Sunday, 24 March 2013

AMEN ("NANDANAM VERSION 2.0?")


Cast: Fahad Fazil, Indrajith, Swathi.

Director: Lijo Jose Pellissery.








When you go in for a Lijo Jose Pellissery film you expect something different and different is exactly what you get, well, to an extent.

A good film generally catches your attention in the first ten minutes. Though that does not happen in the case of Amen, you know there is something different about the whole thing.

Solomon(Fahad) is the son of a famous clarinet player who wants to follow the footsteps of his father and play for the Church band. Soshanna(Swathi) who hails from a wealthy family is his love interest. Vincent Vattoli(Indrajith) comes as the Father of the Village Church when the whole scene changes.

Right from the beautiful title song you know that you are in for some nice numbers and Prashanth Pillai does not disappoint except for one or two songs. The songs fit very well into the wonderful screenplay by P.S Rafeeque. Most part of the first half you would be laughing your butts off mainly because of the screenplay ably supported by some nice dialogues. The single shot song sequence and the Vattoli song would delight you with their humor and creativity.

The 2nd half is where the screenplay falters a bit dragging the film at times presenting a few clichés. It is doubtful if the final scenes involving the music competition would be enjoyed by the commoner as the tunes of the clarinet is not something very familiar to him. This truly tarnishes the excellence built up in the first half. But then with an unexpected twist in the final scene(a different version of Nandanam) the director shows why he has earned the name that he has.

Fahad, Swathi and Indrajith have given really good performances but even the other actors in the film amuse you equally well. This is one of the best roles of Swathi till date. It’s such a delight to watch her in Amen; in her scenes with Fahad and otherwise.


The stand out features of Amen apart from it’s screenplay are undoubtedly the beautiful frames, with an amazing sense of lighting(especially the indoor scenes and those in the dark), of Abinandan Ramanujam and the excellent direction of Lijo. With a better second half it would had a fair chance of getting into the top league.

Iam giving a 3 to 3.25/5 for Amen. Get ready for a visually amazing divine comedy with some beautiful romance.

Rating Scale (Out of 5)

Less than 2                   -           Unwatchable.

2 to 2.25                      -           Below average.

2.5 to 2.75                   -           Average.

3 to 3.25                      -           Good.

3.5 to 3.75                   -           Really Good.

4 to 4.25                      -           Great.

4.5 and above               -           Extraordinary.




                                                                    








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