Aami Malayalam Movie
Hers was a life that had myriad elements of a fairy tale. In a sense, she was an enigma. No Malayalam author has been offered such a delicate aura that Madhavikutty was bestowed on her by readers. When a biopic is made on her life, it would be difficult to satiate them owing to the oodles of interpretations about her in their minds. In "Aami," director Kamal makes an attempt to unfurl the enigmatic layers of her personality and life by sprinkling a dollop of drama and fancy.
Yes, the task is onerous. To start with, the filmmaker has to switch the consciousness of the audience to find Kamala Das or Madhavikutty aka Kamala Surayya in the expressive face of Manju Warrier. Unfortunately, this transformation of the viewer's consciousness takes its time to imbibe the character as Madhavikutty.
Her childhood experience in Calcutta and Nalappatt is beautifully narrated with the support of diligent trimming by editor Sreekar Prasad and background score by Bijibal. The pre-independence era settings appear as quite natural in the movie. Moving forward with the first person narrative, Kamal's cinematic experience comes into play to depict an extraordinary eventful life.
The men who became part of Madhavikutty's life and her relationship with them are still difficult to explain. For her, Lord Krishna (Tovino Thomas) is her perpetual friend or lover. Since the film is not based on her autobiographical work "Ente Kadha," the director's perception of the writer may attract various opinions. But Kamal deserves appreciation for his poetic treatment and implementation of fancy elements, which are exquisite to the flow of the story.
Amidst her spiritual and emotional alienation from her husband Madhavadas (Murali Gopy), Kamala Das loved him deeply albeit it was not reciprocated adequately. Kamal never intrudes into other interpretations of her life and shies away from deeply discussing her controversial relationship with Akbar Ali (Anoop Menon) during her autumn days.
Manju Warrier finds her rhythm as an actor only in the latter half of the film. Sometimes the dialogue presentation seems to be artificial and unnatural. The soul of the character is missing in Manju's overall performance, though she is not floundering throughout the movie.
Madhu Neelakandan's aesthetic visuals are captivating and they fit the bill. This film boasts of a faithful attempt and the subtle blend of fancy in the life of one of the most celebrated authors in our literature.