Producer: Onir, Sanjay Suri
Director : Onir
Cast : Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Radhika Apte, Nandita Das, Rahul Bose, Sanjay Suri, Arjun Mathur, Anurag Basu, Sayali Brahme, Faisal Burza, Arry Dabbas, Pooja Gandhi, Zubin Jauhari, Mushtaq Kak, Anurag Kashyap
Cast : Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Radhika Apte, Nandita Das, Rahul Bose, Sanjay Suri, Arjun Mathur, Anurag Basu, Sayali Brahme, Faisal Burza, Arry Dabbas, Pooja Gandhi, Zubin Jauhari, Mushtaq Kak, Anurag Kashyap
Genres : Adventure, Drama, Romance
Language : English, Hindi
Release Date : 29 April 2011
Language : English, Hindi
Release Date : 29 April 2011
When you take up different stories and juggle with sundry characters, there has to be a string that binds them together and a leitmotif that holds the film. Director Onir doesn’t err here. I Am is essentially an affirmative assertion of identity and an appropriation of private spaces in a society that has a tendency to use tradition as the most convenient whiplash to beat any and everyone into disturbing conformity. The film serenades the art of saying `No’.
Of course, everyone is bound to have his/her favourite story in the film, specially since all four aren’t evenly crafted. But that’s easy to understand why. The women have the softer tales which would necessarily lack the punch. But kudos to Nandita Das and Juhi Chawla for creating two spunky women of substance who know what they want and do not hesitate to acquire it. Again, they too encounter a lot of learning and re-configuring on the path to self-discovery.
Sanjay Suri’s tryst with a pedophilic step father (Anurag Kashyap in a great cameo) is sensitive, subtle and truly disturbing, even as Rahul Bose and his encounter with traditional — and brutal — Indian scorn for alternate sexuality is chilling and stomach-churning. Put Abhimanyu Singh to play the brute (the typical Indian cop) and you know he’ll do a fine job.
Watch I Am for talking unapologetically about real issues in real India. And also, for the performances.
Of course, everyone is bound to have his/her favourite story in the film, specially since all four aren’t evenly crafted. But that’s easy to understand why. The women have the softer tales which would necessarily lack the punch. But kudos to Nandita Das and Juhi Chawla for creating two spunky women of substance who know what they want and do not hesitate to acquire it. Again, they too encounter a lot of learning and re-configuring on the path to self-discovery.
Sanjay Suri’s tryst with a pedophilic step father (Anurag Kashyap in a great cameo) is sensitive, subtle and truly disturbing, even as Rahul Bose and his encounter with traditional — and brutal — Indian scorn for alternate sexuality is chilling and stomach-churning. Put Abhimanyu Singh to play the brute (the typical Indian cop) and you know he’ll do a fine job.
Watch I Am for talking unapologetically about real issues in real India. And also, for the performances.