Amu

I was initially hesitant about watching Amu because movies with a backdrop of communal riots don't sit well with me. However, I had heard good things about the film and for that reason I also did not want to miss it.

Amu is a film about a young, adopted girl on a quest to find her birth parents. Kaju, played by Konkona Sen Sharma, lives in LA and is visiting India to be with her mother's family. During her visit she is also trying to get more information about her real parents, who she knows nothing about. The journey to find out her identity has her come across the characters played by Yashpal Sharma and Ankur Khanna, who help take her to each lead and finally to a point where she discovers her history. A history that is tied to the 1984 communal riots.

Amu is also about Kaju's relationship with her mother who is trying to keep the truth from her.

Shonali Bose does a fabulous job in telling the story and keeping the viewer glued to the screen. The cast was obviously selected very carefully. Konkona is completely believable as the young NRI. Brinda Karat as the mother puts in a wonderful performance, besides looking gorgeous! Ankur Khanna is perfect as the brooding, cynical Kabir, who gets exposed to a life he is completely unfamiliar with. Yashpal Sharma makes you laugh and makes you cry. The Bengali family as well as Kabir's parents are all people most Indians would have come across.

In conclusion all I have to say is that Amu rocks! It's a movie thats been made from the heart .... don't miss it.

This was a very well made movie and a very daring movie. Such movies usually fade away in India. Konkona Sen acted well and her American Accent was almost perfect and commendable. Shonali has poured everything in the movie. Konkona Sen shows why she is clearly apart and far above the run of the mill actresses of Bollywood. Other artists did their part well. About why the Great Govt. of India has banned the movie, there could be several reasons. Apparently the common reason is that the movie might have "raked up the long lost past". I'm not sure about that. Every sane person knows that the Govt. had a large role in the riots of '84 and I'm not saying this because I'm a sikh (because I'm not). I'm saying this as an Indian. Just like there was hand of the govt. when innocent Muslims were butchered in Gujrat a few years ago. Truth is easily suppressed in a country like India, but that didn't stop Shonali Bose from creating an award winning movie. Go see it.

I like "Amu the movie" tremendously. The movie has so many layers that it is difficult for me to pinpoint to a single reason for its impact. As a passive observer of compelling and authentic portrayal of a journey of a Girl finding her true identity, I had suspended my reality and enjoyed the experience. As an agitated follower of the injustice highlighted in the movie, I was incensed by the implication of tacit support . Yet as an observer of slow revelation of plot line, I was enthralled. The acting, the directing, the photography and the editing/music were totally endearing. The fact that there some people in the audience crying and others sat in silence after the movie had finished, showed that the movie had indeed touched all of us. It is hard to believe that Shonali is a first time director, who captured on celluloid a slice of life that was actually manufactured. Konkona Sen was spectacular but Lovleen Mishra, Brinda Karat, Chaiti Ghosh, Ashish Ghosh, Aparna Roy were all fantastic.

Finally, I would like to say, that in South Africa a unique experiment is taking place, the Truth and Reconciliation Commision. In India too, the wounds of destructive, ethnic cleansing violence go deep and are tremendously complex. It is indeed a bold step of shining the light on a dark period of recent history but "Amu the Movie" , is the step is taken in the right direction.

I look in great anticipation to others all over the world following in this film's footsteps and making more creative and more bold choices as Shonali has done in "Amu". I also look forward to many more viewers enjoying the tremendous journey of "Amu".

Berkeley

I have to say, I was initially not looking forward to this movie based on the lose plot line I had seen, but having seen in, I'm glad I did. While there were a few rough spots, there were a lot of redeeming qualities for this which makes this movie worth seeing.

For example, the historical look at an assassination in is done very indirectly by examining the life of one family. There is suspense, some interesting flashbacks, as well as some plot development which moves on reasonably nicely, with fairly good acting.

I think there were definitely points in the acting or possibly editing that would smooth out the transitions and increase the believability of the movie, but it is fairly easy to look beyond this after the plot line pulls you in.

