Me, Review: Compulsive Disorder

With names like Adil Amaan and Preeti Ganguly associated with it, Me could have been worth a watch. The former, who plays a central character, is an acting graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) from a mid-70s batch and an acting teacher for years. Currently, he’s the Head of the Department of Acting at the state run, prestigious, FTII. Preeti Ganguly, who is credited as co-writer, was Ashok Kumar’s daughter and an actor in her own right. She also ran Ashok Kumar School of the Dramatic Arts. Nothing is known about her writing abilities, and since she died in 2012, aged 59, one wonders when and how did the producers of Me acquire her work, and what it went through before reaching the screen.

No such details are available for the two names that dominate the show--Sammeer Satiish and Gurpreet Kaur. Both are co-producers and the main actors in the film. Satiish is the director and co-writer as well. Neither their own website nor any of their press releases tell us anything about their backgrounds. And nothing is available on the Internet. It has been mentioned somewhere that it is Satiish’s maiden effort. It could well be Kaur’s debut film too. That could be a weak excuse for the patchy and meandering fare audiences will have to put up with. To be fair, Me is not a run-of-the-mill film, with incredible fights, mass choreographed dancing, item numbers and double entendre. Its milieu and characters are basically realistic, and that is about the only saving grace of the film, made in English and released in a dubbed Hindi version too. It was shown to Mumbai critics exactly a month ago but finds release only now.

Sara(h) Kapoor is a self-obsessed psychologist. She is sincerely attempting to cure her husband, theatre director Aryan, who suffers from an acute case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (O.C.D). Dr. Khan, an America-based psychiatrist of international repute, on a visit to India, honours Sarah for her thesis on O.C.D., based on her case study of her own husband. Sarah solicits Dr. Khan’s help in curing her husband. Before meeting Sarah, Dr. Khan, in a séance session, has already received a ‘message’ to help Sarah. Aryan and Sarah then start witnessing inexplicable events, and it appears to Aryan that Sarah has a Doppelganger hanging around the house. Aryan’s condition worsens. And then the mystery begins to resolve.

The writer and director in Satiish seems unfamiliar with concepts like editing points and pace, so even the few well-enacted scenes suffer. Analogy with the Mahabharat was a nice idea, but needed better execution. Bit actors look like real amateurs, even non-actors. Budget constraints are obvious. Most actors, most of all Satiish himself, take long pauses before reacting or mouthing their dialogue. Yes, Aryan suffers from OCD, but how can he direct plays if he is permanently lost? Gurpreet has potential and confidence. In the right hands, she might even shine.

Back in the mid-70s, a Pune-based young man called Adil Cardmaster completed an acting course at FTII, Pune, and came to Bombay, looking for work. He found roles in films like Phir Janam Lenge Hum (bi-lingual, Hindi-Gujarati), Aaina and Swarag Narak. He could do the Gujarati dialogue without dubbing because he was Parsee and Gujarati was his mother tongue. However, Cardmaster was not a nice surname for an actor, especially in the days of Mithun Chakraborty’s Gunmaster series of films. So, he assumed the name of Adil Amaan. Nobody even remembers Cardmaster, except when you read a restaurant review about a Pune eatery, signed Adil Cardmaster, on a hospitality website. He was in one of the last batches at FTII, which discontinued the acting course in 1978. It was revived in 2004. Adil taught at fellow Pune-resident, late Arun Dutt’s acting institute, for some time, and after Arun, master craftsman Guru Dutt’s son, passed away, he has assumed the position of HoD of Acting at FTII.

One thing is clear. Either Amaan has not conducted any workshops for the cast of Me, or, if he has, they needed much more grooming. About his own performance…it is nothing to rave about. In fact, in a couple of scenes, you can read on his face some amusement at the way the proceedings are being shot. Yet, by comparison, you can discern a trained actor from raw beginners.

Me is produced by The Illusionists Film Company. As for me, I have no illusions about the film.

Rating: *1/2

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtku-2AVPBo&feature=em-upload_owner