Kaustav Kashyap

Meat is a symbol of forbidden love in Aamis so much so that it is granted literalness once the two individuals in the story are consumed by their insatiable desire for one another. We are products of society, with rules and regulations, always battling our internal desires to achieve freedom. Once the line is crossed, there is no coming back, for good or bad. Good art mostly achieves value from the sublime. Here however, the sublime is achieved through a dark and grotesque path. The primal instincts of man or woman, call it lust (or love) is explored in 'meaty'(pun intended) portions without the use of vulgar sexual graphics. Sleeping with your 'illicit' lover, buying her diamond rings, making vacant promises within the socially constructed idea of romance- isn't what the film aims at. I am a fan of anything taboo which is seen in several European films and i believe taboo is a construct as it is not universal. What is food for one is poison for another. I liked that an Assamese film used a simple platonic(?) love story of a married woman and a younger guy to explore taboo desires in a very comprehensible and subtle fashion. Hunger can take several forms and we all have varied moral palates of digesting socially constructed food. The film is hyper focussed on its topic and it doesn't take a lot on its plate and all issues like marriage, affairs, children- more or less revolve around the topic and add to it. You decide what is right or wrong, the film is in no hurry to provide a moral chitchat and reform it's ravening characters( which is such a relief but no I don't endorse what they actually end up doing...sssh)!