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Aami

2018 film directed by Kamal

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Aami is a 2018 Indian Malayalam-language biographical film based on the life of poet-author Kamala Das. It is written and directed by Kamal and stars Manju Warrier as Kamala Surayya, along with Murali Gopy, Tovino Thomas, Anoop Menon, and Anand Bal. The film was released on 9 February 2018. It won two Kerala State Film Awards.

01Plot

Aami portrays the life of writer Madhavikutty, mainly focused on her childhood, family life, marital life, devotion to Lord Krishna, and conversion to Islam in the later periods of her life.

02Cast

03Production

In 2016, Bollywood actress Vidya Balan was signed for the role of Kamala Surayya, but in January 2017, she backed out from the film citing creative differences with Kamal. In 2016, Murali Gopy was confirmed in the role of Madhava Das, Kamala's husband, and Prithviraj Sukumaran in a fictional character. Later in the year, Prithviraj also opted out from the film due to his tight filming schedules and recommended Tovino Thomas instead. Later, Anoop Menon was added to the cast. Media outlets reported several names as a replacement for Balan. But in February 2017, Kamal denied all the reports and said that he was not in a hurry and was still looking for a person whose features matched that of Surayya's, which was the reason he chose Balan in the first place. Although he revealed he is also considering suggestions from others. In February 2017, Manju Warrier signed to play Kamala Surayya.

Principal photography commenced on 24 March 2017 at Kamala Surayya Memorial in Punnayurkulam, Thrissur. Ottapalam was the main location in the first schedule that lasted till April. The other locations were Mumbai, Kolkata, and Ernakulam.

04Soundtrack

Aami
Soundtrack album by M. Jayachandran & Taufiq Qureshi
Released2018
GenreFeature film soundtrack
LanguagesMalayalam
Bengali
LabelManorama Music
M. Jayachandran chronology
Pullikaaran Staraa'
(2017)
Aami
(2018)
Odiyan
(2018)

The film score is composed by Bijibal. The film features original songs composed by two composers, M. Jayachandran and Taufiq Qureshi. Qureshi's compositions are ghazals with lyrics written by Academy Award winner Gulzar. The lyrics for the Malayalam songs are written by Rafeeq Ahamed.

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsMusicSinger(s)Length
1."Neer Maathalam"Rafeeq AhamedM. JayachandranShreya Ghoshal, Arnab Dutta5:12
2."Pranayamayi Radha"Rafeeq AhamedM. JayachandranShreya Ghoshal, Vijay Yesudas4:59
3."Chand Hoga"GulzarTaufiq QureshiJaved Ali3:27
4."Aadhi raath"GulzarTaufiq QureshiRoop3:44
5."Umar Salon Sein"GulzarTaufiq QureshiJaved Ali3:00
Total length:20:22

05Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 60% of 5 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6/10.

Sujit Chandrakumar of The Times of India gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote, "Though the director goes back and forth in time while depicting this exhilarating tale of a contemporary and complex character, the narrative of 'Aami' is largely simple and straight forward." Manoj Kumar R of Indian Express gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote, "It is, indeed, impressive to watch Manju Warrier play the role of a conflicted woman. Her conviction in the performance is what keeps our attention even when narration loses steam."

06Awards and nominations

Kerala State Film Awards
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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Aami, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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