Apnas Review: A Slick British-Asian Crime Drama with Familiar Thrills
A sizeable portion of the film's budget is clearly allocated to its opening scenes, which are set at a lavish British-Pakistani wedding. A shiny Lamborghini coils around the venue like a polished snake, with the voiceover helpfully explaining that guests have mostly hired their cars for the day to maintain appearances. Elsewhere, Apnas adopts a flimsy and no-frills approach, dangling the promise of innovation within the British crime drama genre while ultimately ticking off all its conventional boxes.
Plot and Characters in Manchester's Underworld
James Greaney portrays Awais, a wide-eyed British Asian accountant in Manchester who embarks on a thrilling new life as a "washer" in his uncle's drugs empire. He launders drug money using cryptocurrencies, but Awais genuinely embodies the stereotype of a mild-mannered accountant. In contrast, his cousin Majid, also known as MK (played by Asim Ashraf), lives it large by bumping off rivals and flaunting his drug dealer lifestyle, much to the despair of his father. The father conceals his crime network behind the facade of being a prominent politician in Pakistan.
The film's resources do not quite stretch to meet its ambitions for a sprawling crime epic. However, it possesses plenty of front and chutzpah, featuring an interesting family drama. Awais grapples with issues around his identity as a second-generation British Asian, while his father, Aslam (Nitin Ganatra), is a taxi driver with high expectations for his children. Aslam desires financial success for Awais and a good marriage for his daughter.
Strengths and Weaknesses in Execution
The daughter's journalling provides the film's voiceover, but this element serves as a weak link. Her character is thinner than the paper of the pages on which she writes her diary, detracting from the overall narrative depth. Despite this, Apnas delivers slick visuals and well-worn genre beats, making it an engaging if uneven attempt at a sweeping gangster epic.
From shotgun-wielding criminals to gangsters sitting in garages feeding wads of cash into money counters, the film covers familiar territory. It mixes family tensions with the thrills of crime, set against the backdrop of Manchester's underworld. Apnas is scheduled for release in UK and Irish cinemas from 20 March, offering audiences a blend of British-Asian cultural elements and classic crime drama tropes.
