What’s with the rabbit? What was Andhadhun all about?
(WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD)
Andhadhun begins with a rabbit. An one-eyed rabbit escaping a hunter. The director begins with setting the theme for the next two-and-a-half hours. This is going to be the story of a rabbit caught in the headlights. Hunted. At the cross-hairs. In the middle of a crossfire. Wrong place, wrong time.
And yet, the rabbit scrapes through. It evades the predators. Survives through the cruelty and the cunning. It leaps through to freedom.
And at the end, he sings, just as he had always wished to. On his customized stick gleams a rabbit, his sigil.
Consider this: If Akash was without vision when the accident took place, how did he know that a rabbit caused the crash? Further, if he didn’t, why the rabbit on his stick?
On the other hand: Who shoots rabbits on the highway in 21st century Pune? What are the odds of a rabbit jumping as high as the windshield precisely at that moment to cause a crash??
It’s a stretch in an otherwise realistic plot.
Did Akash lose his sight completely when poisoned by Simi? Or did he just lose sight in one eye and act the part – knowing he is good at this game, to convince his hunters that he poses them no danger any longer?? His tone changes when Simi overcomes Dr. Swamy, hinting that he senses that the steering has changed hands. He has chloroformed her once in a similar situation earlier, what’s to stop him overpowering her now?
Earlier in the film, Sophie tells him to not spoil his tune by trying too hard to “complete” it, noting that some things are better left unfinished, imperfect. Maybe Akash heeds her advice now and decides not to operate on his one (or one-and-half) damaged eye.
When you listen to Akash telling Sophie about the accident, remember that it’s his story. Maybe he was the one who claimed the unscrupulous doctor and the murdering widow. Or just the latter once she had disposed off the former (this seems more likely – as the rabbit, fictional or otherwise, can be held responsible for only one death in Akash’s story). Only Akash pins it, maybe that’s what he wishes to believe, on the rabbit – his alter ego. His hole is now blown, he must fly now.
As what was for him a convenient fiction in the past turns into an inconvenient reality, Akash cooks up a new convenient fiction for the future to mask an inconvenient past reality (Think Life of Pi).
It’s imperfect, but might suit him fine if he can ignore the odd littered soft drink can!