''I Am'' is a 2010 Indian

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film, package film, or portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of several shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme ...

Onir Onir (born Anirban Dhar, 1 May 1969) is an Indian film and TV director, editor, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for his film ''My Brother…Nikhil'', based on the life of Dominic d'Souza, starring Sanjay Suri and Purab Kohli ''it'' ...

. It consists of four short films: "Omar", "Afia", "Abhimanyu", and "Megha". Each film shares the common theme of fear, and each film is based on real-life stories. The film was financed by donations from more than 400 different people around the world, many of whom donated through social networking sites like

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

. There are four stories but the characters are interwoven with each story. "Abhimanyu" is based on

child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...

, "Omar" on

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 3 ...

, "Megha" is about

Kashmiri Pandit The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins) are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, a mountainous region ...

s and "Afia" deals with

sperm donation Sperm donation is the provision by a man of his sperm with the intention that it be used in the artificial insemination or other 'fertility treatment' of a woman or women who are not his sexual partners in order that they may become pregnant by hi ...

. ''I Am'' was released with subtitles in all regions as six different languages are spoken in the film:

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and

Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, their language People with the name * Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...

Plot

Each film shares the common theme of fear, and each film is based on real-life stories. They are - *"Afia" - A single woman Afiaa (

Nandita Das Nandita Das (born 7 November 1969) is an Indian actress and director. She has acted in over 40 feature films in ten different languages. Das appeared in the films ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth'' (1998), '' Bawandar'' (2000), '' Kannathil Muthamittal' ...

) decides to become a mother using a sperm donor. She is a web designer by profession. She had been pushing her husband Manav (

Manav Kaul Manav Kaul (born 19 December 1976) is an Indian theatre director, playwright, author, actor and filmmaker. He was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the films '' Tumhari Sulu'' (2017) and '' Saina'' (2021 ...

) for a child but Manav leaves her because he loves some other girl. She then decides to have a kid on her own, through a test tube baby. She visits a Doctor Basu's (

Anurag Basu Anurag Basu (born 8 May 1974) is an Indian director, screenwriter, actor and producer. He began his directing career in television, moving to feature films in 2002. Basu achieved initial success with his films tackling the themes of passion and ...

) clinic and asks the doctor to provide her more details of the Donor. She meets Suraj (

Purab Kohli Purab Kohli is an Indian television and film actor, model and former video jockey. Career Television Kohli started his career as an actor with the 1998 television show '' Hip Hip Hurray'' on Zee TV and earned recognition through video jockey ...

) and asks him few questions wherein Suraj feels awkward. Later, she goes ahead with the sperm donation and test tube baby and offers Suraj some reward as thank you gift. Suraj politely declines but hands her over his phone number. In last scene, they show a smiling Afiaa tearing the note on which Suraj's phone number was written. *"Megha" - Almost 20 years after leaving

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

Megha (

Juhi Chawla Juhi Chawla (born 13 November 1967) is an Indian actress, film producer and entrepreneur. She established herself as one of the leading actresses of Hindi cinema from the late 1980s through the early 2000s. Recognised for her comic timing and v ...

) returns home on a business trip to find her childhood

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

friend Rubina (

Manisha Koirala Manisha Koirala (; born 16 August 1970) is a Nepalese actress who works in Cinema of India, Indian films, predominantly in Hindi and Tamil language, Tamil films and has also worked in few Telugu language, Telugu, Bengali language, Bengali, Mala ...

) has suffered too. "Megha" is inspired by

Sanjay Suri Sanjay Suri (born 6 April 1971) is an Indian actor and film producer of Hindi cinema. He made his debut in the film '' Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi (1999)''. He went on to star in many supporting roles, but finally got his big break with '' Jhankaar ...

's real life experiences in

. *"Abhimanyu" - Abhimanyu (

), a successful director, is haunted by memories of sexual abuse as a child. He must deal with his dark memories even as he struggles with his sexual identity. "Abhimanyu" is based on the experiences of fashion designer Ganesh Nallari and gay rights activist

Harish Iyer Harish Iyer, also known as "Aham", ''hiyer'' and "Harrish Iyer" (born 16 April 1979) is an Indian equal rights activist. Iyer engages in advocacy for a number of causes, including promoting the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transge ...

. *"Omar" - Jay Gowda, from Bangalore, (

Rahul Bose Rahul Bose (born 27 July 1967) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, and social activist. Bose has appeared in Bengali films such as '' Mr. and Mrs. Iyer'', '' Kalpurush'', ''Anuranan'', ''Antaheen'', ''Laptop'' and ''The Japanese Wife''. ...

) meets Omar, a struggling actor in Mumbai, (

Arjun Mathur Arjun Mathur (born 18 October 1981) is a British-Indian actor working predominantly in Bollywood films, web series and television serials. He was seen internationally in the British drama series, ''Indian Summers'' and plays the lead character ...

