I, Nobody - Lots to like in this mixed bag!

Bharath Vijayakumar

I, Nobody' gets off to a banger of a start. The pivotal event around which the movie revolves is the very first scene of the film. The entire opening stretch upto the point where the title pops up on screen is pure adrenalin rush. 'I, Nobody' does not exactly fit into a genre. It is a kind of unique film in the sense that it behaves like a collection of genre films of different genres in bits and pieces. It is a thriller at times, a drama at times, an actioner at times and a dark comedy or social satire at times. Above all, it operates like a mainstream film.



A bank heist may be the inciting incident of the film, but 'I, Nobody' isn't focussing entirely on it. Of course, this is very much at the forefront of the film but the film wants to use this action premise as a tool to explore family, social and political themes. The compalitibilty issues of the lead pair, the ill effects of toxic masculinity, the importance of or rather what is proper parenting, political opportunism, social media frenzy, mob mentality and lack of privacy are some of the topics that the film explores. Some of them work and blend well into the scheme of things while some stick out.


Prithviraj is good in a role that has to keep us guessing. He plays someone who could be the ideal hero in a mainstream action film - A hot headed guy who will not take things lying down.The hallmark of 'I, Nobody' is that it isn't glorifying this nature of the hero. While it plays to the gallery by having him do all that an action hero would do, the film subtly keeps reminding us of the ugly side of this anger and the damage it causes to those around him. While this part of the messaging does quite work, the last part of the film that tries to mock at the way society views and uses everything as 'content' doesn't fit in seamlessly. The change in tone and the performances don't really work. It might not have been an issue had the film kept separate tones for different segments but what we have in the second half here is too much of everything thrown at us all at once for an extended time period.



Bottomline:

Rating: 2.75/5