DVD I, Me aur Main

The movie is crisp..short (95 minutes)..bright..feel-good and most importantly justifies the title and delivers what was expected of it.

I am more inclined towards the 'redeeming movies' (as I call them) where you have to leave your popcorn aside and stay focused in the movie and also where the main lead realizes and redeems himself..movies like INTO THE WILD (2007), WAKE UP SID (2009), ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA (2011), and now I, ME AUR MAIN (2013) are some of the films which fall into that category for me.

BRIEF STORY & CHARACTER SKETCH

Story is about a guy Ishaan (John Abraham) who is engrossed in self, corpuscular, egocentric, self-centered, inconsiderate, narcissistic, unconcerned and spoiled brat and music producer, who never values anyone or anything above him. Her live-in girlfriend Anushka (Chitrangda Singh) who loves him blindly but does not like the attitude of Ishaan towards his life and responsibilities. His mom (Zarina Wahab) is a supportive mother who is dealing with her decisions she took years back and is inclined towards Ishaan. She can be seen supporting him when he was only a kid in the first scene of the movie itself. He meets a girl Gauri (Prachi Desai), who helps him feel n realize the value of relations, the mishaps with her girlfriend makes him responsible and focused, and an incident with her mother towards the end of the movie makes him cognizant about his own self, and with all this he realizes where he is leading with his bright, cheerful, colorful yet monotonous life, that encounter with his mother helps Ishaan meet his real own self, helps an embryonic man-child to take charge of his so far in-vain life. And all of these factors and mishaps in his life helps him to become mature, focused, serious, principled, responsible towards his life and relations making him eventually a better person as a whole.

OVERVIEW

Its Kapil Sharma's debut attempt and I must say that he made a decent start. The movie could have been better in terms of acting and the level of emotions it was trying to convey. The direction was fresh and effective. The story was one of the best thing in the movie which was penned by Devika Bhagat who had also written earlier marvelous screenplay for BACHNA AE HASEENO (2008) and helped director Navdeep Singh in the story/screenplay for the cult MANORAMA SIX FEET UNDER (2007). Talking about the music, its fresh but could have been better to let the viewers feel the crunch of the matter. The best part is the length of the movie which is only 95 minutes and you see a whole journey of a guy from ignorance to cognition. The only flaw is that the screenplay missed several emotions which the story demanded and many of them were also skipped just to make a short-duration movie. The movie lacks stability and loses the interest as well in parts but Kapil Sharma tries hard to bind it together, though unsuccessfully. Acting is mediocre by everyone and in fact John Abraham can be seen making weird faces in the whole movie but stabilizes during few scenes towards the end. The only one who understood what film demands off her was Prachi Desai (Gauri) but even she was also not at her equilibrium. Where the acting disappointed me, the could-be-better portrayed story and direction entertained me equally making this flick a good one to go for this weekend which also holds a repeat value.

DON'T FALL FOR NEGATIVE REVIEWS PEOPLE WILL WRITE IN BULK FOR THIS MOVIE AND DON'T GO WITH THE RATING STARS YOU SEE AT THE TOP. SOME FILMS JUST CAN'T MAKE IT THROUGH WITH EVERYONE AND YOU MIGHT BE ONE OF THEM, BUT THAT DOES NOT PROVE ITS WORTH. IF YOU BELIEVE THAT A MOVIE IS GOOD IF THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR WHILE YOU GET ENTERTAINED ALL THE WHILE, THIS IS THE MOVIE TO RUSH FOR.

MY RATING – 7/10 |NUDITY – NO| |SEX – NO| |VIOLENCE – NO| |LANGUAGE – UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED| |DRUGS – NO|

*UNIVERSALLY VIEWABLE*

The experience of watching this latest offering from the glossy, eye catching and fashionable section (genre) of the Hindi cinema developed in the last decade, I just remembered a recent discussion with a friend about the content found in our present well designed film magazines in the market.

There was time when all the famous film magazines both in English & Hindi used to have many interesting articles on film-making, its music, the struggle of known artists, their interesting journey and much more enlightening stuff along with the usual news and gossip sections. But nowadays what we majorly get to read or see in the new-age versions of these magazines include many inviting full page photo-shoots, glamorous blow-ups and detailed discussions on the Star's fashion statements and their mismatches caught in the parties attended recently. In fact there is a big section of readers who actually buy the magazines for these major features only and get their own personal tips from the same.

Now I, ME AUR MAIN perfectly reminded me of these film magazines as I really found it just similar to them having very less in the name of content and much in the name of pretty faces, glamorous outfits and glossy outlook. Taking the inspiration for its title from the west, for me the film was one of those projects wherein a producer or director successfully manages to sign an interesting star ensemble first without having any basic script or idea in hand. And once all the artists are on board, he simply starts making a film on a single line story idea to en- cash all the young attractive faces brought together as soon as possible with a quick shooting schedule.

Strengthening the above thought, the film directed by the debutant Kapil Sharma,vaguely walks around a bold story-idea based on a live-in relationship, pre-marital sex and an unplanned pregnancy resulting in further complexities in the relationships. Interestingly the same plot has already been used in films such as KYA KEHNA and SALAAM NAMASTE with more maturity, elegance and sincerity which in nowhere to be found in I, ME AUR MAIN. The screenplay doesn't impress you at all in its two hours of duration and the narration uselessly tries to throw in many unwanted subplots which fall flat completely like the angle of Raima Sen and introduction of a new singer in the market played by Sheena Shahabadi.

The cinematographer keeps in mind the young look of the film throughout but the same cannot be said about its music which gives you nothing to enjoy as a soundtrack. Playing the lead couple, both John Abraham and Chitrangda try hard to put some life in their loosely written roles in vain. Prachi Desai does bring in some spark but that too fizzles out fast as the film progresses quite uninterestingly. However, only Mini Mathurand Zarina Wahab have something meaningful to say in their few scenes enacted naturally which lift the film slightly in its second half.

In all just choosing an unconventional theme representing the current state of relationships in the society is not enough, as you do need to put a great amount of sensitivity and emotional connect in the film in order to reach your target audience. And since I, ME AUR MAIN is not able to make than much needed connect with its viewers, relying hugely on its gorgeous faces only, you can easily give it a miss and later watch it as it gets released on Home Video if you wish.