Sunday 18 January 2015

I (aka MANOHARUDU) (TAMIL/TELUGU/HINDI) (2015)

Shankar, the showman of the current generation, has presented a personal revenge story set in the glamorous world of modelling in his latest venture. While he continues his trend of pushing boundaries in terms of budget of regional movies, capturing hitherto unexplored exquisite locales (this time in China), cutting edge special effects, he has moved away from his usual social message embedded narrative featuring a lone hero/vigilante fighting societal evils.

Keeping with the theme of the movie, I is the cinematic equivalent of that lavishly made, well picturised attention grabbing commercial which captivates you for the first viewing, but remains/means little else thereafter. Whether that spells success/otherwise of its maker Shankar is the big question.

Speaking for myself, despite its several shortcomings - including its length of 189 minutes, a paper-thin plot lacking depth and further beset with several crater-esque perforations, cardboard-cut characters, indulgent action set pieces that lack the zing and overstay their welcome - I liked it for the way Shankar has managed to package it as an engaging entertainer with P.C. Sreeram's visual brilliance showcasing a montage of vivid and rich imagery, WETA's magic in creating very real pro(ae)sthetics, Rahman's numbers (Ennodu Nee Irundhal, Pookkale & Mersal) and above all, for the towering brilliance of its leading man,vIkram whose performance and transformations through the film are simply SUPERB.

A GOOD (ONE-TIME) Watch !!


RATING - 2.5/5

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