Amaran review: Sai Pallavi poignantly anchors this story of love and courage

Much of Major Mukund Varadarajan’s story involves engaging in an external battle. The army officer (played by Sivakarthikeyan) in Amaran, who is taught early on to place his nation and fellow brothers in green first, goes to war against terrorism in Kashmir’s Shopian district. He endures bullet wounds, engages in battle, and plots to take down top militants. But there's also another battle that filmmaker Rajkumar Periasamy wants to tell us about — a silent, equally turbulent internal battle that is underway miles away in Chennai in the heart of Indhu Rebecca Varghese (Sai Pallavi). A battle that often floods the life of a military spouse. Amaran is as much Mukund’s story as it is Indhu’s, an aspect that gives this film a layer of balmy satisfaction..The film follows the life of Mukund, as he ranks up from Lieutenant to becoming the leader of 44th Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles, a counter-terrorism force that solely focuses on Kashmir. Mukund might be a soldier with a single-minded goal, but Amaran shows us that he is also a kind, funny everyman from Tambaram who might’ve led an ordinary, boisterous existence in another life. Amaran is Mukund's story, but it is one that begins and ends with Indhu. His wife, a steady anchor of his personal life, becomes the anchor for the audience. We are introduced to Mukund’s personhood through her eyes. From his desire to join the army to his first kill at the Line of Control, much of his story is told from her perspective, an interesting approach that brings us closer to this world effortlessly. The portions that detail their romance burst with an intimacy that’s often overlooked in patriotic action films. Theirs is a love that is grand — not in the form of overarching gestures, but in the small stolen glances and moments of seeming insignificance. It is a love that makes itself visible when she makes sure he’s okay even when they are in the middle of a heated argument, and in the way she deliberately doesn’t want to know how long his vacation days will last. Sai Pallavi is brilliant as Indhu, who dazzles not only when she’s overcome with love, but also when she cheers for her best friend to attain happiness — a happiness that comes at the price of her longing.The film proceeds in such a surgical fashion from one life event to another that some of its writing, especially ones that detail Mukund’s life in Shopian, could’ve done with some nuance. Kashmir and its people wrestle with conflicts that are deeply complicated, something that Amaran doesn’t always succeed at depicting. At one point, Mukund’s father asks him why Kashmir is always riddled with issues. But his son responds with a non-answer, almost just like the film, which skirts around the politics that surround Kashmir, and instead settles on oversimplified easy fixes. While we are told of the plight of Kashmiris and the half-widows in the region, stuck between militants and the Indian Army, the writing barely scratches the surface. In portions showing skirmishes, the film extends to its action choreography a serving of unavoidable mass cinema sensibilities, glorifying them as adrenaline pumping set pieces with GV Prakash Kumar’s accentuated background score. As precisely researched as these fight sequences may be, they miss the light hand that the film otherwise shows in Mukund’s family life. While it’s discernible why Sivakarthikeyan makes a perfect Mukund, we are also often left wondering how different the film would’ve been if it dug a little deeper into the workings of this army legend’s mind. He breaks down when a fellow soldier dies during his first kill. But what does that actually do to him? He constantly tells his wife not to cry — a line that gets an emotionally overwhelming pay-off in the climax — but what motivates his thinking? How does he feel about not being a parent who sees his daughter grow up? In a way, these questions might remain unanswered, but Amaran has an impressive rejoinder in the form of three words: Indhu Rebecca Varghese. She remains, carrying not just her pride and grief, but also Mukund’s.If there’s anything Sruthi loves more than watching films, it’s writing about it. Sruthi Ganapathy Raman’s words can also be read in Film Companion, Scroll.in, and The Times of India.Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.

Amaran review: Sai Pallavi poignantly anchors this story of love and courage

Amaran (Tamil)(3 / 5)