“An extremely significant film for India…every character richly etched…unbelievable first film…it is truly cinema.”
       -Shyam Benegal, Filmmaker

“Where have you been hiding?…a brave and challenging film…simply wonderful.”
      -Mrinal Sen, Filmmaker

“A very bold and moving film…great performances especially from Brinda Karat and Konkona Sensharma.”
      -Aamir Khan, Actor

“Bravo! A remarkable debut.” (3-1/2 stars)
      -Nikhat Kazmi, Times of India Film Critic

“Amu is a big little film to fill you with hope at the movies…haunting, nagging and unforgettable it ventures into a critical slice of Indian history and manages to create cinema that is immensely watchable. Amu is a must see if Indian cinema is to grow.”
      -Subhash K. Jha, Film Critic

“The brilliance of Amu’s incandescence is in that although a political film, you watch it in complete unawareness of that fact. Successful against falling into any cliche traps, it communicates the abomination of the ’84 anti-Sikh riots without sentimentality.”
      -Madhu Trehan, Indian Express, Jan 15, 2005

“And now at last comes Shonali Bose’s Amu. With a slow, quiet and innocuous beginning it works up at the end without making a loud noise to the most powerful indictment of the massacre of Sikhs in that black year and the way justice has been dragging its feet over 20 long years.

…What impresses one about Amu is its genuine reality undertones. People speak in English and Bengali as middle class Bengali families tend to do. Others speak in Hindi. The household sets, the people in the family – from the totally credible grandmother to others – seem real."
      -Amita Malik, Hindustan Times, Jan. 13, 2005

“In the middle of this terrible natural disaster my mind has gone back to an equally terrible manmade disaster because of a film called Amu. On my first night back in Mumbai I went to the premier of this film and although a political column is not usually the place for film reviews this film is so political, so powerful and so moving that it finds place here this week.

It is also the bravest political film by an Indian director in years because it deals with a subject that most Indians have dared not even squeak of except to whisper that it is best forgotten: the anti Sikh pogrom that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

…The past alas does not go away and we will be forced to repeat its mistakes unless we confront them. This is what Shonali brings out brilliantly in this her first film that starts off with deceptive softness and leaves you reeling by the end. What is remarkable about her handling of the subject is that, unlike most films with a message, there is not a hint of polemics or propaganda in Amu only a deeply moving, human story that reminds us that as long as justice is not done India will never escape its periodic descent into barbarism and savagery.”
      -Tavleen Singh, Afternoon, Jan. 6, 2005

“Shonali Bose's Amu is one of the most significant films to come out of India in years. Rarely have we seen a recent Indian film that is so daring, weaving in big political, feminist themes with such sophistication. Yet it is a film that we will long remember precisely because all of these are subsumed under a moving, emotional mother-daughter tale. It is told with an integrity that shoots straight through the heart.

… The screenplay is outstanding. You sense that its integrity comes from experience, not mere research. In fact, the director was an activist working in the post-riots relief camps.

As for the acting, Konkona Sensharma and Brinda Karat are superb, but so too are many smaller characters, including Ankur Khanna, Yashpal Sharma, Loveleen Mishra and the granny. Non-actors Brinda Karat and the granny fortify its authenticity.”
      -Meenakhshi Shedde, The Hindu, Jan 6, 2005

“If you need to feel good about Indian cinema, and even more about India, see Amu. If you need to relish good direction, skip the Karan Johars, Subhash Ghais, even Ashutosh Gowarikars, and settle with Shonali. She brings the Sikh slaughters closer home in a way that nine central governments and an equal number of inquiry commissions have failed to do. With a fearless anti-amnesia agenda, Shonali can terrify those who would lull the nation into complacent oblivion.”
      -Neera Kuckreja Sohoni, Indian Express, Jan 12, 2005

“Amu, a first film by the woman director Shonali Bose, is one of the new trends in Indian cinema trying to deal with real problems, avoiding melodrama, and without songs such as in Bollywood movies. Amu is not completely different; the difference comes from the way the story is told.

…Amu is not a feminist work, but the work of a woman director like a mother caring about her children i.e. the characters. Konkana is extremely convincing in the lead, especially in the final scene at the train station, when there is a flashback to what happened to her when her father was beaten to death.

The rhythm of the film is neither fast nor slow, and is well edited down to 90 minutes in contrast to the usual Indian film of three hours. Amu goes directly to its subject, which starts from the private tragedy and leads us to the general view of the events of 1984.”
      -Safaa Elaisy Haggag

"…Amu doesn’t tell you to go back in time, it only acts as a catalyst for you to think. And in the kind of times we live in, perhaps it is a good idea to be part of a film that engages your mind. Which is what Amu is finally about. It helps you connect even if you are not of that vintage. It tells you about life even if you don’t believe that a riot will ever affect you. It helps you ponder without being instructive.

And more than anything else it is intrusive without being moralistic: hence it scores high and it is a film to cherish. God alone knows when the next Amu will come along."
      -Suhel Seth, Asian Age, Jan 10, 2005.