I-IARROWING TALE OF SURVIVAL

STARRING: Sugandha Ram, Karan, Saritha and Karuna

DIRECTOR: Santosh Sivan

War stories are challenging to narrate without being controversial. But cinematographer-filmmaker Santosh Sivan has crushed that notion to pulp with his film lnam, a war-drama which explores the lives of a group of orphans during the Sri Lankan civil war.

Without taking sides and not provoking political sentiments, Sivan tells an emotionally arresting tale of human barbarism, hope and survival. Even with a documentary style narrative, mostly slow, lnam tugs at your heartstrings and presents the story from two different perspectives.

Rajni (Sugandha Ram), a lone survivor of the Sri Lankan civil war, shares her harrowing story of survival to an interrogating officer (voice by Arvind Swamy). We are taken back in time and introduced to a group of orphans between age groups five and

20, homeless, living under the care of 'Tsunami akka: played by Saritha. From then on, the story takes us through the lives of these characters, their struggle for survival, moments of joy and a lot more. What happens to these characters during the course of the war?This becomes the crux of the story.

From celebrating human spirit to capturing the worst bomb exp losions, lnam tests human endurance on battleground. The wi llingness to survive is stronger than the fear of death. This philosophy is reinstated throughout the film, which is built around an array of anecdotes that take place in the orphanage

While the story is told to us through Rajni's past, Sivan also wants us to see his work through the eyes of Karan, a special child, who plays the role of Nandan to perfection.

Through Rajni's story, he shows us exactly how inn ocent lives are lost in a war, children are orphaned, and young girls are molested Through Nandan's story, we see that even in warfare, there's room for optimism, care and affection. For instance, in a scene where bombs are being air-dropped and everybody