimiser phenomenon, the heterogeneity of evil and persecution, if we wish to combat the self-destructive nature of patriarchy." Vetticad added, "The optimistic view is that just as 'life finds a way', to quote Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, so too good cinema will find its audience."