The ‘hero’ in “I’m Game” gets an opportunity to become a… new… person in nine months. Basically, the time required for a baby to fully form in the mother’s womb. In the case of Dulquer Salmaan’s character, Dan John, this time is for full recuperation after a severe accident. The following detail doesn’t qualify as a spoiler because it has been mentioned in some places online, including on booking apps: he is fitted with another man’s hand. Since this is a glossy, vibrant movie with stunning colours, the entire process is treated with the same ease as filming someone who just underwent a root canal.
Gloss and colours. “I’m Game” is dipped in plenty of neon ranging from red to purple to cyan… Fitting for a story that revolves around a gambler for whom the casino is a second home. In fact, that’s the only ‘home’ you see Dan spend most of his time at; not his actual home. An explanation is given for why he is basically a man-child who often gets drunk and is up to his neck in debt. Dan is already in danger before the main story has even begun. Whatever follows later would make things even worse. He blames his father for forcing him into a business he isn’t interested in, for turning him into the ‘loser’ that he is now. This lack of control over his own life has been eating at him; you can tell — Dulquer imbues Dan with just the basic — that’s it, just basic — measure of aggression and weariness to convey this point. He is about to learn that this loss of control would be even more strongly felt when a new hand is attached to his body. Basically, the film goes into supernatural mode.
A good number of films had been made around the concept of a hand with a life of its own. From 1946’s “The Beast of Five Fingers” to 2022’s “Talk to Me”, the number can be counted with all the fingers on your… hand. But all those explorations have been variations in the horror genre. Nahas Hidayath’s “I’m Game” is the action-thriller version of the severed hand movie. But it’s also, in a way, a big-budget upgrade of Malayalam cinema’s own “Aayushkalam”, the Kamal-directed film starring Mukesh and Jayaram. (Not getting into the plot details here.) I wouldn’t, however, call it Malayalam cinema’s OWN IDEA since it was inspired by “Ghost (with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore) and “Heart Condition” (Bob Hoskins, Denzel Washington). The Malayalam film is still vivid in my memory because it was one of the many indelible films I saw as a child. Even after discovering the source inspirations, I felt that it was one of the superior adaptations/remake made in another language, alongside Mohanlal’s “Nirnayam” (The Fugitive) and “Thalavattam”(One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) — best examples of adaptations perfectly moulded to suit the sensibilities of Malayali/Indian audiences in a way that feels fresh.
The point I’m coming to is, like Kamal, Nahas uses a different cinematic grammar to take on the same concept that originated in “Ghost” and “Heart Condition”. I’m not going to tell you who the dead person in this film is or how his soul operates in “I’m Game”. All I’m going to tell you is that Nahas gets several opportunities to exercise his creativity. Unfortunately, he also squanders several others despite having a concept with such immense potential. There are times when I went, “Oh, that’s something I’ve not seen before.” But there were also times when I went, “Why are they doing the same thing that has been tried in numerous Tamil/Telugu/Kannada/Malayalam mass entertainers?” The main highpoint of Nahas’ debut film “RDX” was that he was able to sell the emotions of his characters after a home invasion that leaves their family terribly shaken. We wanted those three men to beat the hell out of everyone who wreaked havoc in their household. It featured fight sequences that delivered the necessary amount of catharsis. We felt the tension, the buildup, the punches, and, of course, some of the delightful surprises that showed up in the climax to offer support to the so-called ‘good guys’.
None of those pleasures can be found in “I’m Game”. Mysskin’s casting makes sense, because his corporate villain-gangster hybrid is something of a showman. The performance requires a bit of theatricality, but it doesn’t look awkward on him, since the actor-filmmaker has often been associated with some real-life ‘theatricality’. (By the way, if you haven’t seen Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai”, I’m telling you it would be a big loss.) Aside from Dan, the only characters that made me feel … something... are the ones played by Samyuktha Vishwanathan and Kathir.
The evils of gambling and betting apps are addressed at a certain point. Dan blames himself for indirectly creating the situation that led to the tragic incident, the after-effects of which have now made him a beneficiary in both good and bad ways. Ironically, though, “I’m Game” has almost everyone uttering most of their lines like someone appearing in a betting app advertisement. The portions that get affected the most are the ones involving Dulquer and Kayadu. I wouldn’t blame the latter for appearing in this movie — good exposure, after all — but it doesn’t give her a character we feel any attachment to (which was also nearly the case with her role in her last Malayalam film “Pallichattambi”, with Tovino Thomas). It also does the secondary male lead, playing the dead man, a bit of grave injustice (pun intended).
There is a forced — and possibly misguided — attempt to make this look and sound like an international movie, but that creative choice also proves to be a major chink in its armour. The action sequences are uninspired and tiresome, all cut with the same fast-slow-fast-slow pace that we have seen countless times recently. It wants to be a “Fast & Furious” and “Ocean’s Eleven” at the same time, but it’s the Vin Diesel brain that keeps winning over its George Clooney heart.
Film: I’m Game
Director: Nahas Hidayath
Cast: Dulquer Salmaan, Kayadu Lohar, Mysskin, Kathir, Samyuktha Vishwanathan
Rating: 2/5
