I (2015 film)

Origin

In an interview with the Tamil channel Sun TV, held shortly after the release of Enthiran in October 2010,^[12] the film's lead actor Rajinikanth revealed that Shankar had approached and pitched three storylines for him to consider for his next venture, 15 years ago, post the release of his directorial, the Kamal Haasan-starrer Indian (1996). Rajinikanth was impressed with two of the scripts and agreed to star in the films, which became Sivaji (2007) and Enthiran (2010). The third script narrated by Shankar was centered on an aspiring bodybuilder who would later turn into a deformed hunchback following a freak accident. Rajinikanth was sceptical of it and refused it.^[13][b] Following the release of Nanban (2012), Shankar revived the project with Vikram in the lead, his second collaboration with the actor after Anniyan (2005).

Development

Shankar collaborated with writer-duo Suresh and Balakrishnan, to work on the script of his next film.^[15] His norm collaborator A. R. Rahman was signed in to compose the soundtrack album and background score for the film, working with Shankar for the tenth time.^[c] P. C. Sreeram was confirmed to do the film's cinematography in his maiden association with the actor.^[16] Action choreographer Peter Hein was initially roped in the project, but he had to back out, due to commitments with S. S. Rajamouli's film Baahubali (2015).^[17] As a result, Martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-ping was selected for handling the stunt sequences.^[18] Additional stunt direction and supervision was done by Anl Arasu.^[18] VFX company Rising Sun Pictures under visual effects designer V. Srinivas Mohan was selected to provide the special effects in motion filming, while Indian art director Thotta Tharani was confirmed as the film's art director.^[19] In May 2012, Shankar visited New Zealand and met filmmaker Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor's special effects and prop company Weta Workshop.^[20] Sean Foot and Davina Lamont provided the prosthetic makeup for Vikram's beast get-up in the film and additional prosthetic makeup was done by Christien Tinsley and Dominie Till.^{[citation needed][21]} Gavin Miguel and Mary E. Vogt were in charge of the costume designing of the film's cast.^[22]

The film was earlier reported to be titled as either Thendral or Therdal, while Azhagan and Aanazhagan were also used as alternate titles that Shankar had kept in mind. Since they were already used in the Tamil films released during 1991 and 1995, Shankar decided that a single alphabet would be the film's title.^{[citation needed]} In mid-2012, the team confirmed that the project would be titled I.^[23][24] According to The Times of India, Shankar opted for the title I as he thought it "explains all the characteristics of the protagonist"; the word has a variety of meanings, which include "king, beauty, astonishment, guru, vulnerability, owner and arrow".^[25][26] The film's title got the name, as in the film, Lingesan (Vikram's character) was deformed due to H4N2 Influenza caused by the "I" virus that had transmitted due to an injection.^[27]

In September 2014, producer and distributor V. Ravichandran, stated the project would cost about ₹220 crore (US$23 million),^[28] however by October 2014, he and director Shankar was widely quoted as stating the budget would be less than ₹100 crore (US$10 million).^{[citation needed]}

Casting

In April 2012, Vikram was selected to feature in the lead role.^{[citation needed]} Priyanka Chopra was initially reported to be in talks for the female lead.^[29] Later, Asin's name was suggested along with Chopra.^[30] It was reported that Deepika Padukone was also approached, but she denied her involvement in the film.^{[citation needed]} Model-turned-actress Evelyn Sharma eventually selected for the female lead, by an audition, but had opted out due to language reasons.^[31] She claimed this in an interview, more than a week after the film's release.^[32][33] Samantha Ruth Prabhu was then signed on, but she had opted out of the project citing scheduling conflicts.^[34] The role finally went to Amy Jackson, who was paid ₹7.5 million (US$78,000) for acting in the film.^[35] It became her second collaboration with Vikram after the film Thaandavam. Raveena Ravi dubbed the voice for her role.^{[citation needed]} Ramkumar Ganesan, a leading film producer and the elder son of the late-Tamil thespian Sivaji Ganesan, was also added to the cast to play a pivotal role in the film.^[36] Jiiva was considered for portraying the antagonist, but was unable to accept the offer due to his prior commitments. The role instead went to Upen Patel.^[37] Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger was reported to play an award presenter for a brief scene. Ravichandran, however, denied the news, but said that he would appear in the audio launch of the film. To prepare for his role in I, Vikram took some weight loss and gain tips from Arnold as well.^[38] Make-up artiste Ojas M. Rajani, who previously worked with Shankar in Anniyan, was reported to play the role of a transgender make-up artiste in the film in addition to being the make-up artiste for Amy Jackson.^[39][40] Mr. Asia contest participant Syed Siddiq appeared in the action sequences featuring Vikram.^[41]

