I Movie Review

Behind the Movie I: The super hit combination of Vikram and Shankar, proved with ‘Aparichithudu’ is back here with this most awaited film. Made on a lavish budget by V Ravichandran with AR Rahman music, PC Sreeram cinematography and Amy Jackson, let us see how great is this attempt.

In the Movie I: Story sets off with introduction to a hunchback, deformed and ugly personality of Lingesam (Vikram) kidnapping Diya (Amy Jackson) from her marriage pandal. Into the flashback, Lingesam is a local body builder running Arnold Gym is aimed to win Mr India title. He has a crush towards successful model Diya, who is physically harassed by male model John (Upen Patel). Diya, with the help of uncle and family friend Dr. Vasudev (Suresh Gopi) ropes in Lingesam as male partner for one of her prestigious China modeling assignment completed successfully. During this stint, Diya and Lingesam fall in love; get engaged and everything goes smoothly till a time Lingesam develops physical malformations due to genetic disorder. While distancing away from Diya, here comes a shocking truth before Lingesam that his defacement and depravity are not due to genetic disorder but is the result of I-Influenza (H4N2 Virus) injected into his body. Who are the men behind Lingesam’s sufferings? How did he take revenge?

Values of the Movie I: Keeping entire plot in one line, ‘I’ is an action packed revenge story mixed with pure love track. Shankar and Subha have appropriated a simple story laced with a flabby script. A movie which needs to drive purely on strength of screenplay became detached and disconnected with back and forth styled story narration. An easily predictable rehearsal of scenes with excessive lag made the movie watching a tedious and exhaustive experience. Nowhere Shankar stood to his top class standards. PC Sreeram camera work filled the screen with colorful visuals. One location of China used many times seemed to be quite exotic. Anthony’s editing is the biggest of drawbacks which tested the patience of viewers. AR Rahman did not do any big wonders. Songs are optically best looking and bad lyrics enhanced the damage further. Dialogues are poorest of quality with Telugu sensitivities untouched. The dialect used on Vikram and Amy is deplorable. Fight compositions were earth shattering and so is the hardwork behind Vikram’s make up were perceptible. Lastly, production values of Mega Super Good Films and Ravichandran are above top notch.

Performance wise, Vikram kept his facial glamour at stake by overworking on physical make over from a body builder to virus infected human being. Despite the dedication shown by Vikram is unquestionable, final result is what matters. He is the real show stealer of the film. Amy Jackson was gorgeous looking. She did well in songs but could not maintain an authentic chemistry in romantic episodes besides Vikram shot in China. Suresh Gopi provided good twist in second half and was dignified. Upen Patel rocked as antagonist. Fights composed between Vikram and Upen are best parts in film. Santhanam failed in generating humor. Among the rest, Ramkumar Ganesan, stylist Ojas M Rajani did well.

Out of the Movie I: Putting it simple and straight, ‘I’ is a disastrous film from Telugu audience point of view. Many would feel doubtful on, how far Shankar directed this film? Except the visual grandeur sprinkled on screen, neat camera work, Vikram presence and action revenge with a foreseeable twist in pre climax, rest of everything stood as drawbacks. Immediately, there is a necessity for producers to trim the movie in both halves in order to decrease the lag. Currently, the run time is above 3 hours and it should be brought down to 2:30 hours saving the patrons.

Shankar is a master story teller. The screenplay format adopted for a simple action revenge concept has absolutely gone wrong. Nevertheless, for the first time he might be a defeater. Well, appreciations on one point because no one can anticipate a fact that ‘I’ also stands Influenza virus. Fusion of such science based elements into story would offer a kicking experience for educated movie lovers. Whatsoever, ‘I’ is a complete disappointment and commercially, a catastrophe in the offing.

Cinejosh Verdict of I: I Can’t… U Can’t.

                                                         Cinejosh Rating: 2/5

                                                                                     Reviewed by Srivaas