). They flirt and have dinner together and then have sex at a public place. A policeman (

Abhimanyu Singh Abhimanyu Singh (born 20 September 1974) is an Indian actor who works mainly in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Bhojpuri films. Career Singh made his debut with '' Aks'' (2001), directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. He got his first break with the ...

) comes and manhandles them both and threatens Jay to turn him in under

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code Section 377 of the British colonial penal code criminalized all sexual acts "against the order of nature". The law was used to prosecute people engaging in oral and anal sex along with homosexual activity. The penal code remains in many former col ...

and blackmails into giving 100,000 Rupees as bribe. Omar goes with Jay's ATM card to draw money, meanwhile the policeman rapes Jay. Omar returns with 50,000 Rupees, which the policeman takes along with both Jay and Omar's cellphones. Then he takes Omar along with him against protests of Jay (A hint of the policeman intenting to rape Omar). Later on Jay meets Omar again in a hotel and tell him that later that night, Jay had gone and woke up a big lawyer and went with him to the police station to get Omar released only to find that Omar was never there and then he realized that Omar was a part of setup to extort money from Jay. "Omar" is inspired by stories and research material provided by the online portal Gay Bombay.

Cast

Afia

as Afiaa Kidwai *

as Suraj *

as Doctor Basu *

as Manav in a special appearance

Megha

as Megha *

as Rubina * Rushad Rana as Rubina's brother * Madhu Sagar as Ami (Rubina's mother) * Behram Rana as Abu (Rubina's father) * Faisal Burza as the lawyer * Fayeem Shah as Rubina's cousin * Mushtaq Kak as Beig Shab (shop keeper)

Abhimanyu

as Abhimanyu “Abhi” *

Radhika Apte Radhika Apte (born 7 September 1985) is an Indian actress. She works predominantly in Hindi films, and has appeared in a few Tamil language, Tamil, Marathi language, Marathi, Telugu language, Telugu, Bengali language, Bengali, and English-langua ...

as Natasha/Nats *

Shernaz Patel Shernaz Patel is an Indian film and theatre actor, who works in Hindi and English films, most known for her roles in films like ''Black'' (2005) and '' Guzaarish'' (2010) and English language theatre in Mumbai. She made her theatre debut with ' ...

as Asha (mother) *

Anurag Kashyap Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian filmmaker and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to film, the Government of France a ...

as Vinay (step-father) *

Pooja Gandhi Pooja Gandhi (born Sanjana Gandhi in 1983) is an Indian actress, who mainly works in Kannada, Hindi and Tamil films. Pooja Gandhi after starring in the commercially successful 2006 film ''Mungaru Male'', became one of the most popular and high ...

as Aparna

Omar

as Jay Gowda *

as Omar *

as Policeman

Production

Onir first developed an idea for a short film while in

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent ...

. He later decided to make four shorts as he had too many ideas to fit into only one film. "Abhinmanyu" was originally written as a full-length film starring

Karisma Kapoor Karisma Kapoor (born 25 June 1974) is an Indian actress, who works in Hindi films. A member of the Kapoor family, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a National Film Award and four Filmfare Awards. Kapoor made her acting de ...

in her comeback, but after she pulled out Onir changed the main character to a male and turned it into a short film. The shorts were shot on location in

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

("Megha"), Mumbai ("Omar"),

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

("Abhimanyu") and

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

("Afia"). The "Afia" segment was originally intended to explore corruption in

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s, but Onir decided to focus on sperm donation instead. During location shooting in Srinagar for the "Megha" segment, the crew was attacked by rocks and received terror threats and had to shift to

Karan Nagar Karan Nagar is the notified area and the town in the city of Srinagar in the Indian administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. A portion of Karan Nagar in the name of Deewan Bagh was the first declared civil colony in 1942 by the forme ...

. Onir returned later under the guise of a documentary filmmaker to capture additional footage.

Sponsorships through social media

Onir raised financing from not only the film's stars, but also from members of the general public from around the world. Using

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and

, Onir offered backers co-production credit in the film and a share in the profits. People who donated more than Rs. 100,000 became co-producers with a share in profits while those who contributed less than Rs. 100,000 received a mention in the credits. People have sent their contributions from Austria, the US, Nigeria and Australia. ''I Am'' is the first mainstream Hindi film that is

crowd-sourced Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digita ...

through social networking sites. Over 400 people from 45 cities across the world made this film happen by volunteering or contributing financially.

Celebrity contribution

Many of the participants in the film worked for free; Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala and Anurag Kashyap did not draw salaries and

Manish Malhotra Manish Malhotra (born December 5 1966) is an Indian fashion designer, couturier, costume stylist, entrepreneur, filmmaker, revivalist based in Mumbai, India. The founder of the eponymous label, Manish Malhotra, he has been deeply entrenched in ...

designed the film's costumes for free. Fashion designers like Manish Arora and

Aki Narula Aki Narula (born 1968) is an Indian fashion designer and costume designer and wardrobe stylist in Hindi films, who is most known for films like, ''Bunty Aur Babli'' (2006), ''Jhoom Barabar Jhoom'' (2007) and ''Dostana (2008 film), Dostana'' (2008 ...

have made costumes available for free, while actors and his friends Juhi Chawla and Sanjay Suri, and director Anurag Kashyap have supported him with ideas. Juhi Chawla and Purab Kohli also financially contributed to the stories in the movie.