Characterisation

In the film, Vikram plays the character called 'Lingesan', who considers Arnold Schwarzenegger as a role model and aspires to win the Mr. Tamil Nadu title. Shankar had crafted the hair style of Vikram by taking the front curl look of the younger Schwarzenegger as a reference.^[d][43] As per Shankar, among all get-ups in the film, the hunchbacked man character was the most difficult one to sketch. Vikram was confirmed to sport his hunchbacked get-up in most parts of the film.^[43] The bubbles observed on the character's face were reported to be designed by Weta.^[43] Amy Jackson plays a model in the film. On casting and re-defining her looks Shankar was quoted saying, "I wanted someone who could authentically look like a model and then fixed Amy Jackson".^[7] Vikram also went bald for the film to change his looks in the film easier. Santhanam was also asked to lose some weight for his character.^{[citation needed]} For a cycle fight sequence shot in China featuring actual cyclists, Peter Ming and Alfred Hsing worked as an action choreographer and assistant action choreographer, respectively.^[44][45]

Filming

Principal photography officially commenced on 15 July 2012 accompanying a poster photo shoot that featured Vikram and Jackson.^[46] The first schedule of filming was completed in Chennai by early September 2012.^[47] The main cast and crew were off to China for a 50-day schedule to shoot certain stunt scenes while some song sequences were also filmed at locales in the northern part of the Hunan province. The schedule in China was wrapped up by late November 2012.^[48] In an interview with The Times of India, one of the film's line producer, Bill Chang was quoted saying, "We worked closely with S. Shankar for nearly 50 days in 2012, during which his film was shot in nine different locations. The range of locations available in China is simply mind-boggling. No other country in the world has such variety of locales ranging from colored mountains to futuristic city landscapes." Scenes in the song "Pookkalae Sattru Oyivedungal" were shot in Red Seabeach in Panjin and on Li river in Guilin.^[49] The canned footage of the track was put on hold by the Chinese film processing studio for a year, due to settlement disputes with the producer.

In January 2013, a fight scene was filmed at an abandoned, 20-year-old factory in Chennai.^[50] Sixty percent of the shooting was completed by the end of the same month.^[51][52] By March 2013, four songs and three major action sequences were shot around China, Bangkok, Jodhpur, Kodaikanal, Pollachi and Chennai.^{[citation needed]} In June 2013, a three-week filming schedule was completed in Bangalore, Mysore and Chennai, and 75% of the shooting was completed by July 2013.^[53] Filming was almost wrapped up by March 2014, with just one song sequence and patch-work for the film remaining.^[54] Shankar confirmed that the song would be shot after the film's audio launch.^{[citation needed]} As per reports, a song of 5 minutes duration (later deciphered as "Ennodu Nee Irundhaal") was shot for 40 days.^[7] For filming the track, Vikram had gained a lot of weight of about 110 kg as he had to wear bulky costumes for the number.^[55] The song sequence was filmed at Prasad labs in Vadapalani, Chennai where a set was erected by Muthuraj. The climax train fight scene between Vikram and Upen Patel was shot in the railway stations of Chengalpattu, Visakhapatnam, Rayagada and Berhampur.^{[citation needed]} On 24 September 2014, Jackson confirmed that the shooting of the film was completed.^{[citation needed]}

Post-production

By October 2013, Shankar had almost spent more than ₹60 crore (US$6.2 million) for the shooting and post-production, that include extensive visual effects work.^{[citation needed]} Due to the budget constraints, V. Ravichandran had tightened the cost of the film, which led to several complications regarding its production.^{[citation needed]} In February 2014, Vikram started dubbing for the first half of the film,^[56] and had completed within March 2014.^{[citation needed]} On 3 April 2014, film critic and journalist Sreedhar Pillai stated that the film's trailer was in stages of editing.^{[citation needed]} Patchwork and dubbing for the film was completed on 11 September 2014.^{[citation needed]} The visual effects work began during mid-January 2014 and processed for more than 9 months, according to VFX supervisor Srinivas Mohan.^[57]

Theatrical

A report published during December 2013, stated about the release of I, which will hit theatres on the occasion of Tamil New Year (14 April 2014), thereby clashing with Rajinikanth-starrer Kochadaiyaan.^{[citation needed]} However, the film was pushed due to production delays.^{[citation needed]} In February 2014, trade circuits reported that the film will be scheduled for release on the summer of 2014 (May—June).^{[citation needed]} During late-July 2014, it was further reported that the film will be releasing on the occasion of Diwali (22 October 2014),^[68] which was officially confirmed by the producers during August,^[69] in clash with Vijay's Kaththi and Vishal's Poojai.^{[citation needed]} The date was later pushed due to extensive post-production and dubbing works.^[70] In November 2014, the producers officially announced that the film will release on the occasion of Pongal (15 January 2015).^[71] The release date was later finalised as 14 January 2015.^[72]

Prior to the release of the film, the Madras High Court passed an interim stay on the release till 30 January 2015, following a petition filed by Chennai-based Picturehouse Media Limited which alleged violation of financial and commercial agreements between the company and producers.^[73][74] However, Sreedhar Pillai, film critic and journalist had tweeted that the legal tussles between the two parties were solved amicably and announced that the film would release as planned.^{[citation needed]}

