Who Am I Review - A Philosophical Sojourn Into The Ship Of Self-Discovery

Director Shireesh Khemriya has taken on a challenging subject for filmmaking with Who Am I. The film stars Chetan Sharma, Surendra Rajan, Rishika Chandani and Shashie Vermaa in lead roles and is written by Ashok Jamnani, who has outdone the previous films made on a similar topic. These kinds of films are usually made in regional cinemas like Marathi, Malayalam, Bengali, Asamese, and others, and that's why they remain unknown and are often overlooked by other big budget commercial mainstream films. In my memory, I have a Marathi film called Vihir, made by the genius duo of Umesh Kulkarni and Girish Kulkarni. The film came and quickly vanished into fog when released in cinemas, but the topic still remains unbeaten. Who Am I attempts a similar topic of self-discovery with different characters and circumstances.

Bhavitavya (Chetan Sharma) is a senior college student who is interested in finding the philosophy of life. He befriends a philosophy teacher, VLN Sir (Shashie Verma), and the two have very intellectual conversations about life, death, God, and the reason for their existence. Bhavitavya is living as a PG in Aditi's (Rishika Chandani) house, and they eventually fall in love with each other. However, Bhavitavya's obsession with the search for emancipation isn't quite normal, so he has to depart for an unknown journey with his self-assumed guru, Swami ji (Surendra Rajan). Will Bhavitavya find the answers tos his fantastic questions about immortality and the soul? See the answer sheet uploading in Who Am I's climax.

Who Am I is not an alien concept for the people who have been watching art cinema for years. It might prove to be a bore for the mass cinema lovers, though. We know that intellectual cinema has a limited audience in India, and the audience gets even smaller when it's a low-budget film. Who Am I suffers due to its budget, if not content. Yes, there are a few shortcomings in its writing too, but that doesn't cause a lot of harm here. Had it been shot in a lavish location with a spiritual juggernaut, then I believe things would have been much better. Nevertheless, the film has its own ideas that aren't meant for a large section of audiences. Ashok Jamnani's story delivers a deep message, but the screenplay (adopted by Kallol Mukherjee) remains below the mark. After all, it's all about finding something that's infinite in you. Don't tell me you haven't heard or read it before.

Chetan Sharma gets off to a promising start and stays afloat throughout the film. I was a bit unhappy with that dull-looking presentation in the beginning, but things did improve after a while. You start loving his character, and he stays true to it throughout the journey despite a highly intense transformation in the second half. Rishika Chandani's bindass attitude wins you over from the very first scene. She then becomes a mature girl, whom you just can't hate. No short sized clothes and yet she looks glamorous enough. Surendra Rajan's Baba Ji is sometimes effective, but I think the depth and subtle character graph were missing. Shashie Verma shines in the professor's role as he looks exactly like any college professor would look, just what you call a "Pakau Sir.." The supporting cast is okay—nothing noticeable.

Who Am I is a weak film technically. Although it has brilliant cinematography, the execution and background score are somewhat underwhelming. The music, too, goes unnoticed because you know those certain pauses don't make any difference in the narrative. What works for Who Am I is its mystical structure that drowns you in the big Qs of life. One might think otherwise because not everyone is so philosophical and thoughtful about life. The editing could have been better, taking off 10-minutes less than what it took. Shireesh Khemariya has done a decent job as a director, as he didn't try any larger-than-life theories. He did not spoil the soul of the film. Yes, a few things could have been handled better, but it's a fine attempt to look at an intricate topic like this.