Movie Review: I Love You

By Bollywood Hungama News Network -

June 16, 2023 - 6:37 PM IST

I LOVE YOU is the story of a woman locked in her office. Satya Prabhakar (Rakul Preet Singh) works in a company named Zelisu. She’s in love with her colleague Vishal (Akshay Oberoi). Her best friend is Rakesh Oberoi aka RO (Pavail Gulati). She trusts him blindly and he’s always there to help her in whichever way possible. A day before Diwali, Satya arrives at her office. She’s going to her hometown, Delhi, on a late-night flight to celebrate the festival with her family. In the evening, she suddenly dozes off at her work desk and by the time she wakes up, it’s quite late. She tries to leave the office and realizes that all exits are locked. She calls Vishal and her driver Mishra (Sharad Jadhav) but they seem to be unavailable. With no other option, she calls RO, who incidentally is also flying with her to Delhi. He comes to her rescue. Satya heaves a sigh of relief, but her joy is short-lived. RO kidnaps her and this is when Satya learns that he obsessively loves her. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

Movie Review: I Love You

Nikhil Mahajan's story is fair. It seems to be an unofficial remake of the Hollywood film P2 [2007], which incidentally has also been remade earlier in Hindi [FOUR PILLARS OF BASEMENT; 2015]. Mahajan's screenplay is fine in the beginning but unimaginative later on. His dialogues are well-worded.

Nikhil Mahajan's direction is decent. He has gone creative in places, be it RO wearing T-Shirts or mugs that depict his state or the various Hindi songs being played on the music device from time to time. It’s also interesting to see that he revealed RO’s actual intentions after a point. Some scenes are nail-biting.

On the flipside, after a point, nothing much happens in the film. It’s just 93 minutes long and yet, feels quite lengthy as it starts to drag. Satya pretending to be attracted to RO and then telling him the truth followed by again pretending to be besotted by him is very unconvincing. Agreed that RO was mentally sick, but he was smart enough to see through it. What is also difficult to digest is Satya taking so much time to escape from the office, especially after getting free of RO’s clutches. She could have used the gym equipment or other heavy stuff to break the glass door at the entrance. Instead, she dives into the swimming pool, which was forcefully added and had no relevance. As a result, one doesn’t feel high when she finally manages to escape.

Speaking of performances, Rakul Preet Singh performs the difficult role with panache. After CHHATRIWALI [2023], this is yet another fine performance from the actor. Pavail Gulati nails the part and is quite good as the obsessive lover. The scene where he learns that Satya is dating Vishal, especially, stands out. Surely, one of his best performances. Akshay Oberoi is hardly there and is okay. The same goes for Sharad Jadhav. Kiran Kumar (Anthony) is wasted.

Songs don’t have a shelf life. 'Yeh Nazar' registers due to Adnan Sami’s voice. 'Rihaa Rihaa' and 'Salaamat Rahe' are forgettable. Shor Police's background score is appropriate. Cameron Bryson's cinematography is neat. Minal D Rath's production design is rich and adds to the visual appeal. Dipika Lal and Anirudh Singh's costumes are realistic. Vikram Dahiya's action is gory. Abhijeet Deshpande's editing should have been crisper.

On the whole, I LOVE YOU rests on Rakul Preet Singh and Pavail Gulati’s strong performances but suffers due to a weak script and too many loose ends.

Rating: 2 stars