The 'After Hrs' review: 'I am Singh'

Film: I am Singh

Director: Puneet Issar

Cast: Tulip Joshi, Puneet Issar, Gulzar Inder Chahal, Brooke Johnston, Rizwan Haider, Amy Rasimas, Sunita Dheer

Rating: 1/2 a star

 

This story definitely had all the possibilities and the potential — it is based on the backlash on the Asian community post 9/11. On top of that, the film aimed to go down at a micro-level and portray the suffering of a family while showing the heinous hate-crimes that raged on in the neighbourhood. The story also aimed to show how Pakistanis suffered as well as Indians and how suddenly wearing a turban became a threat to life for many. It was a great idea that this film ruined completely.

 

The film fails in all the principal departments that make a good film — casting, acting, screenplay, editing and everything else.

 

It starts with somebody sleeping under glaring lights, with full make-up and clothes on. He is jolted out of his slumber by a phone call from his brother’s family in the US (interestingly it’s night in the US too at that time!). His bhabhi on the other end of the line tells him that they have become victims of hate crime.

 

From this point on, the film becomes a street play — the characters start screaming so much that you sometimes wonder if the sound system of the auditorium is too loud. All the male characters in the film deliver their dialogues as if they have been asked to motivate an army before a war that might save the world from coming to an end.

 

Gulzar Inder Chahal leads the pack of screamers with his high pitched voice and permanently clenched fists. There is not a single point in the film when he behaves normally — either he is screaming or he is screaming. As you try to shut him out of your head, there enters the other character of the film who screams loudly too — bow down to Puneet Issar, who joins the party of loudspeakers in the middle of the film and makes it worse.

 

Admitted that it’s a film where everybody must be made aware of what how tremendously the Asian community suffered in the US but when somebody screams that in your ears all the time, you just tend to look back at him and say, ‘Okay! Understood! Can you just shut up please?’

 

With Inder blocked out of the mind space, we now tend to look at the female characters in the film and interestingly, the female lead in the film is an American actor with blonde hair called Brooke Johnston, who plays a human rights activist.

 

When you walk into a hotel, remember how you are greeted across the counter by the receptionist? Brooke, in her close-up shots, looks just like that — a receptionist who’s always ready to help you with a plastic smile pasted across her face. The smiles become even more plastic as the movie progresses. There are times when you wonder, ‘Oh! Why is she smiling? Aren’t’ she supposed to be serious here?’

 

Ditto with Amy Rasimas, who seems even more plastic than a credit card. Both of them looks like models who have professionally learned to smile and are unable to give that up even though they are acting in a film. I don’t know why you seem to have a nagging feeling that the director thought about creating a love angle between Amy and Inder before dumping the idea. The way the two hold hands (with tight close-ups of their palms rubbing against each other) it seems that they might break into a romantic song any minute.

 

Talking about songs, there is one which you might distantly remember — there you find some men brandishing swords at night under artificial rain. The other songs (there is one by Daler Mehndi as well) will take a lot of brain exercise if you want to keep them in your memory.

 

The film ends the way it began — people screaming and shouting at the top of their voices. This was a great idea ruined by a film. Don’t let this ruin your weekend.