I Am is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language anthology film by Onir. It consists of four short films: "Omar", "Afia", "Abhimanyu", and "Megha". Each film shares the common theme of fear, and is based on real-life stories. The film was financed by donations from more than 400 different people worldwide, many of whom donated through social networking sites like Facebook. There are four stories but the characters are interwoven with each story. "Abhimanyu" is based on child abuse, "Omar" on gay rights, "Megha" is about Kashmiri Pandits and "Afia" deals with sperm donation. I Am was released with subtitles in all regions as six different languages are spoken in the film: Hindi, English, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali and Kashmiri.

Plot

Each film shares the common theme of fear, and each film is based on real-life stories. They are -

Cast

Afia

Megha

Abhimanyu

Omar

Production

Onir first developed an idea for a short film while in Berlin, Germany. 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 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 ("Megha"), Mumbai ("Omar"), Bangalore ("Abhimanyu") and Kolkata ("Afia"). The "Afia" segment was originally intended to explore corruption in NGOs, 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. 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 and Facebook, 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 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 designed the film's costumes for free. Fashion designers like Manish Arora and Aki Narula 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. It screened at several other film festivals like the International Film Festival of Kerala and the Vancouver International Film Festival. 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 gave the film three and a half stars and named it "a motion picture of major significance" and "a landmark film". Rajeev Masand 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 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. 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. The songs are composed by Amit Trivedi, Rajiv Bhalla and Vivek Phillip with lyrics by Amitabh Verma and Amitabh Bhattacharya.

Accolades

In 2012 I Am won the National Award for Best Hindi Film and Best Lyrics. 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 International Film Festival of Kerala, and the I-VIEW Film Festival's Engendered Award for Human Rights. I Am has also been opening or a closing film for the following festivals