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REVIEWS/QUOTES
“An extremely
significant film for India…every character richly etched…unbelievable first
film…it is truly cinema.”
-Shyam Benegal,
Filmmaker
“Where have you been
hiding?…a brave and challenging film…simply wonderful.”
-Mrinal Sen,
Filmmaker
“A very bold and moving film…great performances especially from Brinda Karat
and Konkona Sensharma.”
-Aamir
Khan, Actor
“Bravo! A remarkable debut.” (3-1/2 stars)
-Nikhat
Kazmi, Times of India Film Critic
“Amu is a big little film to fill you with hope at
the movies…haunting, nagging and unforgettable it ventures into a critical
slice of Indian history and manages to create cinema that is immensely
watchable. Amu is a must see if Indian cinema is to grow.”
-Subhash
K. Jha, Film Critic
“The brilliance of Amu’s incandescence is in that although a
political film, you watch it in complete unawareness of that fact.
Successful against falling into any cliche traps, it communicates the
abomination of the ’84 anti-Sikh riots without sentimentality.”
-Madhu
Trehan, Indian Express, Jan 15, 2005
“And now at last comes Shonali Bose’s Amu. With a slow, quiet and
innocuous beginning it works up at the end without making a loud noise to
the most powerful indictment of the massacre of Sikhs in that black year and
the way justice has been dragging its feet over 20 long years.
…What impresses one
about Amu is its genuine reality undertones. People speak in English
and Bengali as middle class Bengali families tend to do. Others speak in
Hindi. The household sets, the people in the family – from the totally
credible grandmother to others – seem real."
-Amita Malik, Hindustan Times, Jan. 13, 2005
“In the middle of this
terrible natural disaster my mind has gone back to an equally terrible
manmade disaster because of a film called Amu. On my first night back
in Mumbai I went to the premier of this film and although a political column
is not usually the place for film reviews this film is so political, so
powerful and so moving that it finds place here this week.
It is also the bravest
political film by an Indian director in years because it deals with a
subject that most Indians have dared not even squeak of except to whisper
that it is best forgotten: the anti Sikh pogrom that followed the
assassination of Indira Gandhi.
…The past alas does not
go away and we will be forced to repeat its mistakes unless we confront
them. This is what Shonali brings out brilliantly in this her first film
that starts off with deceptive softness and leaves you reeling by the end.
What is remarkable about her handling of the subject is that, unlike most
films with a message, there is not a hint of polemics or propaganda in
Amu only a deeply moving, human story that reminds us that as long as
justice is not done India will never escape its periodic descent into
barbarism and savagery.”
-Tavleen
Singh, Afternoon, Jan. 6, 2005
“Shonali Bose's Amu is one of the most significant films to come out
of India in years. Rarely have we seen a recent Indian film that is so
daring, weaving in big political, feminist themes with such sophistication.
Yet it is a film that we will long remember precisely because all of these
are subsumed under a moving, emotional mother-daughter tale. It is told with
an integrity that shoots straight through the heart.
… The screenplay is
outstanding. You sense that its integrity comes from experience, not mere
research. In fact, the director was an activist working in the post-riots
relief camps.
As for the acting,
Konkona Sensharma and Brinda Karat are superb, but so too are many smaller
characters, including Ankur Khanna, Yashpal Sharma, Loveleen Mishra and the
granny. Non-actors Brinda Karat and the granny fortify its authenticity.”
-Meenakhshi
Shedde, The Hindu, Jan 6, 2005
“If you need to feel good about Indian cinema, and even more about India,
see Amu. If you need to relish good direction, skip the Karan Johars,
Subhash Ghais, even Ashutosh Gowarikars, and settle with Shonali. She brings
the Sikh slaughters closer home in a way that nine central governments and
an equal number of inquiry commissions have failed to do. With a fearless
anti-amnesia agenda, Shonali can terrify those who would lull the nation
into complacent oblivion.”
-Neera
Kuckreja Sohoni, Indian Express, Jan
12, 2005
“Amu, a first film by the woman director Shonali Bose, is one of the
new trends in Indian cinema trying to deal with real problems, avoiding
melodrama, and without songs such as in Bollywood movies. Amu is
not completely different; the difference comes from the way the story is
told.
…Amu
is not a feminist work, but the work of a woman director
like a mother caring about her children i.e. the characters. Konkana is
extremely convincing in the lead, especially in the final scene at the train
station, when there is a flashback to what happened to her when her father
was beaten to death.
The rhythm of the film is neither fast nor slow, and is
well edited down to 90 minutes in contrast to the usual Indian film of three
hours. Amu goes directly to its subject, which starts from the
private tragedy and leads us to the general view of the events of 1984.”
-Safaa
Elaisy Haggag
"…Amu doesn’t tell you to go back in time, it only acts as a catalyst
for you to think. And in the kind of times we live in, perhaps it is a good
idea to be part of a film that engages your mind. Which is what Amu
is finally about. It helps you connect even if you are not of that vintage.
It tells you about life even if you don’t believe that a riot will ever
affect you. It helps you ponder without being instructive.
And more than anything
else it is intrusive without being moralistic: hence it scores high and it
is a film to cherish. God alone knows when the next Amu will come
along."
-Suhel
Seth, Asian Age, Jan 10, 2005. |
