Biography is already a difficult genre to make films in, and when it's about the eventful life of an eccentric and extraordinary personality like Kamala Das, it becomes all the more challenging. But, Kamal comes out his cave after three years and creates Aami, an almost perfect biopic that acts as a great ode to the legendary Malayalam writer. The talented Manju Warrier portrays the titular character with quite diligence and fervor, carefully following director Kamal's supervision, and unfortunately to the very point of stagnation. She leads the cast of other veterans like Murali Gopy and Anoop Menon, and provides a great window for her audience to know and feel the legend of Das, an impulsive writer and poet with a suspended teenage and unusual imagination. It is clear from the first frame what Kamal must have envisaged when he started this project, for nostalgia is something you will experience - of a childhood you still yearn and want to go back to, of a period in past that gives you joyous pleasure. Aami does that to you, either with his melodious montages on songs like 'Neermathalam' or through its poetic narration. There's enough to like and adore in Aami, starting with how it captures the essence of a turbulent India when it got independence, and how that affects our character's life in a way. Writer Kamal uses history with liberty and tries to amalgamate it with social issues that we are unable to tackle in the society currently. Things like conversion and religious fanaticism, although come in late in the overlong narrative, strike a definite chord with the film's informed audience. For a writer or any person related to art, it makes sense to get exposed to such charming charisma of Das, who was arguably one of the wildest writers to ever live. I personally adore her daring imagination and how she does not hesitate to turn into words her wildest dreams. It is the society that is at fault, emphasizes Aami at all juncture, and for that only it is one of the best Malayalam films of 2018. It could definitely use a nice trim to contain its expansive nature, but Aami has been structured and written well, and with right amounts of drama and dry humor. There's never one right way to shoot a biopic, and we are lucky Aami does not jinx it. Highly recommended! TN.