Release

''I Am'' had its world premiere at the I View Film Festival in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It screened at several other film festivals like the

International Film Festival of Kerala The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy ...

and the

Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Fest ...

. ''I Am'' was originally scheduled for theatrical release in India and Australia on 22 April 2011, but Onir changed it to 29 April. To promote the release of the film, Onir has started a script writing contest where the authors of the 10 best scripts will win a meeting with him to pitch their screenplays. ''I Am'' will have a staggered release internationally beginning in New Zealand, and then moving to the US, Canada and Europe.

Home media

The DVD of ''I Am'' released on 31 May.

Reception

Critical response

''I Am'' received mainly positive reviews from critics. ''The Times of India'' called it "an important and intelligent film" and ''The Film Street Journal'' named it "a must watch".

Taran Adarsh Taran Adarsh (born 13 June 1965) is an Indian film critic and trade analyst. He is best known for giving trade figures and box office updates on social media. Career Taran Adarsh started his journalism career at the age of 15 with ''Trade Gui ...

gave the film three and a half stars and named it "a motion picture of major significance" and "a landmark film".

Rajeev Masand Rajeev Masand is an Indian film critic and journalist. He has worked for Noida based English language news channel CNN-Indian Broadcasting Network (CNN-IBN). He usually reviews Bollywood films and major Hollywood films released in India in hi ...

praised ''I Am'' for "fine performances and its inherent honesty". Critics particularly praised Abhimanyu Singh and Nandita Das for their performances. On the other hand, Shilpa Jamkhandikar of

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

called ''I Am'' "painfully rehearsed" and "oversimplified".

Box office

In its opening weekend ''I Am'' released on 67 screens in India and 7 in Australia, but failed to make an impact at the box office. It was fourth in overall weekend collections, ranking ahead of only ''

Zokkomon ''Zokkomon'' is an 2011 Indian Hindi-language superhero film released by Disney World Cinema, written and directed by Satyajit Bhatkal. Starring Darsheel Safary in the lead role, ''Zokkomon'' is Disney's fourth involvement in a production for ...

''. ''The Times of India'' blamed the poor collections on the film's depiction of social issues, saying it was "restricted only to discerning audience".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for ''I Am'' was released on 8 April 2011 on

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

. The songs are composed by

Amit Trivedi Amit Trivedi (born 8 April 1979) is an Indian music director, singer and a lyricist who works primarily in Hindi films. After working as a theatre and jingle composer and composing for non-film albums, he debuted as a film composer in the 2008 ...

, Rajiv Bhalla and Vivek Phillip with lyrics by Amitabh Verma and

Amitabh Bhattacharya Amitabh Bhattacharya (born 16 November 1976) is an Indian lyricist and playback singer who works in Bollywood films. He shot to fame with the film ''Dev.D'' with the song "Emotional Atyachar" turning an instant hit. He sang this song under the ...

Accolades

In 2012 ''I Am'' won the

National Award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate ...

for Best Hindi Film and

Best Lyrics Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

The scripts for "Abhimanyu" and "Omar" were nominated for Triangle Media Group (TMG) Global Awards. ''I Am'' also won the Audience Award at the 2010 River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival, the Best Asian Film Award at the

, and the I-VIEW Film Festival's Engendered Award for Human Rights. * Triangle Media Group's David Flint Honorary Award for Promoting Human Rights The Triangle Media Group, Biennial Global Awards felicitated Sanjay Suri and Onir for their upcoming film ''I Am''. The award was for Media for Social Justice. Onir was in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

to receive the award from Lord Mayor of Nottingham Jeannie Packer and

Vernon Coaker Vernon Rodney Coaker, Baron Coaker (born 17 June 1953) is a British politician and life peer serving as Shadow Spokesperson for Home Affairs and Defence since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Gedling fro ...

, MP

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

for Schools and Learners. ; Official Selection ''I Am'' has also been opening or a closing film for the following festivals * Opening Film London Asian Film Festival, 2011 * Closing Film Australian Indian Film Festival, 2011 * Opening Film New Zealand Indian Film Festival, 2011 * Opening The Silk Screen Film Festival, Pittsburgh (US), 2011 * Closing Film Seattle South Asian Film Festival, 2011

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:I Am 2010 films 2010s Bengali-language films 2010s Hindi-language films LGBT-related films based on actual events Films set in India Films shot in India Indian LGBT-related films Indian anthology films Indian drama films 2010 drama films Films set in Kolkata Films set in Mumbai Films about women in India Indian pregnancy films Best Hindi Feature Film National Film Award winners 2010 LGBT-related films Hindi-language drama films LGBT-related drama films