Listen... Amaya

A friend of mine had watched Listen Amaya when it was screened as a part of the London Asian Film Festival and had raved about it. I hadn't even heard of the film, but when she spoke of it, looking it up on Google and IMDb, I realised that it had come and gone.

I've watched the film on DVD yesterday and I have to say, the praise is justified!

I am a middle aged divorcée. While Listen Amaya speaks of two widowed people wanting to start a relationship, I see so many subtle themes that are at play here, that I can so easily relate to what happens on screen.

Children have no right over their parents or their lives, and for the vast majority of Indians, it is almost impossible to comprehend that fact. Our responsibility towards our children is to bring them up, care for and nurture them to become free thinking individuals, in their own lives. I as a parent though, still reserve the right to live mine the way I see fit. If I choose to take a partner, whether in marriage or in civil partnership, it is my fundamental right to do so.

I enjoyed the way Leela and Jayant's love story unfolded with such grace and simplicity. I thoroughly enjoyed the liberal use of intelligent humour and I admit that I also choked at some of the more emotional moments. Rarely have I seen a film which touches on sensitive issues and still stays away from sermonizing about what is right or wrong. That doesn't mean the film has no flaws.

It could easily have been a little shorter in the first half of the film. It definitely did not need any songs, although two of them are situational and therefore may be discounted. While the language used is primarily Hindi, there is too much English for it to be accepted as a mainstream film and therein lies it's biggest problem. A film like this deserves to be seen by a very wide audience, because so many people will connect with it, but it does itself no favors by targeting a small section of that audience by the limited marketing it seems to have done.

If I don't agree with the way Leela and Jayant dealt with Amaya's abject pigheadedness, I also understand that it is a deeply personal reaction and that everyone's will be different. So while I won't judge the characters, I will judge what the film did for me. Listen Amaya made me take notice of smaller, independent films that are being made today, which rely on story telling rather than a marketing blitz to sell tickets, or DVD's! It also renewed my faith in the fact that cinema can still entertain, without resorting to cheap gimmickry or sleaze.

See it if you can, because it's two hours that will stay with you for a lot longer than the time you took to watch it.

Truly delicate movie. I loved the way it handles the characters without portraying anyone as right or wrong. There are some very beautiful moments in the movie which i had to see multiple times to be fully satisfied. The movie is slow, so don't expect a thrilling ride. And it has lot of emotional acts where silence speaks out louder than words. At few places I felt that the script was too filmy for my taste but those moments passed away quickly before I got turned-off. Also there are some characters who don't add any value to the movie and its easy to notice that they had no contribution to the movie at all. The ending could have been better I felt. But that is just me. Good Sunday-afternoon. Enjoy and let others know :)

Listen Amaya has an amazing storyline with Acted by the great actors like Farooq Sheikh and Deepti Naval.

The story say much things to society. Role played by Farooq Sheikh is amazing. No doubt he was a super fine actor. Deepti Naval played the role of Amaya's Mother is very well. overall film was amazing and liked the ending very much. Film was shot with a very low budget and this films is an example of great storyline, awesome acting and a perfect ending. Low budget makes it a very decent film.

The starting of the film was OK as other films start but gradually it becomes interesting and twists in the film makes it more interesting.

Swara Bhaskar who played amaya's role looks so cute in the film and adorable also. i feel its swara's best role she ever played.

This for sure is one of the most sensible films of recent past. A must watch for the late great Faroque Sheikh.

Above all, a sensitive issue of marriage at an old age has been held brilliantly and is handled with a fine sensibility. Kudos to the writer director for this. Interestingly, the directors are couple Geeta and Avinash Kumar Singh. So, the primary reason for the crackling chemistry between the lead pair Deepti Naval and Faroque Sheikh could be attributed to fact that the director are a pair themselves.

Swara Bhaskar, the young was made to show up a lot of emotion which is a rarity in contemporary Bollywood. I say this because in many films, young women are used to squeeze some lust. So many films forget that these young girls are daughters of some parent and thus indulge themselves only in showcasing their curves more. I hope, she gives us more performances like this.

Also, this film has things that I love and savor the most. Coffee, photography and writing. Damn, that's a deadly combo which was used intelligently to convey a sensible story.

The film could have surely done away with songs or hopefully they were much better than what are there. But barring that tiny glitch it was a wonderful 104 minutes. I succumb to such films and thus, fell for this too.

Look at the reference used "Miss Chamku" for Deepti Naval by Faroque. Any guesses why was it there? Go see the original Chashme Baddoor then. It's such tiny things that made this film wonderful and a cut above the rest. I just gave an example and indeed there are not many references too, still there are moments that can bring a smile.

A 4/5 for this sensible film. What a way to bid adieu to the great Faroque Sheikh. A great man gone too soon.

For me its a 10 on 10. 'Listen..Amaya' what a great concept. Beautiful story, lovely direction, brilliant performances. Farooq Sheikh especially is at his charming best. Story is about 3 people, Leela (Deepti Naval), Jayant (Farooq Sheikh) and Amaya (Swara Bhaskar). Leela(in her 50s) is Amaya's (in her 20s) mother. Leela lost her husband when Amaya was very young. Jayant (in his 60s may be) is Leels's friend and Amaya is also fond of Jayant. Amaya is a 'free spirited modern young girl' (as Leela puts it in the movie), who is open minded and outspoken. Leela and Jayant are very comfortable in each other's company and eventually fall for each. When Leela tells Amaya that she desires to spend her life with Jayant, Amaya flips out. Amaya thinks and openly admits that it will be so embarrassing for her to confront her friends if Leela marries Jayant. The movie is about how they sort out things after that.

I loved the movie, we should have more movies like these. What this gem of a movie conveys is that everyone is entitled to have a companion, irrespective of their age, no matter how embarrassing it may be for their children. And our "modern" generation which claims to hate "hypocrisy" is also "hypocritical" when it comes to matters that involve them.

I look forward to more movies like these. This is the kind of movie that opens our mind. We the "younger generation" This is a fantastic movie that is a must watch for all movie lovers. I would recommend this for people of all age groups.