Written By: Shonali Bose

Directed By: Shonali Bose

Runtime: 1 hour 42 min (102 min)

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, as Kajori is known by, 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 deja 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.

For some, this film may prove to be a bit more emotional than the covers would have it seem. Although it isn't advertised much, Amu was based on actual events, including the story of the real Amu, although the way it is portrayed is fictionalized.

As this film is not an action film, it could be categorized as drama. In this case, though, it is part drama, part history, and almost instantly draws everyone in. This may be due to the underlying mystery that begins to eat away at Kaju and Kabir, and the flashbacks that seemingly appear as if we might be watching a horror film. Not a single point of the film was cause for loss of attention, which is not easy in a drama. Many dramatical films have intense moments, followed by periods of lost meaning. Amu doesn't suffer from this at all, and every single moment is taken in when watching.

This movie is an independent film, made in India, in 2004, but has gone through a number of setbacks in order to make it into theathers. As the mystery of the film revolves around an actual event, which, to this day, is still "under investigation," the Indian Censor Board, a government run agency, required that a number of elements of the film be removed or redubbed. Instead, the lines were simply silenced in the film. Even after this, the film received an "A" certificate, equivalent to an NC-17 rating in the United States.

Even after all this, the Censor Board chief was fired for letting this independent film make it into theaters.

"Amu was selected by the AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles for films suitable for the youth. Public school children in LA were able to see Amu. In the Cine Donne Film festival in Torino, Italy - it won the Teenage Choice Award."

Parents shouldn't be worried about taking their children to see this film as there is no gore or extreme violence depicted. There is a riot scene, however, which some parents might not want their children to see, but it's no worse than anything that is shown on the evening news.

At the showing we attended, we had the pleasure of meeting one of the Executive Producers, and husband of the writer/director, BEDABRATA PAIN. He answered the questions posed by the audience, and even spent extra time outside the theater as the next showing was fast approaching. Both he and his wife had worked in some of the relief camps following an event depicted in the film.

Although this film is an Indian film, almost all of the dialog is in English, with anything else being subtitled. There aren't many big name actors, although many will recognize a few, including KONKONA SEN SHARMA, who recently won an award for her most recent role in Vishal Bhardwaj's Omkara - a mainstream Hindi musical adaptation of Othello.

Many of the other actors in the film are first time screen actors that are coming from stage. At no time do the cast give themselves away as first time actors, and this helps to keep us enveloped in the film, and not simply outsiders looking at a screen.

Overall, Amu is a film that should be seen. However, as an independent film, it's difficult for it to compete with commercially produced movies.

As of this writing, the movie is currently playing in select theatres in Southern California, as well as in New York. visit http://www.amuthefilm.com/release_north_america.htm or http://www.emergingpictures.com/amu.htm for the list of theatres and showtimes. It will be making an appearance in various other cities in the United States as well.