Konkona Sensharma – Kaju

Konkona is the rising young star of new Indian cinema. Her acclaimed performance in Mr. and Mrs. Iyer won her the National Award for Best Actress in India in 2003. As a teenager she made a mark in Bengali cinema with Titli and Ek je achey Kanya. Her forthcoming releases are Page 3, Amavas, Chaipani etc. She is about to start shooting for Aparna Sen’s 15 Park Avenue and Mira Nair’s The Namesake.

Konkona, “I was very nervous when I went for the audition for Amu as I was dying to do the role. I had read and loved the script.”

Shonali, “I had auditioned close to 50 Indian American actors in the US  for Kaju as her authenticity as an Indian American was very important to me. Koko was by far the most superior actor of any Indian I knew or had come across of her age. She had to be Kaju. I took her to LA where she lived with us for a few weeks and trained in the American accent and got immersed in “Kaju’s life” in Los Angeles.”

Brinda Karat - Keya

Amu is the first film Brinda has ever acted in. Her last contact with acting was in theater in the 1960’s as a college student. Brinda has been a leading women and workers activist for the last 3 decades. She is a central committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). She worked in the relief camps in 1984. Brinda is also Shonali’s aunt and has been like her adoptive mother.

Brinda, “I agreed to play Keya because the script is so powerful and so rooted in reality. Furthermore it is not just dealing with an issue that I feel strongly about but is a beautiful mother daughter relationship. I relate to the character of Keya, to a mother who will do anything for a child even when she is not biologically her own.”

Shonali, “I had heard from my mother that her sister was a very talented actor but had eschewed an acting career for politics. She also had the vulnerability and pain and depth in her eyes, in her face that I wanted for Keya. We did various screen tests before we both felt confident that she could pull it off. But I was terrified about how the flip of authority situation would go down! I needn’t have worried. She took direction very well.”

Ankur Khanna - Kabir

Ankur is an actor and filmmaker. Amu is his feature film debut although he has done various short films and has a theater background from St. Stephens, Delhi University. His short film on football  “Bare” has been selected for the Berlinale Talent Campus at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival.

Ankur, "When I read the script I found it incisive and the commentary layered but what really convinced me was Shonali herself. Her conviction and sheer sense of enterprise for, what at that time, seemed fairly daunting, almost impossible to do....."

Shonali, “Ankur is the first and last person I auditioned for Kabir. Because as soon as I saw him I realized he was everything I had written and more. So when he got hepatitis during pre production and I was urged to recast I refused to. Instead we completely reworked our schedule and put all his scenes at the end. It was very brave of him to do it when he was so weak.”