Lakshmy Ramakrishnan is one of the few women directors who continues to make films and her third venture ‘Ammani’ is based on one of the participants in her popular reality show. Whether the titular lady touches the hearts of the viewer remains to be seen.
Salamma (Lakshmy Ramakrishnan) is a hospital attendant on the verge of retirement who resides in a slum spending her all for the families of her two sons. Elder son Saravanan (Regin Rose) is a drunkard painter while her second son is a money minded auto driver (Nithin Sathya). Ammani (Subbalakshmi) a ragpicker is Salamma’s tenant and the two ladies lead contrasting lives with the former always happy and cheerful compared to the broodiness of the latter. Salamma’s estranged daughter’s son comes as an unwelcome visitor who is asked to share Ammani’s room whom he hates. As all the family members have plans to grab Salamma’s retirement benefits a shock awaits her and how this completely changes her life forms the rest of the story that leads to a predictable climax.
Lakshmy Ramachandran has been missing from the big screen for quite a while now but after seeing her brilliant performance as Salamma one wants to cheer for her return. The scene where she sits at a tea shop and expresses discomfort from acidity is enough to sum up her caliber, though it takes some time accept her as a slum dweller. Subbalakshmi the eighty five year old character artiste gets her best role so very late in her life but she can be proud of her perfect rendering of the rag picker who endures life’s unpleasant googlies with cheer. Both Nithin Sathya and Regin Selva and the girls who play their wives fit very well into their characters. George Mariyan fails to tickle the funny bones while Robo Shankar’s item song relief fails to be that. The boy playing the grandson and the actor playing the mortuary guard are adequate.
Cinematographer Imran Ahamed and the art director deserve praise for their perfect work in transporting the viewers to the slum houses, the hospital, the mortuary and the other locations. Editor K.R. Renjith has given smooth cuts but can do nothing to make the stretchy screenplay anymore taut, no fault of his. K's songs are tuned to a local flavor and the lyrics by Na. Muthukumar complement him but his background score fails to make an impact in most scenes.
To her credit, Lakshmy Ramakrishnan opts for difficult subjects like bipolar disorder in ‘Aarohanam’ and here too she has tried to draw parallels between a deserted rag picker and a mother of three who becomes dispensable when her money inflow stops. Her writing is hard hitting through a few dialogues like when Nithin Sathya says "My father is better than you, he died when he was in service’ and Ammani's "After the light goes out even the shadow does not belong to us". Impressive is the irony that the drunkard is the one who impotently dreams of doing something for his mother while the sober son closer to her is a scheming fiend who wouldn’t mind even if she dies as long as he gets the property. As a director Lakshmy is assured in extracting natural performances from her players and at a few places shows her mettle as a visual communicator like the burning pyre of Ammani symbolizing the birth of her successor.
On the downside, ‘Ammani’ though is well intended is too taxing for the viewers with its non existent pace. The core subject of selfish children deserting their mothers has been beaten to death in the mega serials and even a die hard tear jerker fan remains untouched. When Salamma is shell shocked that her children will eventually throw her out, the impact is only on her and not on the viewers as from the very beginning they have been portrayed as opportunists. It is sad that Lakshmy has to tell us in voice over in the end what the whole hue and cry was all about.
It is time for filmmakers to realize that the days of pure Art Cinema are long dead and gone. Modern storytellers are coming up with the ‘Kaaka Muttais’ and ‘Jokers’ who entertain, engage and drive home their messages to a much much larger audiences. There are voices on social media demanding a bigger theater count for 'Ammani'. Hope through Lakshmy's fourth venture, she draws on her full potential and by the strength of her work reaches the multitude.
Verdict : Go for it to watch awesome performances from Lakshmy and Subbalakshmi.
