Movie :I (AI)
Rating :2.5/5
Cast: Vikram, Amy Jackson and Others
Directed by: Shankar
Produced by: NV Prasad, Paras Jain
Banner: Aascar Films
Music by: A.R. Rahman
Release Date: 2015-01-14
I is one of the most awaited movies of the year with maverick director Shankar wielding the megaphone and Vikram playing the role of a mysterious hunchback. The film has generated tremendous prerelease hype. Did it live up to the expectations?
Story :
Lingesa (Vikram) is an aspiring Mr. India who is madly in love with top model Diya (Amy Jackson). Lingesa wins the title of Mr. Andhra and signs up endorsements with local products. Diya is harassed by her colleague, model John (Upen Patel). She encourages Lingesa to take up full time modeling in order to teach a lesson to John.
Lingesa clicks as a model and becomes very busy. He makes few enemies in this process and they inject virus into the body of Lingesa that turns him into ugly hunchback. How Lingesa takes his revenge forms rest of the story.
Performances:
Vikram: Vikram is a hardworking actor and goes to any extent to make the character work. His amazing transformation from a body builder to a model to a hunchback is a treat to watch. His performance in this film is mind-boggling and one of the finest ever on Indian screen. His body language as the hunchback is one of the biggest plus points of this film.
Others: Amy Jackson is not a great actress, but she suits the role of a model to the T. Suresh Gopi is fine in a predictable role. Upen Patel is alright as the model. Santhanam is okay in a character that occasionally tickles your funny bone.
Technicalities:
Direction: Shankar, who is known for making intelligent films that appeal to the masses, is not up to the mark in this film. Shankar had an interesting premise on his hand but messed it up with lethargic screenplay. I doesn’t have any arresting moments that will leave you awestruck. Shankar who can make any concept work with his imagination and visual sense looked out of place in this film. He relied too much on Vikram’s performance to pull this off.
Others: Rahman’s music is average. Not up to the standards of his previous works done for Shankar’s films. Cinematography is topnotch. Every frame is rich and visually stunning. Editing is pretty bad. The film’s run time is over three hours and there are many scenes that are needlessly stretched. The film is technically sound.
Thumbs Up:
Vikram
Cinematography
Thumbs Down:
Overlong
Screenplay
Gross visuals
Analysis:
A model turning into a hunchback and taking revenge against the wrongdoers is the main plot of I. This could have been a slick thriller with racy screenplay and thrilling moments. However I is stretched too long for more than three hours without proper reason. Seems like Shankar just had an idea on mind and simply wrote a rough draft of script for it and went on to make a movie.
There are far too many boring sequences in the film which will force you to take a break. Despite narrating the story in spaced flashback method, the screenplay hardly engages you due to its predictability. The techniques used by Vikram for taking revenge are not at all effective. Except for the brilliant performance of Vikram, there is nothing to admire about this poorly executed film.
Shankar tried to explain everything in detail which is absolutely not necessary. This film disappoints on many levels as it comes from the master filmmaker. We could understand some mediocre director to make such lackluster movie, but coming from Shankar, I will hurt you even more. Weak script, overly long run time, poor execution, unexciting narration doesn’t let I to live up to the hype it has generated.
Rare disappointment from Shankar that will now rely on the festive audience to swim across to a safe zone. Given its high budget and massively disappointing content, I will need a miracle to click at the ticket windows. Watch I for Vikram if you are hell bent on watching it and make sure to keep your expectations as low as possible.
Verdict: Rare failure from Mr. Dependable Director.
