Am Ah from director Thomas Sebastian, who previously made movies like Maya Bazar, Jamna Pyari, etc., has this core idea of following motherly emotions. But the packaging of it as a thriller just never has an appealing feel to its credit. When the true intentions of the story are revealed to us, it becomes this predictable melodramatic tale that struggles to find anything that can make you connect to the central character emotionally. With an outdated script that stretches a basic idea far too much, Am Ah is a dull creation.
Stephen, a road contractor, goes to this hilly place in Idukki, and he is being welcomed by the Panchayat President of that area. Since it was a rural place with no visitors, it was difficult for Stephen to find a place to live. A few days into his exploration of that place, he comes to know about this mysterious lady who lives with her granddaughter in a house. Stephen’s curiosity about knowing this individual’s past and where that curiosity takes him is what we see in this film.
The story’s setting and the texture of certain characters have that Thaazhvaram-like man with a mission feel. To make that feeling stronger, the screenplay by Kaviprasad Gopinath creates a lot of mysterious characters, like one old man who can see but can’t hear and another who can hear but can’t see. The story takes Stephen to places with a very eerie and mysterious geography. Even though it is becoming obvious to us that Stephen has come there with a proper plan, the film is taking a slightly different route, and the problem is that this route is underwhelming than what we have predicted.
While the first half of the movie has this familiar structure of a thriller, the second half has a sharp contrast, and the storytelling that shows you the history of one of the main characters relies on the melodrama associated with that character. The mystery around this female character is lost in that process, and the story tries to influence us emotionally. The staging of the climax is written in a certain way that we are supposed to feel a sense of sympathy and admiration towards this female character for having taken a lot of risks. But the unimaginative making of the film just can’t make those portions gripping, and what eventually happens to that character just doesn’t evoke any emotion in us.
Dileesh Pothan’s Stephen is somewhat of an extended cameo in the movie. In the second half of the film, he has only a handful of scenes. It is a character with certain rough edges, and when he sort of reveals his intentions, it is not much of a surprise for the audience. Devadarshini is the one who is playing the main character of the movie. The writing of the character is not that great, and you can predict the trajectory of this woman very easily. Even though it is an earnest performance, the writing does not really help her to add any nuances to this character. Jaffer Idukki, as the Panchayat President, is kind of playing himself with that vivacious energy. Jayarajan Kozhikode has a role that has something for him to perform, but when you look at the significance of the character in the story, it feels more like an overwritten character created for mere distraction. Navas Vallikkunnu, trying to speak in an Idukki accent, was hard to watch. There are a lot of actors in one-scene roles, like Maala Parvathy, Meera Vasudev, Alencier Lopez, Muthumani, etc.
Am Ah is a tale of motherly feelings narrated in the disguise of a thriller. Unfortunately, neither the suspense bits of the thriller portions nor the emotional bits of the journey of the female character manage to strike an emotional chord with the audience. The movie’s setting, which somewhere reminds you of the drama we have seen in vintage Bharathan and Padmarajan movies, is not getting explored, keeping the audience in mind. Thus, Am Ah didn’t even qualify to be called a movie that had an interesting premise.
With an outdated script that stretches a basic idea far too much, Am Ah is a dull creation.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended