What a weird experience: Jinesh Murali

In my list of #wierdass movies I came across another gem.. #aamis is an Assamese film which means meat / ravening and is directed by the national award winning director #bhaskarhazarika and it was making a lot of noise on Twitter coupla months back.. It was available for rent on a website called #moviesaints and I checked it out.. Boy what a weird experience was that?

The story starts with a lady doctor who has a small kid and her husband is mostly away from home working for the government..Accidentally she befriends a student who’s doing his Phd on exotic meats and eating habits& traditions of the north east.. You’ve one character who’s all class and eats any food only with a spoon and fork and on the other end you’ve a maverick who’s ready to get his hands dirty just for that mesmerising experience.. He introduces exotic meats to her starting with a rabbit and slowly she starts loving to eat meat and gets rid of all her inhibitions and with the ‘eating out’ getting regular you realise that both of them have fallen in love..

They realise it’s immoral and they have their friends constant warning them it’s not right.. They realise physical love is wrong but they mix getting physical and cooking in an absolute gobsmacking weird way.. Not sure if I’m making any sense here but that’s what the movie made me visualise bout and you would almost retch thinking out it..

But the plot gets only weirder from there and I remember reading bout the director where he said he likes to keep thinking of weirder ideas so that it wud keep his content fresh.. Boy sure it did!! But I was also astonished by this whole idea of love and his idea of creating metaphors thereby raising a lot of questions on various taboos and societal norms.. He could have easily created a very bollywoodish venture to titillate the viewer but he smartly stays away from it and instead creates visual metaphors for the viewer to chew on.. Give this movie a chance and I promise you wouldn’t realise shit would get weirder but in a good way 🤣🤣

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Never ever have I come across such a unique script: Manthan Dutta

One of the two protagonists says-Eating non-vegetarian (literally meaning aamis in Assamese) food is not the problem but eating it with utmost gluttony is. This is a love story between a forlorn married woman (Dr.Nirmali- played by @drlimadas ) and a young PhD student( Sumon- played by @ojaantrik_jajabor) who bond with each other over the subject of indulgence in non-vegetarian food, especially exotic meats,simultaneously the unimaginable ways of expressing and exchanging love and how this fascination turns into an unwanted complication.

Never ever have I come across such a unique script which starts as a beautiful and soothing tale and then, post interval, albeit insanely disturbing, demands your absolute apprehensive attention to what level of revulsion would happen next. Kudos and bow down to the scriptwriter and director-Bhaskar Hazarika for, let alone directing this kind of a piece but even imagining and penning down such remarkable unusualness! How he effortlessly stitches every single element of different pieces of the story with each other is simply mind-boggling!

First timers- Lima, is wonderful and in certain scenes she’s eerily expressive-overall- finesse personified! Arghadeep, is subtly charming and at the same time creepily disconcerting- first rate! They both are ably supported by the rest of the cast with special mentions to Elias played by Sagar Saurabh and Jumi played by Neetali Das- she is a pleasant spark indeed!

This one is NOT FOR THE WEAK-HEARTED! This one blends beautiful and exotic food platters with a thrilling ugliness and would definitely leave a freak contemplating impact on you! It is indeed one of the best movies of my lifetime (so far) in terms of the originality of the subject and script and would definitely recommend all the cine-lovers to go for it!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCdgpvjHE9r/

I am in awe of this film: The Filmoholic

"Madness is like a gravity, all it takes is a little push". I am in awe of this film. I heard alot about it when it was released and I am not disappointed at all. I will try my best to keep it spoiler free. It's a story of Sumon whose topic for PhD was meat eating habits in North East India. He met Nirmali, a doctor because his vegetarian friend ate excessive meat for the first time in his life and needs an urgent treatment.
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During their interaction Nirmali got to know his meat love and they start to hang out. He was a good cook so he used to cook different types of meat and she loved to eat them. She was living with her son because her husband mostly away for work. The two of them start hanging out with each other, trying different types of meat that are found in the country. Sumon, who was younger starts having feelings for Nirmali. Niramali, who is strictly against infidelity liked to keep her desire at bay by only confessing the reason for their meet-ups for pure hunger purposes.
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Overall Aamis is a love story but it's more than that. There are films which follow the popular trend and whose story can be easily predicted then something like Aamis came who dare to break the stereotype and give the audience absolutely a new kind of taste. It's an hauntingly beautiful dish of Bhaskar Hazarika.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCd1sZglWQY/

Something like never before: Recommendation101

SOMETHING LIKE NEVER BEFORE

Where to watch: Moviesaints.com

Aamis is the story of a doctor Nirmali and a Phd student Sumon who bond over their common interest of unusual eating habits. Gradually, as the movie progresses their romance takes a dark, shocking turn.

A story like this has never come out of Indian cinema, this is what @anuragkashyap10 said in one of his interviews and I personally think that a story like this hasn't come out of any cinema in the world.
Even if you've watched 1000 movies of diff languages I bet you haven't watched something like this.
A movie which is much more than being just a boy meets girl story.

All the performances are so natural, you Won't feel like the actors are performing.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCggWsfllYt/

One of the most bizarre films I have seen: Shivanagaraju

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCi-2qAhBTF/

There are a few movies in the world that will make you question, Aamis is one such movie: Momota

আমিষ 🤯
Aamis
Greed is a word that is found in educated and uneducated people of any class.Whose aspirations are always unfulfilled in life..
Amis is also a movie made on such a concept...
There is a doctor named Nirmoli who is a very famous and expensive person in the society, in whose life everything is fine But somewhere an unknown desire of the mind is hidden which she herself does not know about, suddenly she met a student named Sumon who was doing research on food.The connection between them creates a strange eating habit between the two that is beyond the reach of the average person.According to them, all kinds of things can be eaten. A relationship is formed that starts with food and this weird eating habit that is so powerful that it can make people psycho, it shows in this movie..
What we eat, how much, who will consider these? Brain or heart? Why this greed is so terrible?

Outwardly it is a romantic movie but inside it is a different story

There are a few movies in the world that will make you question, Aamis is one such movie

Momota🌹

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=122317582850072&id=111504750598022

Horrifically real and visceral: Shinali TC

Sometimes you hear headlines of two people in love end up doing bizzare things for each other, and you very easily conclude, that it isn't sane, not "normal". Aamis is a dive into exactly that, the definition of "normal": in life, in love, your choices and in the society. Set in Assam, the film delves not into love for food (read: meat) but the unquenchable hunger for it. More than a commentary on the food habits of the North eastern part of the country which is hardly Indian enough, Aamis (which means anything that isn't vegetarian) is the story of acceptance. A world where love that unbridles itself of societal norms is still a bigger sin that any human folly could be, Aamis is a sullen reminder that love in a civilised society is a luxury, a fantasy not the best of people can afford.
It's how director Bhaskar Hazarika lets an apparently outlandish and bizzare plot to be woven so seamlessly into a social fabric, that makes it so horrifically real and visceral. The use of sounds and the background music elevates the screenplay to newer dimensions.
Aamis is this great piece of regional cinema, which reaffirms your belief as to how far behind is national cinema staggering in terms of ideas and content. -Shinali.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBYaogShez_/

An addiction in itself: Samya Roy

The most terrifying and gut wrenching viewing experience of my life. My senses went numb to the degree of being rendered unconscious. I had to lie down to give my shaking limbs a rest before resuming the film. The visceral pull is so powerful that it makes you drown in the meaty layers of this sucker punch. It's an addiction in itself. A forbidden pleasure garnished to perfection.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBcqSMajhJ3/

Took me two days to fully move on from the entrails: Sajna Vinish

My journey to this beautiful yet intense thriller ‘Aamis’ was quite coincidental and that’s what makes it all the more special to me. The film has been beautifully woven with words, thoughts and emotions of all hues and shades... Love and it’s myriad interpretations all culminate at a point where one loses track of that single line which defines the demarcation between the sane and the insane! It took me two days to fully move on from the entrails of the movies 🎥 I started watching with a light heart and a fresh smile which soon paved to intrigue, familiarity, endearment and quickly spiralled down to disbelief, aversion, shock and sadness too... There is this hopeless streak of empathy that you feel for the characters nevertheless and yet you feel conflicted and horrified at the insanity of it all! Lima Das has outdone herself as an artist and that too on a precise note with a shining soul 🤗💓 When you sent me the movie link I know you warned me about the dark shades of the film and yet I was thrown aback at the sheer brilliance of the screenplay, the perfect casting and not to mention the exquisite finesse and balance you brought to both the character transitions of Nirmali. Sumon has been eloquently portrayed on screen by Arghadeep Barua and the rare chemistry between the both is just the right tone, not too dramatic nor too subtle.
I loved the music by Quan Bay lacing the theme of the movie perfectly and at times so soothing too amidst the darkest turns of the movie. Written and directed by Bhaskar Hazarika Aamis is a bold statement that definitely makes you uncomfortable but it still prevents you from being judgemental of Nirmali and Sumon, it’s like how she tells him, at a crucial juncture of the movie ,”I get it.. “ with a sad smile... There is so much vulnerability in the characters and yet as much as an unbelievable sense of intensity with which they commit to their demons! The writing is superlative and so is every other facet of the movie. The film starts off as a casual chilled out reverie and then takes you through this roller coaster ride of emotions which constantly holds you back from having to look at their darkness as they take the journey but at the same time it lets you revel in the conflict that does arise in your soul... Would love really take you that far? What does it mean to be in love ? We have seen a plethora of themes based on forbidden love but never one so intense and thrilling! The fabric of the film is interspersed with the finest ingredients the art of film making could truly muster. 💝

P.S. thank you Indu Sudha for propelling me to write about this gem of a movie for there was something that was making me wonder if I could ever bring myself to write a genuine review that justifies the making of such a wonderful movie...

https://www.facebook.com/501469758/posts/10158695696319759/?d=n

Talks to our collective conscience in the most hard hitting and real way: Bharath Kumar

Watched Assamese movie Aamis, which is an overwhelming juxtaposition of passion, lust, desire and addiction (food & otherwise) stretched to its limits. What follows are the moments of chaos and ramifications of repressed sexuality that slowly pryes the mental stability of its leads. Their forbidden sexual desire and the construct of social relationship which descends into conclusive acts of inhumanity that it compels us to question the entire notion of "normalcy".
Here, meat serves as a metaphor for lust and tension which constantly reminds us that abnormality, just like normality, is a construct.
Narration attempts at representing the disturbed psychological state of an "addict" through symbols of love and unity which consequently turns destructive. The catharsis of the plot arrives to a crescendo in the form of satisfying perpetual cravings for meat portrayed through images of psychological imbalance in a state of trance and hallucinations.
This film is going to shatter your ideas of perceived reality and leave your imagination in splits. This movie made me go through a gamut of emotions! From heartbreak to hate! I feel it talks to our collective conscience in the most hard hitting and real way...this is undoubtedly an outstanding movie going experience and an absolute must watch! A huge mention to the writers and entire cast! BRILLIANT!!!!
One of best movies I have watched in 2019 after Gully Boy, Uyare Movie, and Jersey - Movie

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A relationship that becomes metaphysical is perhaps the best one: Kuheli Kar

If you ever feel whether any metamorphosis of real love takes place or not, just watch this film.
All I could conclude from this movie, is only love is not enough to sustain a good relationship, it has to be metaphysical one transcending from the physical domain of the two people associated with the relationship.
A relationship of pure love is a great one, but a relationship that becomes metaphysical is perhaps the best one can go through or have.
I ended up murmuring Donne's poetry;
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"If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die." .
Must watch with love. ❤️ .

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAqxWfxg23z/

A few things I noticed and loved in Aamis: Namrata Nath

A few things I noticed and loved in Aamis-

1) Above, below and around
_____________________________
The very first time Sumon and Nirmali meet is on a sunday. He asks her to see a friend who has eaten too much meat. The fact that Nirmali is above him visually is a subtle cue at the age/ morality difference. However, the fact that she agrees to see a patient on sunday is already her doing something forbidden on a very small level- something she doesn't usually do.

The fact that she leaves a place full of greenery/grass/leaves to go with him is a subtle nod at what is to unfold.

2)the joke
___________
In the beginning scenes, there's a point where Elias da tells a joke about a veterinary doctor confessing to a Father of having sex with his patient. While it can be taken on its face value- a harmless joke as Elias Da himself is a veterinarian however, the amount of foreshadowing in Aamis is insane! It can be considered to be pointing towards Nirmali (a doctor) and her patient's (rather the patient's friend) relationship.

3)addictions
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In the upper snapshot, Sumon is talking about Gandhi Puk- an insect that is eaten in some areas and its fluid is a hallucinogen. In the lower snapshot, Nirmali is devouring chicken after dinner.

Thus the question- is it food or a hallucinogen?

The director has repeatedly drawing parallels between food and love Food being something we need to survive, one can argue that the whole discourse is on love instead. Hence he asks a fundamental question is love something we need to survive or is it a drug?

4)Nirmali's transformation
___________________________
While Nirmali's transformation is something that drives Aamis, something that is quite impossible to miss yet Hazarika finds subtle ways to show this too. While in the beginning the thought of consuming beetles was entirely disgusting for her, by intermission, devouring worms, bats or beetles even was almost arousing.

5) whatsapp
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Modern love is incomplete without whatsapp. Period. Aamis has used Whatsapp in quite an effective manner. As Nirmali avoids the physicality of their relationship, an online friendship can be a great way to maintain it. While sending/ wanting to send your picture to a lover is completely normal, it is a bit unnecessary between friends. Hence she sends her picture with her son- a smart way to do what lovers do, and still be able to rationalise it to her conscience.

6) badulir mankho (bat meat)
______________________________
From the very beginning, Nirmali is shown to be morally staunch woman. She doesn't approve of extra marital affairs. Her conscience finds it difficult to define what she feels for Sumon. Hence when she wants to eat bat meat - a forbidden meat, in her mind, she is doing something forbidden with Sumon. Yet she can rationalise it to herself that it is just food. It is clearly seen that she fiddles with her wedding ring as she discusses to go with Sumon to eat bat meat.

7) touch - me - not
____________________
In a blink-and-you-miss-it shot, on their way to eat Badulir mankho (bat meat), there is this shot of a touch me not plant. The leaves curl inwards as the car passes it probably because something touched it. A subtle parallel is drawn here as well. Nirmali can very well be a touch-me-not, whenever Sumon attempts to touch her, she curls inwards.

Touch is forbidden-touch-me-not.

8) the ending
______________
The ending, is unquestionably, the best part of the movie and establishes this genre defying venture as a love story at its very heart. Sumon speaks, in an earlier part of the movie, that the concept of normal is not universal. Not only is it a nod to unusual eating practices but also to human morality.

Aamis repeatedly shatters societal beliefs and taboos- from cannibalism to adultery, it questions the audience. It is important to note that it is the first time Sumon and Nirmali have touched each other. Love might be the end of us but in the end, love shall always be there for us.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CApp0NYnaJF/

The best film of 21st century: Pankaj

Aamis is the weird, fascinating,quite horrifying, musical and soothing tale of a man, love and food.

Here Meat is a metaphor of forbidden love in Aamis. It is the best film of 21st century or we can say decade. Hazarika had succeeded in telling this story by extreme engagement of audience's. And he very Cleverly used every element as a syntax or metaphor. Here music provides a deep emotional affection and to bring the meaning out the well. there are some scenes which are still stuck in my mind as I perceive it with my own interpretation.

I always have thought of expression of love out of the formal and used boxes, here Hazarika exactly explains the way to expression of love where touch remains invisible.

Every single shot, movement, acting beat and bgm is to the point to express the thought. It actually reminded me of Hitchcock films and his treatment.

So the watching the Aamis was a great learning experience for me that's why I am damn sure to call it a Masterpiece.

Must watch it will move you for sure. ( "I have never found such a taste before." _ nirmali ) -

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAE8lLIhI6S/

Criminal, yet complete: Chandamita

Dear Sumon,

The first time you met Nirmali, it was a chance meeting. No doctors being available on Sunday, you literally begged her to check up on your sick friend. While discussing how your friend fell sick in the first place, you told her about the meat club you had formed with your friends, where the primary rule was to eat fresh meat that was cooked the right way. You also told her about your research project which revolved around different meat-eating habits in the north-east, and she asked you to bring her a dish specially cooked by you. That's how it all began, that's how you were led into this passionate ride with her with no passage of return.

Your bonding with Nirmali grew beautifully, despite the considerable difference in both of your lives. She - a middle-aged married paediatrician, you - a young PhD scholar with a zeal for life. Both of you went on several meat-eating endeavours; starting from mutton, wild rabbits to foul smelling insects. You were habituated to consuming such exotic meats, but Nirmali wasn't. It was probably the only adventurous thing she had done in years. With a school-going kid at home and a dedicated doctor husband staying away from home for most of the time, she was suffocating in her own breath until you came along, with a whiff of fresh air that smelled like raw love and well-cooked meat.

Both of you could feel your hearts yearning to hear the other's beats, yet the societal shackles kept your desires suppressed. When Nirmali's lips craved for your touch, she kissed her husband as passionately as she felt for you. And you figured out a way to be able to immerse yourself in her without really touching her. Crazy as it sounds, but isn't that how love in its most vulnerable form supposed to be?

You didn't realise what you were getting into when you asked Elias Da to cut a chunk of meat from your thigh for the first time. For him, it was just another experiment you wanted to do, to aid your research.

For you, it was the only way for you to be able to get inside your lover's body without jumping on a bed with her. That's exactly what you had said, right? I could never forget the look on your face when you uttered those words. It shone with sheer love, and my poor heart was sold.

When Nirmali tasted you for the first time, she experienced a state of ecstasy, something that was completely alien to her and yet a single feed was enough to get her addicted to that state of being high on love. Knowing that it was you who she consumed, didn't deter her from craving for more and more of human flesh. You obliged, like an obedient lover, and the smile that you carried on your face, for being able to please her, was unforgettable. It's still fresh in my mind.

You became a fool in love, just as any of us do, but you know when I started rooting for you? Seeing you puke when Nirmali showed you the bandage on her leg as an answer to what meat she had cooked for you. For you, it was never about meat, it was never about anything other than Nirmali. All you did was love her unconditionally, with all her flaws. For you, meat was a metaphor for love, the only way you could come up with to become one with your lover. But for Nirmali, that love transcended to gluttony - a deadly sin. Punishment was inevitable.

My heart ached for you when you were ready to take someone's life for her, to fulfil her growing greed for human meat. When you got caught, and your chats with Nirmali were found, your love story made headlines. For the world, you were just a cannibalistic couple, clearly out of their mind. They degraded the purity of your emotions into mere meat, I can't imagine how hurtful it must have been. But you probably didn't give a damn about any of this as long as she was by your side. How could you, when this tragic ending to your story only brought her closer, giving her the courage to hold your hand infront of the whole world? When I witnessed her slipping a hand onto yours, chills ran down my spine. In that moment, Nirmali finally named her yours. I was left with happy tears, a hollow heart but a heavy mind.

I have no idea how things went for both of you afterwards. I can only guess, it got real ugly. You deserved a better end, Sumon. So did Nirmali. But maybe this was how your love story was destined to be. Criminal, yet complete.

With love,
Another hopeless lover.

© Chandamita

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAYUYaylYD6/

The best movie I have seen this year so far: Alrahji Sathik

Aamis literally means non vegetarian. ( You will understand when you watch the film )

A lonely, married woman bonds with a younger man over their shared love of unusual foods. As their excursions become more adventurous, their relationship begins to take a dark turn. Which gives you chills from inside.

