Amu is the story of Kaju, a twenty-one-year-old Indian American woman who returns to India to visit her family and discover the place where she was born. The film takes a dark turn as Kaju stumbles against secrets and lies from her past. A horrifying genocide that took place twenty years ago turns out to hold the key to her mysterious origins.
아무
USA
USA
After watching "Margarita, With A Straw" a couple of months ago, the first thing I did was to find out the other works of the director, Shonali Bose and I stumbled upon her only other work which was her debut, Amu, a little known critically acclaimed drama which was surrounded with controversies over the subject it handled when it came out. To my surprise, it featured one of my favourite actresses in India, Konkona Sen Sharma in the lead. And as I finally caught up with it today, unsurprisingly it turned out to be even more rewarding and compelling than her second movie.
A thought-provoking and intriguing drama which reflects on the aftermaths of the infamous Anti-Sikh riots in 1984…
-Heartbreaking
-As a debutant Shonali bose did an excellent job
-As usual konkana was terrific
-so emotional rn 🥲
I like how Amu was written as an obnoxious and overly unreflective tourist in the beginning, treating India as some mythical, spiritual travel experience, rather than a real society with deep running problems. I feel like it's a common problem for people raised in "the west" that needed to be adressed.
When she discoveres more and more of her history and the film becomes more serious, the viewer gets educated about the terrible 1984 anti Sikh riots, the lack of judicial equality and corruption in India through the compelling/sad story of her killed family.
Of course you could argue the film falls short of treating the atrocities seriously enough giving the short time where the events are depicted. Also there…
I find India absolutely fascinating! The way this was filmed was really imaginative too; --a pastel paradise!
too many thoughts upon rewatch but the very fact that shonali bose HUGGED me when i presented her my artwork overshadows everything else. goated day.
This is a film where subject matter is so powerful and important that you need to watch this right way. But besides Konkona Sen's acting every character's acting weren't that good imo. The actor who played Kabir was the worst of all. The direction felt pretty weak as well.
What begins as a chick-flick about a girl who grew up in the US and travels to India to discover her roots, even having her meet-cute when she meets the boy, quickly turns into a vindication of historical memory, a story of trauma and loss that revolves around an ethnic massacre that occurred in 1984. It is essential to remember, although many prefer to sweep it under the rug.
Amu exemplifies what independent filmmaking should be all about: solid storytelling, likeable cast and biting social commentary that succeeds without the necessity of well known actors, or big budget production values. Konkona Sensharma is wonderfully appealing as Kaju exuding just the right amount of strength and vulnerability needed to effectively portray role of a young ex-patriot returning to a homeland she doesn't remember but desires to embrace.
A heart wrenching tale about a deeply fractured memory in the Indian political history.
Thought-provoking film that tells an important story without unnecessary melodrama. What hits hardest is the fact that nothing has changed. 1984 to 2020.
This film will bother you with its really bad cinematography. The story is okay. It could be told way more dramatically while it decides to stay on surface and play like a mystery, revealing the critical part through line of dialogues at the ending and put an end to the huge social tragedy it covers. There are unnecessary and not interesting sub stories involved that could be eliminated to stay focused on the main line and put more effort to have a more powerful effect. The camera angles and shots get strange in few parts and the rest are just fine. The performances are not great and the film suffers from following the cliche tricks to get its audience involved.
konkonaaaaa, you are such an amazing actor and i'm so in love with you
connected at a deeper level with this film, it has got a lot to unpack and offer if we're willing to receive.
storyline was great, cinematography could've been better but i did like it nevertheless. plot buildup was nearly perfect so there's nothing to complain about.
ALSOOOO where can i find a guy like kabir???? he is such a cutie patootie :(
women in indian cinema #6- konkona sensharma
there’s so much to digest here. reading the synopsis and looking at the poster is enough to make you understand what’s going on and have you figuring out the rest of the story within the first 30 minutes of the film, but this is still such a BRILLIANT debut, for both shonali AND konkona. an extremely relevant and somewhat courageous start in the indian film industry. i don’t think i’d be exaggerating it by calling it saeed akhtar mirza- and mani ratnam-esque in parts, and those are my two all-time favourite indian directors so you know how highly this film sits in my books. there are times when i complain about how my…
