‘I Love You’ movie review: Rakul Preet Singh trapped in a ridiculous thriller

Rakul Preet Singh in ‘I Love You’

In the 90s, before his career took a turn, Shah Rukh Khan earned his spurs playing violent anti-heroes. Two of these films are classics –Fear And BaazigarBoth were released in 1993 – although this was the third film, Answer (1994), was even more persistently evil. These films developed their own cults over time. Of course, Khan became everyone’s favorite superstar and lover and his image underwent a drastic change. Today, his older films exist as much as pop-cultural landmarks as problematic essays in jilted masculinity. When Khan renewed “KKK…Kiran” PathanEveryone laughed, children and adults alike, not recognizing the macabre import of the original line.

nikhil mahajan new movie, I love you, streaming free on JioCinema, plays like an ode to Khan’s poisonous back catalogue. Updated in a modern context, complete with mobile screens and spy cameras, it wants to be Fear reimagined by Michael Haneke (actually, it’s more like Funny game As downgraded by a ’90s Bollywood superfan). Truth (Rakul Preet Singh), a corporate worker, and her fiancé, Vishal (Akshay Oberoi), have a flight to catch on the eve of Diwali. They work in the same office as Rakesh (Pavail Gulati), Satya’s secret admirer. Rakesh has a pet goldfish named ‘Anjali’ and a coffee mug with ‘Single Forever’ written on it. He passes by a candy called ‘Love Bites’. If that’s not enough indication of her being sneaky, we also see her spying on the couple on their multiple monitors. They can all mean the same thing; Satya’s flight is missing tonight.

Set over a day and is largely confined to one location, I love you It’s not as twisty as it goes. Mahajan tries to hide his constraints – narrative as well as budgetary – under a low-rent, high-tech aesthetic. We first meet Satya holding his breath in a pool; She swims and looks at her smart watch. Why is the film’s heroine practicing underwater endurance if not to survive later? In a flashback, we see Rakesh stalking her on social media. He Spoils Her Home With Live-Feed (An Update On Shah Rukh Khan Projecting Images Of Juhi Chawla On His Bedroom Wall) Fear,

Read this also | Using Shah Rukh Khan’s films and the 1991 reforms as starting points, in ‘Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh’, Shreyana Bhattacharya talks to women about their lives, from compromise to outright rebellion

Rakesh is, clearly, a new-age impostor nurtured and unleashed by old Bollywood. “In the ’90s, love was always one-sided,” they say as they play songs duplicate And 1942: A Love Story, Although not the name of Shah Rukh or his films, his influence is everywhere. The characters recite ‘palat’ to each other. Gulati attempts at Khan’s nervous stutter (not very well). Kiran Kumar, who was a police inspector Answer, comes in for a cameo. These references are fun but also simple. I love you Little adds to our understanding of stalker culture, or how Hindi films shape and maintain obsessive fans. Plus, Khan has already gently addressed some of these topics in his films. Calmness (2007) but then directly In fan (2016).

The second part is a chase and game, as Satya attempts to escape from the clutches of his captor. Cinematographer Cameron Bryson confines the action to a few large rooms and corridors. The verticality of an empty corporate office—a promising playground for a psycho thriller—never fully comes into play. Rakul navigates the escape room setup with poise and presence of mind. Given the sheer absurdity of the film’s central conceit, a more frankly insightful performance would have helped. Pavail Gulati is a fine actor in fine films; Here, he can’t get it right with Glee.

in a feminist move from Fear, I love you Doesn’t revive his Sunny Deol to save the day. It’s an empty gesture about an empty building in an empty movie.

I Love You is currently streaming on JioCinema