Achuvinte Amma

Achuvinte Amma(transl.Achu's mother) is a 2005 IndianMalayalam-languagedrama filmdirected bySathyan Anthikadand written byRanjan Pramodfrom a story by Rajesh Jayaraman. It starsUrvashi,Meera JasmineandNarain. The music is composed byIlaiyaraaja. It was also a comeback movie for Urvashi in Malayalam after a gap of six years. The film has won several awards, including theNational Film AwardforBest Supporting Actress(Urvashi),Filmfare Award for Best Film - Malayalam, andFilmfare Award for Best Actress - MalayalamforMeera Jasmine.
Vanaja is a single mother who lives with her daughter Ashwathy (Achu) ancivil engineerand works as aninsurance agentatLIC. Achu and her mother have a close relationship and never keep secrets from each other. One day, they meet Emmanuel John, known as Ijo who is anadvocate, at a railway station inTrivandrum, where Achu has a job interview at a private firm. After this first meeting, Achu and Ijo run into each other periodically, developing a friendship, and eventually, a budding romance. Achu gets a job with a construction company and she and her mother's standard of living improves. She expresses her wish to marry Ijo to Vanaja. Vanaja wishes to meet Ijo's parents to learn more about him. Ijo takes them to acemeteryrevealing that he is anorphanand his family had committed mass suicide due to a financial crisis, leaving him as the sole survivor. Vanaja suddenly changes her mind and opposes the marriage, saying she wants her daughter to get married into a big family where there would be many people who would care and help them when they were in need.
Vanaja's opposition shocks and infuriates Achu and she confronts Vanaja with questions about her father, leading to an argument. Vanaja refuses to reveal anything and Achu storms out. She ultimately decides to stay with Ijo, though he advised her to return home. Achu is adamant and remains with her friend. Meanwhile, Ijo tries to mend the relationship between Achu and her mother, but Achu doesn't listen to him.
Meanwhile, due to unforeseen circumstances, Achu has to leave her friend's place. Realizing that she has no place to stay, Achu loses hope and is met with a road accident. Vanaja rushes to see her in hospital but Achu still refuses to talk to her mother. Vanaja opens up to Ijo and tells him about her past. An old woman raised Vanaja, and after her death, Vanaja did odd jobs and worked as a laborer along with other adolescent girls. One day, all the girls Vanaja was working with were going to be transported forFlesh Trade. Vanaja, upon finding this out decided to run away instead and in the process came across a young girl with whom she escaped. Vanaja adopts the girl and names her Achu.
Vanaja tells Ijo that he should marry Achu as soon as possible, while Ijo promises to take good care of her. Ijo reveals the whole story to Achu. A few days later, Achu returns to Vanaja suffering from the utmost guilt and regret. Finally, they happily reconcile.
The film features songs composed byIlaiyaraajaand written byGireesh Puthenchery.
The Hinduranked it amongst the most critically acclaimed films of 2005.Reviewing the film forNow Running, Hari Krishnan gave the film 3 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Achuvintte Ammais a relevant subject that both scriptwriter and director dealt with very efficiently.Satyan Anthikkadreiterates that good films can win the heart of public and he is still with family-oriented subject, which has a moral value in the society." He also praised the performance of the lead cast writing, "Urvashiregisters a brilliant comeback.Meera Jasmineexcels with her natural performance andSunil Kumaran upcoming star has long way to go. Actors likeK. P. A. C Lalitha,Innocent,SukumariandOduvil Unnikrishnansupported the main actors very well."Oneindiagave the film 4 out of 5 stars and aHitmark.Sifygave an "Above Average" verdict and wrote, "Satyan has succeeded in bringing out the bond between a young mother and her 20-year-old daughter effectively in the first half and laced it with some hilarious moments. But post interval, the story loses its track and the script goes haywire." They further added, "ThoughAchuvinte Ammahas some flaws in its story telling method, that mars the tempo, the film is recommended for the sake of the one woman dynamo called Urvashi."
The reviewer forWeb Indiacalled the film "well scripted" and praised the performance of the lead cast, especially Urvashi, writing, "Urvashi proves yet again that she can handle any role with ease. After a break, she has come back to films in top form. Meera Jasmine looks cute and does her role well. Sunil Kumar, who has acted in4 the Peoplebefore, shows promise." Concluding, they wrote, "Overall the film is worth watching."In 2019, Neelima Menon ofThe News Minutecriticizes the climax writing, "Urvashi’s single mother not only has a bizarre backstory about rescuing the child and adopting her, we are also shown society’s myopic reactions to her single status."ApunkachiocedescribedAchuvinte Ammaas an "eminently watchable film".Mouthshutalso gave a similar comment quoting "[t]his film has witnessed a great comeback by the Malayalam film industry, and I hope the trend continues, and more and more such good films are produced which will put all others to shame".BizHatwrote, "Urvashi as Vanaja proves that she is a wonderful actress. Her performance in the climax is heartrending. Meera Jasmine as Achu too does a good job. Sunil as Jijo surprises you with his performance."
The film was commercially successful.BizHatcalled the film "asleeper hit".It completed 200 days in noon show inThiruvananthapuramandKozhikode, at the state government run Kairali theatre.On 24 March 2006, Sreedhar Pillai ofThe Hinduwrote, "A film that ran for 200 days. It was a big hit, especially with women who thronged the theatres to watch her (Urvashi) play foster mother to Meera Jasmine."According to a trade analysis bySify,Achuvinte Ammaperformed well in bigger cities than smaller ones. It managed to get a share of around ₹7 lakhs from Kairali theatre,Thiruvananthapuramin 40 days, while it only got distributors share of ₹1.1 lakhs inKottayam.It was the only film of the year that was successful without featuring any major stars.
National Film Awards
Filmfare Awards South
Asianet Film Awards
Kerala State Film Awards