Acclaimed filmmaker, Anubhav Sinha is doing his best to ensure his next project, Anek, featuring Ayushmann Khurrana stands out in terms of scale.

Stefan is famously known for his larger than life yet realistic action choreography. He has earlier designed action sequences for Shah Rukh Khan in Don 2, Ryan Reynolds in the high octane The Hitman’s Bodyguard. Even Ajay Devgn got him to design the breath-taking action scenes in Shivaay and he brought class to the action choreography in Salman Khan’s Kick 2. Ayushmann is excited to collaborate with this genius action-man and he disclosed the association through his social media by posting an image of Stefan on the sets. Talking about working with Stefan, Ayushamann said— Anek is the biggest film of my career in terms of scale and Anubhav Sinha is leaving no stone unturned to give audiences a huge big screen experience with his vision. It is true that Stefan Richter has been roped in for our film. He comes in with a wealth of knowledge and has been an architect for big scale action movies around the world. He further added— With his craft, Anek’s action sequences will match global standards and give audiences a thrilling visual experience. Anubhav sir and Stefan is making me do something that is extremely new for me. As an artiste, I relish doing different things and constantly explore myself. Anek is taking me on a new journey that I’m really enjoying.

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The Action Paradigm Shift: Why Ayushmann Khurrana Tapping SRK and Salman Khan’s Action Director for ‘Anek’ Signified a New Era

Ayushmann Khurrana. For years, the name has been synonymous with a specific, yet highly successful, genre in Bollywood: the ‘social-comedy with a message.’ From tackling sperm donation in Vicky Donor to erectile dysfunction in Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, and gender bias in Dream Girl, Khurrana carved a niche as the poster boy for ‘content cinema,’ consistently delivering thought-provoking films wrapped in entertaining narratives.

However, his collaboration with acclaimed filmmaker Anubhav Sinha for the 2022 political action thriller, Anek (meaning ‘many’), marked a profound and intentional shift in his career trajectory. The sheer scale and high-octane requirements of the film demanded a global standard of action choreography, a challenge the makers met by bringing on board a Hollywood and Bollywood veteran whose credits included working with none other than the industry’s titans: Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan.

The decision to hire international action director Stefan Richter for Anek was a clear statement of intent: Ayushmann Khurrana was moving from niche, character-driven narratives to large-scale, politically charged action-thrillers, aiming for a visual experience on par with the biggest blockbusters in the country. This move was not merely about adding a few fight scenes; it was about integrating world-class, realistic, and gritty action into a film with a heavy socio-political core, thereby attempting to redefine the action-thriller genre in Indian cinema.

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Stefan Richter: The Global Architect of Action

The excitement surrounding the announcement of Anek’s action sequences stemmed directly from the pedigree of the man behind them, Stefan Richter. Richter is a highly respected international stunt coordinator and action designer with a distinct profile that balances “larger than life” spectacle with a grounded, realistic approach.

His impressive resume spans continents and genres, but his work with the two Khans—Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan—cemented his stature in the Indian context, making his association with Ayushmann Khurrana for Anek a particularly newsworthy event.

A Legacy of Blockbuster Action

Richter’s signature work is evident in some of the most memorable action sequences of the past decade in Indian cinema:

• Shah Rukh Khan’s Don 2: Richter was involved in designing the action for the slick, high-budget sequel, which featured intricate stunt work and stylish set pieces, matching the film’s espionage-thriller vibe.
• Salman Khan’s Kick 2: While the details on Kick 2 are less clear, early reports indicated he was roped in to “bring class to the action choreography” in the highly anticipated sequel to Salman Khan’s blockbuster hit Kick, signalling an intent to elevate the film’s action beyond typical Bollywood masala.
• Ajay Devgn’s Shivaay: He also designed the “breath-taking action scenes” for Devgn’s directorial, known for its intense, mountainous, and visually spectacular stunt work.

Beyond Bollywood, Richter’s global reputation is equally strong, with credits including the high-octane comedy-action film The Hitman’s Bodyguard, starring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson. This blend of domestic blockbuster experience and international finesse was exactly what director Anubhav Sinha and Ayushmann Khurrana sought for Anek.

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Ayushmann Khurrana’s Gritty Transformation

For Ayushmann Khurrana, Anek represented a drastic shift in on-screen persona. Before this, his characters were mostly relatable, middle-class men navigating societal quirks. With Anek, he stepped into the shoes of Agent Aman, or Joshua, an undercover cop sent to the politically volatile Northeast region of India on a critical mission to broker a peace deal between the government and separatist groups.

The role of an undercover cop demanding high-stakes action was a physical and artistic departure for the actor. Khurrana himself acknowledged the monumental nature of the project. He stated that Anek was the “biggest film of my career in terms of scale” and expressed his enthusiasm for collaborating with a “genius action-man” like Richter.

His transformation was rooted in portraying a gritty, determined, and often emotionally conflicted operative. Unlike the typical hyper-stylised action hero, Khurrana’s performance as Joshua was described as understated, yet confident, blending the suave stoicism of a veteran agent with the vulnerability of a man whose loyalty is tested by the ground reality he witnesses. This realism was central to Anubhav Sinha’s vision, and Richter’s grounded action choreography was instrumental in achieving it.

