| Director:
Padmamagan |
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Cast: Partibhan, Bharati, Mahadevan, Sadhana, Thennavan |
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Genre: Drama |
 In a film centered on a sex worker, what we anticipate and normally get to see is a certain amount of sleaze, vulgarity and exploitation of the female anatomy. But 'Ammu...' strikes a different note, taking you by surprise. For there is none of that here. And the credit goes to the director who has handled his theme with a lot of sensitivity.
Gouri Shanker, a popular novelist, makes a trip to a brothel in search of a story for his new novel. He encounters Ammu, a sex worker. Struck by her simple charm, the progressive writer in him decides to rehabilitate her. Gouri offers her marriage and a life of respectability which Ammu finds amusing, and accepts only after her mother's coaxing.
For Ammu was quite comfortable in her profession, and her way of life, and couldn't understand what Gouri was saving her from. Ammu had grown up watching her mother and the rest of the women around her practising the oldest profession in the world. And when her time for initiation came she had taken to it like a fish to water. In fact, she had waited eagerly for the day of her initiation.
 Through the scenes of Ammu's childhood, the director provides an interesting insight into her character. Like the scene where little Ammu, seeing the men choose their partners for the night, runs and stands in line with the women. And stands there alone, a forlorn expression on her face, for not being the chosen one. It's in this matter-of-fact way of etching the character of Ammu, and in the depiction of the profession, that the director strikes a different chord.
In fact, the ambience at the brothel is so benign, simple, the women all demurely dressed, that you could have easily mistaken it for one of those joint family settings! And in this too lies the charm of the film.
The credits card mentions Bharati as a debutante. In a way it's right. For though Bharati has done some inconsequential films, this film gives her a new lease of life. Bharati's interpretation of Ammu lends the character a certain charm and innocence.
 Partibhan has come out with an impressive performance playing Gouri with a lot of subtlety and finesse. There's adequate support from Sadhana as Ammu's mother; Mahadevan as Nathan who demands his pound of flesh in return for selecting Gouri for a popular literary award; and Thennavan as Gouri's buddy, a man of the world who berates Gouri for his refusal to trade Ammu for a night to Nathan. Contributing to the film's feel and mood is its effective cinematography (M S Prabhu), its apt melodies
(Sabesh-Murali) and some crisp editing (Sures Urs).
'Ammu...' is a film, which, despite its flaws, and its fairy tale look at the not-so-pleasant world of sex workers, is refreshingly different and worth a watch.
Malini Mannath
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