Nishaanchi 2 seems to be grappling with what is now widely seen as the Anurag Kashyap problem!

If Nishaanchi Part 1 had a terrific, tightly wound first half that slowly drifts into chaos then Nishaanchi 2 plays like one long, stretched-out second half where your patience with the film is tested.

There’s a running joke or rather, an unspoken understanding among people who’ve followed Anurag Kashyap long enough, that somewhere in the middle of making a film, Kashyap suddenly feels done with it. I remember Piyush Mishra saying this on a HoC podcast right before Nishaanchireleased. The episode itself was about Jugnuma, with Kashyap,Mishra, Manoj Bajpayee and Ram Reddy discussing their film. But because they’re all old friends, Mishra delivered this casual, almost affectionate dig at a filmmaker he’s known for decades. I found the insight intriguing only to be witnessed soon enough as I watched Nishaanchiand saw it unfold slowly. The film that marked Kashyap’s return to the director’s chair also became the one most visibly strained by his own habits.

Part 1 was a blast, full-blown “filam” energy, the messy flair of a filmmaker whose cinema once sparked a revolution and continues to inspire his mentees. Yet even within that chaos, the unapologetic swagger, it felt like the film was slipping through his fingers by the end. What’s frustrating is that Part 1 still worked despite its unevenness. It had voice, texture, that unmistakable kitschy charm, and the rebellious streak Kashyap built his reputation on. Part 2, which was hoped to revive it back to life, in comparison, flattens so early that the few moments where it does come alive feel too scattered to hold the story or your attention together.

Also Read: Nishaanchi review: Anurag Kashyap is back but something seems amiss!

Here’s why! 

The story picks up but the soul doesn’t

If you’ve seen Part 1, you already know the bones of this story. A widowed mother (Monika Panwar) tries to raise her twin sons, Babloo and Dabloo (both played by Aaishvary Thackeray), under the shadow of Ambika Prasad (Kumud Mishra), the same devilish man who once manipulated their pehalwan father into the events that led to his death. Ambika’s obsession then transfers to Babloo, turning him into Tony, a Scarface-inspired gunda who ends up killing the father of Rinku (Vedika Pinto), the very woman he later falls for. When Babloo is jailed for robbery, Rinku slowly finds solace with Dabloo, only to discover the truth about her father’s death.

Part 2 picks up from this fracture and begins right where the first left us with Babloo in jail, while Dabloo and Rinku are trying to build a life of their own, rebuild themselves into respectable, almost settled individuals. But Ambika Prasad continues to curse every direction this family turns. A decade passes and Babloo returns! Since in Kashyap’s world, revenge is king, it's wheel starts spinning all over again. People rise, fall, betray, self-destruct, and eventually collapse into an inevitable pile of dead bodies. All the ingredients of a gripping, morally tangled drama, one that we have witnessed from the same mind in the past, are present. What’s missing here is the conviction behind the absurdity to stay long enough to let the story unfold. Because it’s not like we haven't watched Kashyap’s old films to know where this is going to go, yet it fails to bring the same intrigue!

A film about transformation that doesn’t transform itself

One thing I genuinely appreciated in the scattered moments where the film briefly wakes up is its commitment to transformation. Babloo, once he was made to realize of his shortcomings, wants to turn his stormy, destructive rage into something gentler. Dabloo wants to stop being the meek sacrificial lamb and finally stand on his own feet. While Rinku, tired of being consumed by the male gaze and dependent on it, wants to reclaim her dance, her body, and moreover her agency. These arcs are meaningful and in true Kashyap fashion of putting himself in the metaphors of the film, they mirror his own trajectory! As he has gone from the firebrand director who once rewired the grammar of Hindi cinema to an actor exploring a quieter, more introspective phase of life. In that sense, Nishaanchi, at least in intention, wants to be about the act of change, a shift that is slowly, not in a rush, but stretched across two films, as if giving its characters and its maker space to grow into different versions of themselves.

But here’s the issue - the film talks about transformation without transforming itself. It returns again to the same familiar Kashyap tropes - grit, grime, circular revenge arcs but, this time, without the hunger that once made these feel electric. So while Babloo wants to be a calming breeze, the film itself remains trapped in the storm. The ghost of the past of Gangs of Wasseypur becomes an unfortunate shadow hovering over every frame. Nishaanchi 2 desperately tries to step out of it as the tragic mother ultimately pulling the emotional last trigger is refreshing but the violence, the grudges, the cyclical trauma, all of it becomes a reminder of the towering legacy Kashyap still can’t outrun. But that’s not the real tragedy - as much as the film wants to be different, it keeps echoing the structures of GoW without the originality or urgency that once made those choices groundbreaking.

The characters are transforming just as Kashyap in his own life but the film refuses to evolve with them. It is stuck between who Kashyap was and who he’s trying to become! It gestures toward revolution but stays loyal to old habits, unable to deliver an emotional or narrative shift that feels genuinely new. Hence Nishaanchi, the story of transformations remains trapped in the very cinematic language it helped create. Scenes linger without purpose, conflicts stretch but don’t deepen and the thrill of unpredictability becomes predictable in this two part saga. By the time Nishaanchi2 find its footing in the final act, it’s too late. You can see what it wanted to be, but also how far it drifted from that intention.

A release as confusing as the film’s arc

The irony doesn’t end with the film, it spills right into its release pattern. Just as Babloo returns to the world of crime for “one last job,” winning some battles and losing others, the entire Nishaanchi journey feels like Kashyap and his team fighting a similar war behind the scenes. Part 1 released theatrically but barely found an audience, its low turnout signalling a disconnect between Kashyap’s cult reputation and the audience's wishlist. Then, without warning, Prime Video suddenly dropped Part 2 directly on OTT, alongside the streaming release of Part 1. With almost no announcement, no build-up, no attempt at making it an event, especially in today's time where every release at least is announced, it felt as if even the platform wasn’t sure whether to celebrate the film or quietly slip it into the algorithm and hope for the best.

Yet, oddly enough, Nishaanchi is still luckier than Kennedy, another Kashyap film that premiered at Cannes and then vanished into a distribution void, remaining unseen in India, unreleased in theatres, and still missing from every streaming platform. So, for a filmmaker who once stood at the centre of cinematic disruption, this quiet fade into limbo feels stranger than fiction.

Nishaanchi 2 and the two-part saga as a whole isn’t a bad world to spend some hours in. It’s atmospheric, thematically ambitious, occasionally playful, and full of the characters who could’ve been unforgettable in a sharper film. Its tribute to the kind of cinema that shapes people, inspires them, corrupts them, and sometimes redeems them is earnest. And every now and then, the old Kashyap magic flickers especially in the way he elevates the “cringe,” the unseen, the gaudy slices of real life into something cinematic, as if the people influenced by films are slowly becoming part of cinema themselves.

But mostly, Nishaanchi 1 and 2 feels like films made not by Kashyap, but by someone trying to imitate him or by a version of him forcing himself to finish a story he no longer feels connected to. And perhaps that is the ultimate “Anurag Kashyap problem"! After years of fighting, resisting, and reinventing, he now feels tired, dusted, or even done. And when the fire that once fuelled him no longer burns with the same intensity, the films inevitably dim with it and Nishaanchi justmight be a byproduct of that! 

Have you watched part 2? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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