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The world and I

Director Shankar falls short of taking his magnum opus to the next level, Deepa Gauri writes

It has been touted as the movie of the year and it indeed has broken all box office records. With steady collections, the Vikram starrer has once again defined director Shankar’s reputation as the true showman of Tamil, nay Indian, cinema.

But does I really live up to the hype it generated? At almost three hours, the film is way too long. Length, however, has seldom mattered in a Shankar movie because of the breakneck speed at which events cruise along, never allowing for the audience to think or analyse the situation.

That precisely is the weakness of I. Forget all the misleading trailers and posters and positioning (which as they say is fair because getting a hit today is tougher than winning a war) of the movie. Neither Twilight nor The Wolverine,  I is but a complex love story, complicated in a Shankar-esque manner. But then, perhaps, the core of romance also makes I truly different from all of Shankar’s earlier outings.

Apart from a minor but pivotal jab at corruption, this film is all about love – and how it can transform one’s ambitions and life, often irrevocably. As a body builder who aspires to be Mr India, Vikram’s Lingesan is at several levels the quintessential underdog. He is simply passionate about his body building and goes about it with a gusto matched only by his blind infatuation for the supermodel Diya (Amy Jackson).

Their chemistry is zilch at the start and it is here one must salute the marvel of Shankar’s scripting and direction, and Vikram’s raw talent. The combo, complemented by Amy’s earnest performance, makes for a compelling watch.

From feigned love to real to-die-for affection, their romance is the spirit of I. And trust Shankar to bring it out in spectacular form. Set in exotic locales in China, their romance is heartwarming. And never before in Indian cinema must product placement have been done so intelligently and not made you squirm.

And then the sad inevitable happens. Even as Vikram’s Lingesan transforms from Mr. India to a shocking deformed character, the film – with its narrative jumping from present to past – also takes a predictable turn.

While Lingesan claims to take revenge by saying he will deliver suffering to a level greater than death, the punch of a stunning finish to the cruel villains seems lacking, and almost comical. Some unnecessary side-tracks in the name of comedy also do little to maintain the film’s tempo.

I, however, is a one-time watch for sure, for many reasons. The first, obviously, is to see how Shankar uses technology and style to near-perfection (especially in the first half, and in the song sequences).

The second, but not necessarily in that order, is Vikram’s outstanding performance. It is consistency to his central character as the local Chennai boy that makes Lingesan, despite the many guises, a fascinating portrayal in Indian mainstream cinema of late. And then there are aspects such as the fantastic cinematography by PC Sreeram and captivating music by AR Rahman.

As for whether Suresh Gopi gets justice, well, suffice to say that the villains of I are the weakest link. For once, Shankar seemed to have forgotten his own thumb rule – the mightier the villains, the more powerful the hero.

I, now playing at theatres in the UAE, while lengthy and falling short of that ‘next level’ does indeed give you some great cinematic moments; and for that Shankar and Vikram must be saluted.