Bigger
is not always better. Sometimes you do wish it to be in control, to be in its
own limits. Shankar’s magnum opus in technical brilliance ‘I’ is one such
effort that doesn’t bother to take charge of things going loose in the very beginning.
And by the time you realize to pull the strings together, it’s already 2 and ½ hours
wasted. So, the only takeaways from the film are the fast-paced, thrilling and concluding
30 minute-long climax [yes, it is a 3 hour 8 min long experiment] and the
power-house performance of Vikram. Sadly, ‘I’ doesn’t meet the level of
expectations and remains an average romantic-thriller worthy of mentions only
for Chiyaan Vikram’s extreme physical transformations, dedicated performance
and earnest efforts.
Lee
aka Lingesan [Played by the awe-inspiring Vikram in his most ‘toned’ avatar] is
a bodybuilder eyeing for Mr. India Title in his career. The only other
obsession in life is the poster-girl of Advertising Industry Diya [Amy Jackson]
who can blow his mind so so much that he starts hallucinating her in probably
all the electronic devices he uses. Destiny helps them meet and soon Diya
encourages Lee to join her as the leading model for a big brand campaign. Things
happen as it does in love but in the meantime, Lee also ends up making evil rivals
in his contemporary model John [Upen Patel], a transgender stylist and a Malya-looking
flamboyant brand-head. Rest is a revenge drama full of action but without much needed
freshness in the plot.
As
a genre, ‘I’ could be placed in the section of romantic thrillers but the
problem is Shankar endorses romance for the most part despite it being the
least exciting and fascinating aspect and chooses to keep the most thrilling
part for the last. At first, film romances with the chiseled body, beefy shape
and powerfully built muscles of Vikram. Then comes, the outdoor location
romance between Lee and Diya with old-fashioned tricks and tracks of love
fitting into hearts and place! Meanwhile, songs irritate because of the
absurdly written lyrics. Dialogues make you cringe. Cinematography is
absolutely first-rate and gives you something to hop on. Visual effects and
make-up excellence marginally work only over some of the most de-shaped, terrible
and shocking physical appearances made on & for screen.
With
a non-linear pattern in the narrative, Shankar does succeed in generating some
kind of curiosity but the bad and the loose hand at the editing table doesn’t
keep it for long. He even tries a quicky montage of one of the most significant
part on the lines of the ones in Guy Ritchie’s films but when it’s not working,
it’s not working. If ‘I’ is watchable at all, it is only for Vikram. As a rowdy-loud-rustic
bodybuilder, he enthuses the sparks of energy on screen. Later as an
ugly-looking hunchback with a past, he earns respects as an actor as well as your
sympathies for the character. Amy Jackson has nothing more to show off than her
all burning whitish looks. Upen Patel is just average.
In
a scene, Lee harshly discards the romantic proposal of a transgender stylist and
the poor soul bursts into crying plentiful of tears after the heartbreak. It was
the most painful moment in the film, for many reasons. Suspicious of pesticides
being used, Lee rejects to endorse a cold beverage brand in the film but doesn’t
dare to show same amount of sensitivity to the transgender, it hurts more. Same
goes with Shankar’s story-telling. He dares to involve technical brilliance in
the story but forgets to base it on a gripping one. And it hurts. Disappointing,
boring and tiring! [2/5]
