On one hand, we have movies like Dishyum and Chithiram Pesudhadi that have familiar elements but assemble them in an interesting way. And on the other hand, we have movies that, on the surface, offer something new but turn out to be disappointing since these are not presented in an interesting manner. Amirtham, a film by Kannan, the script writer for Vedham Pudhidhu, unfortunately falls into the latter category. It brings up some serious issues in a different setting but fails to make build on the issues in an interesting manner.

Ramaswamy Iyengar(Girish Karnad), a temple priest, is a devout Brahmin who thinks the world of his daughter Amirtha(Navya Nair). His good friend Pasupathi Pillai(Rajeev) is a nadaswaram exponent. Pasupathi Pillai's son Amirtham(Ganesh) is an atheist but inspite of this, Amirtha begins to develop feelings for him. But when oil is discovered in the land and the Government orders the temple to be demolished, it affects all their lives.

Amirtham starts off by having the right pieces in place to throw up some engrossing issues. It offers a fresh setting of a closed-up, traditional and rather unique village. This is a village that technology has not invaded yet and where people still value customs and traditions over everything else. It populates the village with interesting people who have interesting relationships between them. They are from different castes and social strata but don't let this affect their friendship or their day-to-day lives. And it throws the social issue of the temple demolition into the mix to stir things up.

But the solutions the film offers for the issues fall into one of two categories - they are easy or they are abrupt and disappointing. Instead of enlarging the issues so that they come to a head, the director chooses to provide convenient resolutions for many of them. So they end up being somewhat anticlimactic. Only 1 of the issues leads to some excitement and suspense about how it will be resolved. But even this resolution is mounted rather amateurishly and ends up being disappointing.

All the actors fit their parts well. Navya Nair, who seems to be the actress of choice for offbeats films, is impressive as usual. But I don't see Ganesh getting a lot more roles in the future. Girish Karnad is dignified in the role of the priest while Anuradha Krishnamoorthy, who plays his wife, is very natural in both her acting and her dialog delivery. Rajeev and Rekha are adequate.