Balachandra Menon is a maverick director in Malayalam film industry who often acted and directed his own movies. A unique talent, his movies always carried signature elements like family tensions, offbeat characrters, and a central character who overcome all these challenges, often played by himself. He also introduced some of the best actress in the South including Shobana and Annie. His unconventional story telling is at his best in Ammayane Sathyam (I swear by my Mother) - an expression often used in local culture to assure the other's unshakeable promise. Among the number of unconventional movies he made, A. S. stands out to be his best. A story of a rich teen running away from her family's killers and goes under as a boy to work as a servant. The girl played by Annie, does a tremendous job in capturing the fear and resilience shown by her character. The moments where she experiences nightmares of what she endured are vividly visualized by Menon. What stood out was the comedy - Jagathy was top notch as usual with his incredible timing of the lines which also got the best out of Paravoor Bharathan, Mukesh and Ganesh. And how can I not mention the outstanding cameo by Karamana and KPAC Lalitha as Mukesh's troublesome old parents. They were so funny, they reminded me of the Constanzas played by Jerry Stiller and Estelle Harris in the sitcom Seinfeld. Menon who played the corrupt police officer too never disappointed. Narendra Prasad too deserves a lot of credit for playing an extremely unlikable character to perfection. All in all, a great movie. I've watched it a handful of times including its first screening in 1993 as a child. One of the best Malayalam movies in my opinion. Was very disappointed to see an underwhelming 6 rating here. Definitely an 8 for me.