The best movie I have seen this year so far

The most weird or odd movie I have ever seen in my life (in a good way) . I expected a totally different ride after watching the trailer and it's not what I thought and what you think. This is the movie that is going to give you lots of surprises and wierd or odd feeling that no other film have ever given to you. If I tell you about the plot of the film you would think this movie would be another normal forbidden romantic film. Indeed it is yet very different. I really don't know how to put in words about this film. Just go watch it. "It's not meat that caused him food poisoning it's the gluttony towards it" .

This dialogue is what the film is about . You need a sharp attention to understand it. I like how the director says so many things indirectly in the movie. He keeps it where nobody notices.

This movie also strongly conveys a message that one part of the world consider something bad while the same thing is considered nothing wrong in doing it.

There are so many minute things I can keep on talking about this film but it will all turn out to be spoilers.
The sound design of this film felt too real. I felt like ASMR .

I have to talk about the acting, the main two lead did an excellent job. I thought they are some well known actors from that industry and then came to know that this is their first feature film they have acted. That's how the acting was too real.

I highly highly recommend this wierd yet wierdly satisfied film in a good way.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAPg-LZgg4W/

A dark and intense indulgence: ritr96

A pun on the word flesh would be the most underrated review of "Aamis"(Ravening, 2019 film). Intense craving for flesh is often chained to sex. Here, this need has transcended beyond (or retreated to?) the urge to mate, into a more primal and raw need to eat. The movie betells how the female lead (conservative, middle-aged, doctor, wife-mother) and the male lead (unconventional, young, student, nobody) identify with each other and bond on the need to consume...meat. How they melt into each other without even their fingertips straying to each other. How, at the end, it consumes them together.
A yin to the yang of booker winning "The Vegetarian." A dark and intense indulgence.
Also, another reminder on how a man can't stomach what a woman can.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_8xH9qD_Hg/

Dear Nirmali: Chinmoy Gogoi

Thank you @aamisfilm for inspiring the contents of this poem. Thank you to @drlimadas ,@ojaantrik_jajabor and the entire Aamis team for giving a film I will never forget and directly inspiring my pen today.
The background picture has been taken from the poster of this jewel of a movie.
This post is well past the due date, but like they say, better late than never. So here goes.
.
DEAR NIRMALI...
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Yes, you had that mark of union,
Which bound you to some other.
He was oft absent, when
You needed his attention.
And in this kind of situation,
Its understandable
Of making contacts with someone else
Someone
Whom your societal ties dictates
Should be kept away.
Yet it bloomed, somewhere
In your heart and soul.
And without a medium to spread its fragrance
It made itself heard through the dinner dates over meat.
Understandable it is,
Someone was giving your heart the attention
It used to cry for.
And your love found expression,
Through food
Through meat
Through being আমিষ৷
But sometimes
But almost often
Love isn’t possible.
It’s beautiful face turns dark and ugly
As what happened when you embarked,
On the journey to explore a forbidden food.
Down goes the people then
Down they fall into a pit
Down into the darkness
From where theres no light
From where theres no climbing out.
But when you saw no future ahead of you,
You let it bloom,
The flower which yearned to burst open
And spread the fragrance of joy.
Finally could bloom out in the world.
That is the changing face of love,
Beauty to Grotesque;
Light to Dark;
Angel to Devil.


https://www.instagram.com/p/B__vwBLjcd1/

No film have ever shaken me like this: Sailesh Jaiswal

No film have ever shaken me like this, Aamis was the film with no spirit but was a scaring experience. I have never watched films out of Hindi and English language this was the first one (Assamese) good to see regional and Indian cinema to deliver such a piece of art.

https://twitter.com/shaileshspeak_/status/1227486721677258754

Best movie I saw in 2019: Imcha Imchen

https://twitter.com/im_chat_sung/status/1218098931193860096

Absolute brilliant Filmmaking: Dipannita Sharma

https://twitter.com/Dipannitasharma/status/1200092588683874304