'I AM' is a small film with a big heart

Film: I AM (A)
Director: Onir
Cast: Nandita Das, Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Sanjay Suri, Rahul Bose and others
Rating: ***

Onir, who made his debut with the delectable My Brother Nikhil and lost some momentum with his next two films, Bas Ek Pal and Sorry Bhai, is in fine form in his fourth directorial effort, I AM.

I Am Omar is the best of this set of four short films, followed by I Am Abhimanyu and I Am Afia. The fourth short, I Am Megha, works as a standalone film but comes across as slightly out of place among the other more novel stories.

I Am Afia has Nandita Das in the central role of a woman whose biological clock is ticking fast. Freshly divorced and wary of relationships, Afia opts for in vitro fertilisation to fulfil her desire for motherhood. But she wants to get to know her sperm donor, a 20-something college kid (Purab Kohli), better.

Afia undergoes a transformation from an insecure woman who finds herself unwanted by the man she loves to someone with a rock-solid resolve to undergo what others would shy away from — raising a child on her own. Das depicts the myriad emotions — frustration, angst, confusion and, finally, relief — like only a seasoned actress can, shouldering the story brilliantly.

Kohli pitches in with a sweet performance, while filmmaker Anurag Basu makes his acting debut in a small role as Das’s doctor.

I Am Megha pitches together two of the most popular actresses of the 1990s — Juhi Chawla and Manisha Koirala — and their scenes together add shine to the story. Chawla plays a Kashmiri Pandit, Megha, who fled the valley with her family and is visiting for the first time since. She meets her childhood friend, a Kashmiri Muslim, Rubina (Koirala), but the years in between seem to have distanced the two.

Bitter over her experiences, Megha feels animosity towards the place and the people living there. Her short stay in the valley, however, makes her realise something she had been ignoring for too long — both sides suffered. I Am Megha, watchable mainly for its lead actresses, is the weakest story among the four, primarily because the plot isn’t entirely new and the message conveyed is hackneyed.

I AM truly comes alive with the story of Abhimanyu (Suri). A documentary filmmaker, Abhimanyu was molested as a child by his stepfather (Kashyap, aptly spiteful), and the scars remain. With the stepfather on his deathbed, Abhimanyu has to deal with a conflict he had been ignoring for too long. Suri underplays the tricky role deftly.

I Am Abhimanyu is the most layered of the four stories. To begin with, it addresses an issue everyone is aware of but still remains buried under a veil of shame. For an audience used to seeing the hero convincing his mum about the girl he wants to marry, a son confronting his mother about having been molested by her husband could be unsettling. The discomfort you feel while watching the story is Onir’s triumph with I Am Abhimanyu.

But not even that prepares you for the brutal reality with which I Am Omar, about the exploitation homosexuals undergo while dealing with the police, unfolds. Jai (Bose) meets Omar (Arjun Mathur) at a coffee shop and sparks fly. After a romantic dinner, while making out in Jai's car, the two are accosted by a cop, played  by Abhimanyu Singh in what is probably I AM’s most powerful performance. The hatred Singh elicits from the audience is testimony to his acting talent, waiting to be tapped further.

While the actors are all suitably cast, Onir and co-writer Urmi Juvekar give them good material to play with. In addition to the principal actors, Radhika Apte, Arjun Mathur and Rushad Rana lend great support. Amit Trivedi's music, especially Bangur, goes well with the film’s mood.

Financed by people from all over the world because Onir was finding it difficult to raise money for what is an unconventional film, I AM works for the humane stories it narrates, an efficient ensemble cast, and the simplicity in storytelling. Give it a chance on this crowded-with-films weekend.