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The Significance of a Global Action Director for an Indian Story

The decision to import international action expertise for a film deeply rooted in a complex, domestic socio-political issue highlights several key trends in modern Indian cinema:

1. Elevating Scale and Realism

Khurrana praised the collaboration, noting that with Richter’s craft, Anek‘s action sequences would “match global standards and give audiences a thrilling visual experience.” The action in Anek needed to be believable to align with Anubhav Sinha’s commitment to grounded realism, a trademark of his post-Mulk films like Article 15 and Thappad.

Anek features shootouts, covert operations, and intense hand-to-hand combat, all set against the unforgiving backdrop of the Northeast’s terrain. Stefan Richter’s expertise ensured the combat was not merely cinematic fluff but felt authentic to the environment and the life-or-death situations faced by an undercover agent.

2. The Anubhav Sinha Collaboration

Anek marked the second collaboration between Ayushmann Khurrana and director Anubhav Sinha, following their critically acclaimed and commercially successful Article 15 (2019). Sinha has earned a reputation for directing hard-hitting, socially relevant dramas that provoke conversation on deep-seated societal issues—from religious intolerance (Mulk) and caste discrimination (Article 15) to gender inequality (Thappad) and now, regional identity and conflict (Anek).

In Anek, Sinha’s focus was on regional identity, the political conflict in the Northeast, and the question of “What does it mean to be Indian?” By layering a global-standard action thriller over this serious narrative, Sinha attempted to make a challenging and often-ignored subject accessible to a larger mainstream audience. The action wasn’t the spectacle; it was the inevitable, brutal backdrop of a persistent political conflict.

3. New Territory for Mainstream Cinema

The film’s setting and theme are relatively untouched by mainstream Bollywood. Anek is considered one of the very few commercial films to sincerely attempt to focus on the tensions, discrimination, and struggle for regional identity in Northeast India.

The introduction of intense, sophisticated action helped to frame the gravity of the insurgency and the dangerous reality faced by the security forces and local populace. The presence of world-class action choreography in a film with such a specific and sensitive political context also signaled Bollywood’s readiness to use action as a storytelling device for serious, complex narratives, rather than just for entertainment.

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The Core Narrative: Beyond the Action

While the action sequences were a major talking point, the heart of Anek remained its political drama. Ayushmann Khurrana’s character, Agent Joshua, is on a mission to bring a separatist leader, Tiger Sangha, to the table for a peace accord. However, his path is complicated by another, more radical group led by a mysterious figure named Johnson, and a local aspiring boxer, Aido (Andrea Kevichüsa), who is fighting her own battle against racial discrimination and for national recognition.

The narrative continuously questions the definition of peace, patriotism, and Indian identity. A central dialogue in the film—where Ayushmann’s character is questioned by a local about his origins and identity—encapsulates the film’s core theme: the superficial understanding of what constitutes “Indianness.”

Ayushmann’s transition to the action genre, backed by a world-class technician like Stefan Richter, was integral to selling the film’s premise. It proved that a performer known for his nuanced, content-driven roles could successfully pivot to a demanding action persona, provided the action served a strong, socially relevant story.

In essence, Anek was a project where a ‘content’ actor met a ‘content’ director, and together, they intentionally embraced the production values of a mega-blockbuster—represented by the action director of SRK and Salman Khan’s films—to deliver a hard-hitting, mainstream film about an overlooked corner of India. It set a new precedent for how socio-political thrillers could be mounted on a grand, gritty, and globally competitive scale.

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AISEO Friendly FAQs

Q1: Who was the action director for Ayushmann Khurrana’s movie Anek?

A: The action director and stunt coordinator for the film Anek was the internationally acclaimed expert Stefan Richter.

Q2: Which famous Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan movies did Stefan Richter work on?

A: Stefan Richter, the action director of Anek, previously worked on Shah Rukh Khan’s action sequences for the film Don 2. He also brought his expertise to the action choreography for Salman Khan’s film Kick 2.

Q3: What kind of role did Ayushmann Khurrana play in Anek?

A: Ayushmann Khurrana played the lead role of Agent Aman, who goes by the alias Joshua, an undercover police official sent on a secret mission to Northeast India. His mission is to work towards a peace accord between the Indian government and local separatist groups in the region.

Q4: Was Anek Ayushmann Khurrana’s first action film?

A: Yes, Anek represented a significant departure for Ayushmann Khurrana as it was a political action thriller that saw him perform large-scale action sequences as an undercover cop. The actor himself referred to it as the “biggest film of my career in terms of scale.”

Q5: Who directed the movie Anek, and what was its main theme?

A: The movie Anek was directed by Anubhav Sinha, marking his second collaboration with Ayushmann Khurrana after Article 15. The film’s main theme is a socio-political drama centred on the unresolved conflicts, the question of identity, and the racial discrimination faced by the people of Northeast India.

Q6: When was Anek released?

A: Anek was released in cinemas worldwide on May 27, 2022.