Distribution

In September 2014, Sushma Cine Arts announced that they have acquired the Tamil Nadu theatrical rights.^{[citation needed]} The distribution rights for the Telugu-dubbed version titled I: Manoharudu were purchased by Tirupathy Prasad and R. B. Choudary's joint distribution firm Mega Super Good Films, for a price of ₹30 crore (US$3.1 million), thereby beating the distribution rights for Robo, the Telugu-dubbed version of Shankar's previous film Enthiran (2010) which was sold for ₹27 crore (US$2.8 million).^[77] The Kerala theatrical rights were sold to Global United Media.^{[citation needed]} AGS Entertainment acquired the theatrical distribution rights in the Chennai and Chengalpet regions.^{[citation needed]}

Home media

The media rights of the film was purchased by Jaya TV for ₹20 crore (US$2.1 million). The media rights included satellite rights and ringtones.^[78] The streaming rights were given to Amazon Prime Video.

Box office

Critical response

I received positive reviews from critics with praise for its direction, cast performances (especially Vikram), VFX, action sequences, cinematography and music, but criticized its lengthy runtime.^{[citation needed]} On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 45% of 11 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.7/10.^[84]

Ronnie Scheib of Variety wrote "Shankar's visual ingenuity keeps things zippy for much of the hefty 188-minute running time, and star Chiyaan Vikram delivers a knockout three-pronged performance, but this cinematic bravura is offset by underdeveloped scripting, flatly one-dimensional villains and overdone lone-hero-vs.-swarms-of-murderous-attackers setpieces."^[85] Rachel Saltz of The New York Times wrote "I is exuberant and unselfconscious, but too cartoonish to engage your emotions. The onslaught of images and music will engage your senses, though, even as you're left giggling at the too-muchness of it all."^[86] J Hurtado of Twitch Film wrote "I strains the boundaries of self-indulgence and modern tolerance in a way that has become something of a plague among Indian blockbusters. The film is amazing to look at, features a number of amazing set pieces, and some appropriately over-the-top action sequences, but even with everything including a few kitchen sinks thrown in, it may go on a bit too long for its own good".^[87] Subhash K. Jha gave 4/5 stars, describing I as the "most exceptional" film from Shankar and wrote that it "takes us beyond the imaginable and the conceivable, fusing with fabulous flamboyance the fantasy element with a level of heightened reality that's commercial cinema's forte."^[88] Filmfare gave 4/5 stars, stating that "Shankar balances a social critique along with technical gimmickry and here the message centres about our obsession with physical perfection and beauty."^[89] Komal Nahta felt that Shankar's direction was "first rate" and wrote "His vision is unique and the translation of his vision on to the celluloid is brilliant. He has kept the narration so interesting that the viewer's eyes remain glued to the screen. He has given the film a huge canvas and has made it an audio-visual treat.^[90] Rajeev Masand from IBN Live gave 3/5 stars and wrote "I from visionary Tamil director Shankar is a work of staggering ambition, somewhat weighed down by the filmmaker's own indulgence...(it) may be far from perfect, but for the most part it's pretty entertaining stuff."^[91] The Times of India gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Shot mesmerisingly by PC Sreeram on virgin locales in China and India, with world class CG work, this spectacle works because at the core, it's a romantic-thriller told simplistically....This is pure escapist fare, but will resonate with those who read fairy tales at bedtime."^[92] Rediff gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "The narrative lacks the pace; we usually associate with a Shankar's film. But he does tell a beautiful tale of love sullied by jealousies, greed and anger. The intriguing screenplay as the director alternates between the light-hearted past and the thrilling present keeps you engrossed."^[93] India Today gave 3/5 stars and wrote "It's not everyday you will get to watch a visually rich movie like this."^[94]

Baradwaj Rangan of The Hindu wrote "Vikram's terrific performance is let down by an uninspired, exhausting movie."^[27] DNA gave 3/5 stars, calling it a "great looking film but with shoddy writing and poorly sketched characters."^[95] Haricharan Pudipeddi of IANS, gave 2/5 stars and wrote "All that's big may not necessarily be great. Hope Shankar realises that much better films can be made on a smaller canvas and much lower budget."^[96] Sify wrote "I is definitely not the best of Shankar and he has to take the blame for poor writing. His story is predictable and there are no twists or scenes which keeps you engaged. Barring few eye-popping stunt scenes, a slew of beautiful unseen locations, breathtaking camera by PC Sreeram and few hummable songs by AR Rahman, I is very ordinary.".^[97] Deccan Chronicle gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "While the movie and the effort is good technically, its content is just average."^[98] Gautaman Bhaskaran of Hindustan Times gave 2.5/5 stars, stating that Vikram's performance was the film's "only high point"; he noted that the film had similarities to the novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast (1756), "without infusing any novelty into these age-old yarns."^[99] Deepanjana Pal of Firstpost wrote "I is too long, too stupid and too regressive to be entertaining" and also called it "superficial and the least fun Shankar film ever."^[100]