I Want To Talk Review: A Slow-Paced Tale Of A Not-So-Average Brave Man

RATING - ⭐ ⭐ ✨ 2.5/5*

I Want To Talk Review MovieTalkies:

Shoojit Sircar brings a new story this time and a very sensitive one. There is always one emotional, soft side to such stories, but that makes them weak also. To counter that, some directors have found a new way of storytelling, and that is adding humor to these sensitive stories. Sircar is one of those directors. He did the same thing with Vicky Donor and Piku and succeeded, and then failed with Gulabo Sitaaro. He came back with a bang with Sardar Udham, but it wasn't a story that could have had any kind of humor or jokes. Now he does it again with I Want To Talk, and I'd say he finds a middle, average status here. This film is based on a sensitive topic, but we don't feel that sensitivity since the leading character is either rude or too humorous. At last, we realize that he was a fighter and never believed in a term called "Average" person. However, the film of this not-so-average man ends up being an "average" affair—far from the great Sircar's own high standard.

The film opens with Arjun (Abhishek Bachchan) talking about the word manipulation with a blackout. Arjun is an NRI and is working as a marketing expert in America. He loves to talk, and a lot of rubbish, to be precise. "Do you hear your own words?" is what his colleague asks because he has an open and a very insulting mouth. Destiny decides to play a tough game with him and grabs him with a unique disease that might have his voice in trouble. Arjun is hit by cancer that's hurting his larynx and stomach. He is facing life-altering surgery as well as navigating a complex relationship with his daughter since her childhood. He is so humorous that he calls himself a "gutless man" after having a stomach surgery (to make it perfect for a man with no stomach). He goes through multiple surgeries and is still trying to live his life with that pain and unease. Will he be able to make it till the end?

I Want To Talk first gave me the impression that the man will actually lose his voice in the beginning and will struggle to talk throughout the film—that was my speculation for "I Want To Talk." I was wrong. He does lose his voice, but only for a while. He gets it back; he operates again; then he again loses it; he again goes through an operation; another surgery; another new cancer; and it goes on for two hours (in the film). It somehow becomes a motiveless film, which I think is the biggest weakness of the script. He decides to run in a marathon to find something in life (similarly, Anupam Kher's Vijay 69 did the same a couple of weeks ago), but I don't understand why he didn't do it before. In between, we see him finding a new career as a blogger/youtuber, but we don't see any clarity whether he continued that or not. His financial status and earnings are also not revealed, so I wonder how he managed to afford so many surgeries after losing the top-class job years ago. That's one disadvantage of true stories: you cannot flirt with original source material and make it dramatic. Despite many flaws like this, the film makes enough sense at the end because there you see the "real man," and you feel like saluting this "brave" man for coming this far. As he says, "There is nothing like an AVERAGE person." In one scene, Johnny Lever says one of the best dialogues from the film, "You either die or you don't die. There is no third or middle term. What's this? I could've died."

Abhishek Bachchan's honest performance keeps the show going. You see him in multiple shapes and looks, and it's a bit difficult to understand the kind of situations he is going through at that moment since there are so many surgeries, so he had to have so many shapes as per the situations. Ahilya Bamroo has done exceptionally well, and so has the big supporting cast that includes Pearle Maaney, Johnny Lever, Kristin Goddard, Caprice Ott, Jamet Carter, Tom McLaren, David Moskowitz, and others.

The film definitely suffers from slow screenplay that makes it a bore in the middle. Imagine having a runtime of 115 minutes and still the film looks slow. What's the standard runtime for such dramas then? 15-20 minutes less, and this would have looked better, I guess. We also see some scattered narration; well, that's because we don't know the story well. Nancy didn't call Arjun; why? This point should have been highlighted since it had a lot to do with Arjun's life. My assumption is that Nancy couldn't call because Arjun had a throat surgery and couldn't speak at that time. This would have been a serious metaphor and a damn impactful one, if the director wanted. Sadly, the opportunity was missed for bad. The cinematography and sound design were decent, and the editing was below par. I personally don't like those 10-15 pauses with darkness, sky, trees, beds, rooms, and other properties that don't define your context. Instead, he could have explored the relationship of father and daughter with more runtime. Shoojit Sircar is the man who believes in his own conviction and is very happy with results. Sometimes it goes right, sometimes it goes wrong with others, but he is still intact. With this one, he could have done a lot better, and I am writing this as a fan. I expect a lot from the man who is coming after a near-classic and near-perfect feature film like Sardar Udham, so don't blame me if I call I Want To Talk an average film. Doesn't matter; he will come back stronger and give his fan, i.e., me, another chance of jumping with joy.