Aamis

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Aamis
Aamis official poster.jpg
Official poster of Aamis
Directed byBhaskar Hazarika
Written byBhaskar Hazarika
Produced byPoonam Deol
Shyam Bora
StarringLima Das
Arghadeep Baruah
CinematographyRiju Das
Edited byShweta Rai Chamling
Music byQuan Bay
Production
companies
Signum Productions, Metanormal, Wishberry Films
Release dates
  • 28 April 2019 (2019-04-28)(TFF)
  • 22 November 2019 (2019-11-22)(India)
Running time
108 minutes
Country India
LanguageAssamese

Aamis (English: Ravening) is a 2019 Indian Assamese-language romantic horror film written and directed by Bhaskar Hazarika. The film stars debutantes Lima Das and Arghadeep Baruah in the lead, supported by Neetali Das, Sagar Saurabh, and Manash K Das. [1]

Contents

Aamis received its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival where it was nominated in five categories in the festival's "International Narrative" section. [2] The film was released in India on 22 November 2019. [1] [3] [4]

Plot

Sumon is a PhD student who researches meat eating habits of people in northeastern India, and cooks various meat dishes for his friends as a hobby. Nirmali is a doctor who feels unsatisfied with her married life, and constantly covers up for her friend Jumi who is having an extramarital affair. One day, the two meet when she has to treat Sumon's friend for indigestion, and form an acquaintance over an interest in food. Sumon cooks meat dishes for Nirmali, and takes her to various food places as their friendship progresses. Soon, he starts obsessing over her, to the detriment of his career. Nirmali's marriage worsens, and she spends more time with Sumon, but does not reciprocate his feelings.

As his obsession gets out of hand, Sumon approaches his friend Elias, a vet, to cut a part of his flesh for research purposes. In truth, he plans to cook his flesh and serve it to Nirmali, as a way to make their bond stronger. Nirmali inadvertently eats the dish, assuming it to be something else, and enjoys it more than anything she has ever tasted. When Sumon reveals what it really was, she is disgusted at first, but as time passes on, she discovers that she has started to crave human flesh.

Their relationship takes a horrifying twist, as they feed each other their flesh in turns. Nirmali's addiction gets worse, and she begins to crave a large portion of human flesh to satiate her hunger for good. To help her, Sumon kills a rickshaw driver but is caught in the act immediately. The police discover his connection to Nirmali through his phone and apprehend her as well. Their arrest and revelation as cannibals causes a sensation. In the police station, Sumon and Nirmali hold hands as they are presented in front of the media with their faces covered. The story although open ended is suggestive of the union of the couple via a mixture of both platonic and corporeal love.

Cast

Reception

Deborah Young for The Hollywood Reporter wrote "One would have liked the story to end on some unexpected note of unfettered imagination in keeping with the defiant spirit of what has gone before. The moralistic ending really takes it down a notch." [5]

Anannya Baruah for HuffPost wrote "Meat isn’t just Nirmali and Sumon’s means of sublimating their desire and feeling better about not committing adultery; it has always been the object of caste, religious and regional discrimination—a rationalisation for the violent dehumanisation of certain bodies." [6]

Allan Hunter for Screen Daily saw an echo of The Lunchbox movie and wrote "The delicate, decorous nature of the relationship is sweetly captured. Hazarika encourages our investment in the couple and how they might engineer a future together. Affection is expressed in shy smiles and lingering glances. Arghadeep is particularly good at conveying the doe-eyed devotion of Sumon. There is an echo of The Lunchbox in a film that might, initially at least, beguile food lovers and incurable romantics alike." [7]

A critic from Hindustan Times wrote "A Serbian Film, Aamis is exactly what you get when you suffocate unsuspecting people under systems of oppression." [8]

Deccan Chronicle wrote "The film devotes a lot of time to cooking, eating, chatting, texting, and the screenplay, full of dialogue and detailed cooking and eating scenes, delivers it all with a beaming smile and a powerful comment on the politics of food." [9]

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express praised the director Hazarika and wrote "Not for the faint-hearted or squeamish, Aamis is an unusual, brilliant film, and Hazarika one of India’s most gifted filmmakers." [10]

News18 wrote "There is a lot of meat eating; the food shots are lovingly composed. The film suggests that just like we all have different tastes and appetites when it comes to food, we also have varied moral palates and desires." [11]

The Wire wrote “The assertions that ‘love by itself is enough’ or ‘love solves everything’ seem disconnected from the larger truth: that love can also be evil, that love – or say, obsession – can cross a line, too." [12]

A critic from The Quint wrote "In a film where every frame is so thoughtfully done, the climax was a dampener. But there’s redemption in the final shot where both Sumon and Nirmali touch each other for the first time." [13]

Ishrat Jahan Holy for The Business Standard wrote "Aamis is a bold genius of Bhaskar Hazarika and it relies on its slow revelations. As the film progresses, it gently comes out from its 'The Lunchbox'-esque atmosphere and takes the darkest possible turn." [14]

Awards

Best director - Singapore South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF)

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References

  1. 1 2 "Anurag Kashyap to present Bhaskar Hazarika's Aamis, set in Assam; film to release in India on 22 November". firstpost.com. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  2. ↑ "Assamese film Aamis to compete at Tribeca film fest". outlookindia.com.
  3. ↑ "Assamese film Aamis gets a novel release plan". outlookindia.com. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  4. ↑ "'Aamis' a unique love story of two meat loving characters - The Sentinel". Dailyhunt. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  5. ↑ Young, Deborah (9 May 2019). "'Ravening' ('Aamis'): Film Review | Tribeca 2019". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  6. ↑ Baruah, Anannya (24 September 2019). "'Aamis' Is About The Rotting Of Unexpressed Desire. Or Is It?". HuffPost . Archived from the original on 6 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  7. ↑ Hunter, Allan (27 April 2019). "'Aamis' ('Ravening'): Tribeca Review". Screen Daily . Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  8. ↑ Naahar, Rohan (4 October 2021). "Aamis movie review: A maniacal feast for hungry masses; irresistibly insane". Hindustan Times . Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  9. ↑ Sharma, Suparna (24 November 2019). "Aamis (The Ravening) movie review: A plateful of succulent taboos". Deccan Chronicle . Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  10. ↑ Gupta, Shubhra (21 November 2019). "Aamis movie review: An unusual, brilliant film" . The Indian Express . Retrieved 6 May 2023.Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg
  11. ↑ Masand, Rajeev (23 November 2019). "Aamis Movie Review: Its an Incomparably Satiating Experience". News18 . Retrieved 6 May 2023.Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg
  12. ↑ Thakur, Tanul (24 November 2019). "Movie Review: Without Trying to, 'Aamis' Tells Us Love By Itself Is Not Enough". The Wire . Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  13. ↑ Bagchi, Tanisha (21 November 2019). "'Aamis' Questions the Normal Through an Unusual Love Story". The Quint . Retrieved 6 May 2023.Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg
  14. ↑ Holy, Ishrat Jahan (23 October 2021). "Aamis: A hauntingly beautiful love story". The Business Standard . Retrieved 6 May 2023.
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