AMU d: Shonali Bose
Amu (2005)
Direction and screenplay: Shonali Bose. Cast: Konkona Sen Sharma, Yashpal Sharma, Brinda Karat
THE OFFICIAL LIE
The tale of an Indian-American young woman who, while visiting her adoptive family in Delhi, discovers the shocking — and politically charged — truth behind her adoption, Shonali Bose’s Amu (India / U.S.) is the sort of well-intentioned motion picture one wants to like. Sadly, that is not quite the same thing as actually liking it.
Yet, despite its flaws in storytelling, direction, and acting — one crucial problem is leading lady Konkona Sen Sharma’s inability to convey her young heroine’s profound growing pains — Amu is definitely worth a look because of its politics. Generally, political films fail to make their point clear, diluting it in melodramatic personal stories. Amu works the other way around. The personal stories are less interesting than the film’s politics; indeed, Amu’s dramatic highlights are the scenes depicting the horrors of the bloody Delhi riots in the aftermath of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s 1984 assassination.
Now, the real highlight of the Amu AFI FEST screening, however, took place after the final credits. That’s when impassioned director Bose appeared onstage for a Q&A session, during which she lambasted the many Indian governments of the last 20 years that have wilfully failed to prosecute the organizers of the murderous 1984 Delhi riots, some of whom were state and local government leaders. While condemning state-sponsored terrorism, Bose also had some — much applauded — harsh words for U.S. President George W. Bush’s "war on terror."
Reviewed at the AFI FEST 2005
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