Amu (The Film)
Amu(A feature film set during the 1984 Massacre of Sikhs) is a critically acclaimed film directed by Shonali Bose. It stars Konkona Sen Sharma, Brinda Karat, and Aukur Khanna. This film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival in 2005.
(This movie can be watched on-line at this link: [1]. )
Warning (although the events of 1984 are well known) read no further if you are planning to watch the film and you like to discover the end along with the movie's characters.
Synopsis
'Amu' is the journey of Kajori Roy (Konkona Sen Sharma), a 21-year-old Indian American woman who has lived in the US since the age of 3. After graduating from UCLA Kaju goes to India to visit her relatives. There she meets Kabir (Ankur Khanna), a college student from an upper class family who is disdainful of Kaju’s wide-eyed wonder at discovering the “real India”. Undeterred Kaju visits the slums, crowded markets and roadside cafes of Delhi. In one slum she is struck by an odd feeling of déjà vu. Soon after she starts having nightmares. Kabir gets drawn into the mystery of why this is happening particularly when he discovers that she is adopted.
Meanwhile Kaju’s adoptive mother – Keya Roy, a single parent and civil rights activist in LA, arrives unannounced in Delhi. She is shocked to discover that Kaju has been visiting the slums. Although Kaju mistakes her mother’s response to a typical Indian over protectiveness – Keya’s fears are deeper rooted.
Slowly Kaju starts piecing together what happened to her birth parents and mother and daughter clash as Kaju discovers she has been lied to her whole life. What was the truth? Why was it suppressed? As Kaju and Kabir undertake this quest they both discover their families involvement with a man made tragedy of immense proportions which took place twenty years ago in the capital city of India: the massacre of thousands of people of the Sikh faith. In a searing climax the young people are forced to confront the reality of the past and how it affects the present.
Cast & Crew
- Konkona Sen Sharma ... Kaju "Amu"
- Yashpal Sharma ... Gobind
- Brinda Karat ... Keya
- Ankur Khanna ... Kabir
- Chaiti Ghosh ... Tuki
- Aparna Roy ... Grandmother
- Ashish Ghosh ... Uncle
- Ruma Ghosh ... Aunt
- Loveleen Mishra ... Leelavati
- Brajesh Mishra ... Chachaji
- Bharat Kapoor ... Arun Sehgal
- Lushin Dubey ... Meera Sehgal
- Rajendra Gupta ... KK
- Ganeve Rajkotia ... Shanno Kaur
- Kuljit Singh ... Gurbachan Singh
- Ekta Sood ... Amu
- Harshhit Sood ... Arjun
- Mohini Mathur ... Durga
- Kirandeep Sharma ... Shanti Kumar
- Amita Udgata ... Widow
- Kusum Haidar ... Widow
- Avijit Dutt ... Neel
- Subhashini Ali ... Lalitha
- Susmit Sarkar ... Siddharth
- Lara Ahsan Chandni ... Stephanian
- Maxwell Chhetry ... Stephanian
- Subhashish Mukherjee ... Stephanian
- Sanjay Kumar ... Pappu
Produced by
- Sanjay Bhattacharjee .... line producer
- Atiya Bose .... co-producer
- Shonali Bose .... producer
- Aidan Hill .... co-producer
- Gurdip Malik .... executive producer
- Bedabrata Pain .... executive producer
- Vibhu Srivastava .... co-line producer: Los Angeles
- Original Music by - Nandlal Nayak
- Cinematography by - Lourdes Ambrose
- Film Editing by - Bob Brooks
- Production Design by - Ayesha Punvani
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director - Vibhu Srivastava .... third assistant director
- Art Department - Ali Abbas Zafar .... set designer
Sound Department
- David Kitchens .... sound supervisor
- Nicole Lazaroff .... boom operator
- Resul Pookutty .... sound
- Eric Reuveni .... sound re-recording mixer
- Ben Zarai .... supervising sound editor
- Camera and Electrical Department - Kartik Vijay .... assistant camera
- Editorial Department - Nerina Penzhorn .... first assistant editor: film
- Other crew - Aldo Velasco .... creative consultant
Awards
- 2005:National Film Award Best Feature Film in English
- FIPRESCI Critics Award, January 2005.
- Gollapudi Srinivasa Award – Best Debut Director (India). August 2005.
- Star Screen Award – Best English Film (India). January 2006.
- Teenage Choice Award, Torino, Italy [Cine donne Film Festival]. October 2005.
- Jury Award, Torino, Italy [Cine donne Film Festival]. October 2005.
