Touches You

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Overlong, episodic and very much a cultural item that will no doubt lose something in the transition to a Western audience, AMMORU is nevertheless an impressive attempt at a Hindi "mythological" epic, packed with imaginative special effects, colourful sets and costumes and all of the traditional song-and-dance routines that we've come to expect from our Indian cousins.The story is that classic tale of good vs. evil, and gods and demons taking over human forms and battling out their war upon the Earth. The film tells the tales of a whole number of characters, weaving in and out of different situations, and gets rather bogged down in the middle section with soap-opera theatrics and a lack of action all round. However, things largely pick up for the fiery finale, which offers some genuine shocks and surprises you won't see in the West, plus a smattering of gore as the final outcome of the battle offers an extremely nasty end for the villain of the piece.Generally, the budget of the film is high, with a large cast, and the actors all do solid jobs with their roles. Especial mention goes to Ramya Sunayana, convincing as the powerful Goddess Ammoru, the girl playing the lead, Bhavani, and of course the excellent boss-eyed bloke who gets in on the action too. The special effects are of the computer variety, relying on the then-popular method of 'morphing' for all of the transformation sequences; the finale in particular is a culmination of all of the effects in the films and is genuinely impressive, more so than in a lot of Western films I could name which deal with the same idea. Elsewhere, we get people being possessed, mercilessly beaten and abused, walking over burning coals and levitating, all in a day's work for fantasy lovers really. However the film's impressive highlight is undoubtedly in the huge hand that emerges from the lake to transport our Goddess to safety; a particular image that stands out as the very best moment the film has to offer.

I liked this movie i have not seen many movies of this genre and I agree that buy western standards the special effects are not great but I think it is charming never the less! I have watched about four times now. It's style made me think of old Hammer Horror films! I was shocked to find that the main female actress died in a aeroplane crash with her brother in India 2004, I thought see was very beautiful, and had a great on-screen presents.If I had to criticise one aspect it would be the rapist character who is asked in to rape the main female character to discredit her as immoral to her husband, the goddess of the village Ammoru substitutes her with the daughter of the head of the house, this character then has to marry him after he raped her! This was not an issue at all in the movie! but maybe the meaning is confused in the English sub-titles or there is a large cultural difference in attitudes to rape?

Okay, obviously this is a Bollywood movie, a genre which I have no experience or knowledge in, but as it was on TV I thought I'd give it a go. The plot centres around Bhavani, a young girl who is the carer to the shrine of Ammoru, the mother goddess. She falls in love with a man of high standing, whose family object and do all that they can to stop the union in some violent and bizarre ways. Bhavani must call on Ammoru to save her from her plight. That's a rough idea of the plot, which seems to be just a set up for the amazing special effects around which the film was touted. Unfortunately, compared to western special effects they are not that amazing at all.Typically with Bollywood, there is much singing, and for me, they were the highlight. There's one very dramatic action filled scene at the end, all hell breaking loose, and suddenly it bursts into song. It sounds ludicrous, but I thought it was fantastic. You'll understand if you see it.All in all an interesting little movie. I would recommend this to anyone who fancies something a little different. It's not for everyone, but as someone who had never seen a Bollywood film from start to finish, I rather enjoyed it. - 6/10

AMMORU manages to combine all the usual Bollywood pre-occupations (marriage, familial bonds, hinduism) with an amazingly wild mythological fantasy storyline, some great CGI special effects, and quality production, to form one of the most interesting films to come out of India in a long time.The prologue, as we watch a Shiva-style goddess become Ammoru, the protector of a village, sets the tone well, with the actress giving an engaging Brigitte Lin style performance. Unfortunately, she has little else to do for much of the film.The central drama concerns a girl who witnesses an evil sadhu attempting to bury a virgin alive, in a bid to gain magical power and riches. The sadhu's mother, unhappy he has been jailed for life, vows to get her revenge on the girl, and proceeds to make her life a misery. This first half of the film works well, with great performances by the evil family, and the special mystical effects used sparingly but effectively.It shifts tone for the second half, with Ammoru manifesting herself as a child to save the girl, and the sadhu himself being released early and seeking his own revenge. The film eventually begins to submit to standard Bollywood conventions, but redeems itself by upping the fright-factor and the crazy special effects, and bringing back the original adult incarnation of Ammoru to kick some ass!AMMORU will be of interest to world viewers, as it gives a fascinating insight into the strange culture of southern India, a world where demons, goddesses walk among us as avatars, and it manages to do it without resorting to lowest-common-denominator movie-making as in 99.9% of the other movies coming from the sub-continent.