DVD Afia Megha Abhimanu Omar

To start with, I would like to share that as reported in the news, many Indian Production Houses refused to provide financial backing to this film due to its objectionable theme revolving around sex abuse and gay characters. So, its director went public on the social networking site FACEBOOK and then went on to make the film with the friendly donations collected from all his FB friends.

Now coming to the film itself, I AM is undoubtedly a first of its kind attempt in Bollywood, bringing out some real dark truths of our society in the open, which force you to keep both your eyes and chin down feeling the shame. The director goes for the most brutal but truthful visualization of the reality faced by four different characters in their respective life stories. Interestingly, here the best part is that the film has no visual nudity or blood shown on the screen and the director uses only suggestive measures to portray his daring scenes of the script. Still, there are times when the sequences unfolding on the screen make you restless and you tend to see sideways feeling a little awkward. Content wise I AM can be called as an amalgamation of four distinct stories or may be four different short films brought together.

1 – The Story of Afia (Featuring Nandita Das) The story very thoughtfully raises many logical questions and also indicates the changing mindsets of women living in the metro cities. Each dialogue in this story is intelligently written without any hiding or holding back kind of restrictions. Nandita Das as the wannabe mother is simply a treat to watch showing her effortless mastery over the art. And she gets equally well supported by Purab Kohli as the donor and Anurag Basu (the famous director) as the doctor. And for me this was one of the best portrayals of the current changing face of our society.

2 – The Story of Megha and Rubina (Featuring Juhi Chawla and Manisha Koirala) Next comes in the story of a Kashmiri Pandit girl Megha, who is now visiting her homeland after 20 long years and is visibly not comfortable seeing the paradise in its current state. Here she meets Rubina who has been living in the valley in all those years and there is a verbal as well as silent confrontation shown between the two ladies related to their homeland. Both Manisha and Juhi Chawla together not only look gorgeous but they also deliver highly appreciable performances in their respective roles along with Rushad Rana as Manisha's brother. In short this story rightly explains the meaning of the word EMPATHY in the best possible manner ever on the silver screen.

3 – The Story of Abhimanyu (Featuring Sanjay Suri) Based on a true story, its about the haunting childhood memories of a person who was a victim of child molestation by his own step father for many years. The story is quite unpleasant, capable of making you uncomfortable in your chairs thinking about the difficult mental state of the victim. But its most difficult part comes when Sanjay Suri, the sufferer reveals the dark truth to his mother after the death of his step father.Radhika Apte as Sanjay Suri's girl friend looks sexier in her modern get-up. But Sanjay Suri as the victim, Shernaz Patel as the mother and Anurag Kashyap (the famous director) as the step father together, simply convert this part of the film into a hard powerful slap on the bright unreal face of our present society.

4 – The Story of Omar (Featuring Rahul Bose) The final part of the film deals with few Gay characters and their undisclosed nexus with the police. The story is set in those times when there was no Law in favour of Gay community and the Police used to take the utmost advantage of the confused situation by harassing and extorting money from them. Rahul Bose along with Arjun Mathur and Abhimanyu Singh, delivers one of his best performances till date which indeed shows a lot of courage and conviction in the actor.

As the fourth story finishes and the end credits role, you realize that you have just seen one of the most brilliant realistic portrayals of some hard dark truths of our present society. It is based on a well written screenplay and has been canned beautifully showing both Kashmir and the streets of Mumbai with an equal elegance. The soundtrack and the background songs are not used heavily but they do sound melodious as you hear them.

In all, I AM is a daring attempt by a thoughtful director which might be a first of its kind for many. It raises many valid and logical questions on the functioning of our present society forcing us to urgently find a solution of our own. Its films like these which can bring on some personal or social change around us and can make a difference.

Yes, in all possibilities, its not going to be a HIT anyway because the film has been released in only a few centers even in the metros. And its also not an entertaining kind of movie made for the masses. But if you really have an urge to watch some realistic meaningful cinema, moving away from the usual mediocre stuff, then just go and watch I AM as soon as possible.

I Am is a film about four people from different levels of society. The film is basically divided into four stories with each individual confronting their inner fears and standing up to fight for what is right.

The first story centers around Afia (Nandita Das) who is the victim of a failed marriage that ends on a bitter note. She decides that she's not going to trust another man but is determined to get pregnant and bear a child. Afia wants to become a mother using a sperm donor. We see many taboos in this society relating to the idea of getting pregnant using a sperm donor. Luckily, she finds one in the form of a medical student (Purab Kohli). This story ends with Afia getting what she wanted. So nothing much to write about! Nandita Das performs her part with diligence. Purab Kohli holds much promise as an upcoming actor. The other characters are adequate.

The next story is about Megha (Juhi Chawla) who was an inhabitant of Srinagar but was forced to move to another city due to the turbulence of the terrorist attacks twenty years ago. After twenty years, she decides to go back to Srinagar on a business purpose. There, Megha stays at the house of her childhood friend Rubina (Manisha Koirala). Hardened by the crude realities of life in Kashmir, Megha becomes bitter and cynical. She confronts Rubina with the memories of her childhood which left a scar on her heart. We sympathize with Megha as she transcends from a sweet little girl into a bitter woman who wants to escape her past. A story that is truly moving and frighteningly realistic! Juhi Chawla and Manisha Koirala come up with proficient performances and look gorgeous too.

The third story revolves around Abhimanyu (Sanjay Suri) a well-to-do film director who is confused about his sexual orientation. Why? This we get to know in a while as we watch the movie. He was sexually abused by his step father when he was a child. Abhimanyu is helpless as he cannot tell his mom about his father and we sympathize with him too. The story ends with Abhimanyu telling his mom about his step father's evil secrets which is really heart touching! Sanjay Suri is excellent. This is his another mind-boggling performance after My Brother Nikhil. Radhika Apte as a modern outspoken friend of Suri's is okay. Shernaz Patel is equally competent as Suri's mother. Anurag Kashyap is first-rate.

The fourth and last story is about a homosexual guy Jai (Rahul Bose) who is brutally trapped into blackmailing and unwanted sex by a cruel and inhumane police officer (Abhimanyu Singh) while he was having sex with a male prostitute Omar (Arjun Mathur). This story is the most shocking from the rest as it deals with the dilemma of being gay and the price you have to pay for it. Rahul Bose is amazing! He's showing signs of improvement with every film he's doing. Bose's histrionics at finding out that he was cheated in the concluding reels are worth watching. Abhimanyu Singh is competent enough as he gets into the skin of his character very well. Arjun Mathur is good.

Director Onir's effort must be applauded as he decided to make an anthology film with donations from Facebook. The stories were truly moving and frighteningly realistic too.

Overall, an interesting movie but not for kids and masses.