The courage in telling this story is what is the most important part of this movie. This was good general knowledge information for me on a slice of Indian history as well as an entertaining tale on surrounding an important historical event.

This clearly was a movie of passion for writer-director-producer Shonali Bose, a UCLA film school grad who wanted to tell a very important story about her homeland's history after she had some personal experience in the 1984 riots that followed the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Bose wanted this film to appeal to audiences outside India - hence it is mostly in English - so she uses the plot device of a 21-year-old young Indian girl returning home from the U.S. for the first time. There, as she searches for her real parents, she finds out the ugly truth about her nation's recent history.

It's a brave, courageous attempt to reveal what happened in 1984, when several thousand Sikhs were massacred in what was a sanctioned move, if not a coordinated effort, by the government.

"Amu" takes a while to get going as we're introduced to the characters and the set up. It's fine, because the characters are engaging.

Konkona Sensharma is an absolute revelation. I realize that these days Aishwarya Rai gets much more coverage and publicity, but Sensharma is a much better actress, more convincing and gets thoroughly absorbed into her roles. As Kaju, Sensharma is utterly believable as a young woman who has spent most of her life in the United States. She has the mannerisms down, the accent's certainly not unbelievable and her emotions never ring false. I've now seen two films starring Sensharma - the other was "Mr. and Mrs. Iyer" (2002) directed by her mother, Aparna Sen - and she's been brilliant in both.

The film's shortcomings, however, are in the supporting players. Bose did a fine job in casting Sensharma. But as Kaju's love interest, she cast Ankur Khanna as Kabir. Khanna's problem is he never makes Kabir even remotely interesting. To say Kabir is wooden would be an understatement. The lines are delivered in monotone and there's barely any emotion in this performance. I couldn't believe that someone as vivacious and sprightly as Kaju would find Kabir attractive in the least. True, Kabir tries to be a sensitive young man trying to uncover the truth, but Khanna's so flat and dull that their budding romance is difficult to fathom. When Khanna works for some emotion, it seems very forced. There's little, if anything, natural about his performance.

Brinda Karat as Kaju's mother, Keya, is adequate - you can see her trying really hard to wring emotion out of her performance. The film's other fine performance comes from Yashpal Sharma as Gobind, a Hindu tea shop owner befriended by Kaju.

Bose uncovers her story well, adding a few surprises here and there. I realize why Bose used the device of having an Indian American going back to India. But I wondered if it was necessary. I would've preferred if the story had been about the riots; the mystery truly was superfluous. Then again, I also understand Bose's need to get this film distributed and seen in North America and the rest of the world - other than India, I mean - and adding a western touch to it was (unfortunately) probably unavoidable.

Bose certainly isn't lacking confidence in her story. There's one quiet moment between Kaju and Kabir where Bose allows the scene to unwind quietly, without any music. It's a fine moment, a poignant and strong one because of Bose's confidence. But just imagine how riveting and unforgettable that moment might have been with a better actor as Kabir. Having seen Rahul Bose and Sensharma have such tremendous chemistry in "Mr. and Mrs. Iyer," I can't help but think Rahul Bose would have been sensational as Kabir.

The flashback sequences are predictable only in that you know when they're about to be revealed. On the other hand, some of them are extremely painful to watch. Seeing a riot sequence replayed in never easy, but Bose brings out the humanity and the inhumanity out awfully well. And as anyone who's lived through riots would attest, they seem very real.

"Amu" is an important film that needed to be told. It gets a bit didactic occasionally. More subtlety would've helped. Some of the dialogue clearly needed to be tightened only because Bose serves up lines to only be transitions to more expositionary speeches. It's forgivable considering this is Bose's first narrative feature. But the lines seem too obvious and with a little bit of tweaking, this could have been a provocative masterpiece. Bose's a good director, but she needed someone to come in and strengthen the dialogue in this film.

If you're looking for some different fare, something other than Bollywood out of India, do yourself a favor and give "Amu" a chance. Bose shows a lot of promise and that's good not only for Asian cinema, but for film-making as a whole.