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Release Date: May 25th, 2007 (Cinema Village) by Emerging Pictures. The Cast: Konkona Sensharma, Brinda Karat, Ankur Khanna, Chaiti Ghosh, Aparna Roy. Directed by Shonali Bose. In Hindi, Bengali and Punjabi with subtitles. BASIC PREMISE: When Kaju (Sensharma), a UCLA grad student, returns to her native country, India, she discovers the truth about her past from her adoptive parents. ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: Amu has plenty of mystery in its intriguing plot, but lacks strong, well-developed characters to keep you fully absorbed by the drama. Kaju, played by the radiant Konkona Sensharma, visits her family in Delhi. Everything changes when she learns about the riots that had occurred back in 1984 after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated, which led to the slaughter of 5,000 Sikhs. Her adoptive mother (Karat) get uncomfortable with discussing this topic, so Kaju gradually suspects that the more she finds out about it, the more she can find out about who her biological parents were. Writer/director Shonali Bose doesn’t include enough scenes showing how Kaju—whose biological parents called her Amu—reacts to the discoveries and how it affects her life in the long run. More scenes with Kaju and her new potential boyfriend, Kabir (Khanna), would have been helpful in establishing more of Kaju’s character rather than have here constantly searching and discovering. Also, the subplot of what happened to Kaju’s biological parents deserves much more screen time given its significance. As a first-time writer/director, Bose impressively shows that she’s capable of generating mystery, but she needs to learn how create dramatic tension through character development rather than mostly plot development, which would make the drama much more absorbing. SPIRITUAL VALUE: None, other than the importance of understanding and accepting your roots. INSULT TO YOUR INTELLIGENCE: Insufficient character development. NUMBER OF TIMES I CHECKED MY WATCH: 3 IN A NUTSHELL: Mysterious and intriguing, but insufficient character development and not absorbing enough. RECOMMENDED WAY TO WATCH: DVD Main Page Alphabetical Menu Chronological Menu The "A" Menu ______________________________________________________ |
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