AMMU (2022)

Critic No. 295

Director: Charukesh Sekar

Written by: Charukesh Sekar

Produced by: Stone Bench Films

Casts: Aishwarya Lekshmi, Naveen Chandra, Bobby Simha

Music: Bharath Shankar

Language: Telugu

Genre: Drama


SYNOPSIS: 

What started off as a fairy tale marriage, changed when Ammu’s (Aishwarya Lekshmi) cop-husband Ravi (Naveen Chandra) hit her. What Ammu thought was a one-off incident soon turned into a never-ending cycle of abuse, trapping her and breaking her soul and spirit. Pushed to her limits, Ammu teams up with an unlikely ally to break free.


REVIEW:

For the past 2 to 3 years, there have been a galore of films that have sparked to address male chauvinism and misogyny in Indian society. As some of the earlier films looked fresh, some tried to bank on the successful trend with a template story. And here we have Ammu which is stuck in between these two extremes. 


In the film, Ammu struggles to break free; like a typical victim in a toxic, abusive relationship, she overthinks, blames herself, and wants to change her husband with love. One cannot but draw parallels to Darlings featuring Alia Bhatt and Vijay Varma. Of course, Ammu is more subtle and darker. Aishwarya Lekshmi is terrific as the titular character and speaks with her eyes more than her dialogues at many parts. No doubt, this is a very important film in her career.


Though Naveen’s character is designed in a rather one-dimensional way, the actor pulls it off with conviction. I just wished that the film could have been more focused in the second half where a whole new character (Bobby Simha) of an ex-offender is introduced to help Ammu to release herself from misery. What started off to be a women-centric film, succumbs to the typical men save women template, contradicting its standpoint. 


That said, to repeat my point on casting, the performers are the ones who keep the film afloat most of the time even when the narration streets into an unfocussed path. Another strong point of the film is Charukesh Sekar’s strong dialogues which he uses to constantly sell his point seamlessly about toxic and abusive relationships.  



VERDICT:

Ammu is yet another tale about domestic abuse and the issues with the patriarchal Indian society, that flows on quite a predictable note with template characters but is held strong by Aishwarya Lekshmi’s magnetic presence. 


CELLULOID METER- 3/5:

Watch the full film on Amazon Prime:

https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Ammu/0P1U4OK0BYQ29U7TEW2T6SRVV7





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