I Love You Movie Review: "I Love You, K... K... Kiran!" is arguably the most famous line from the 1993 cult thriller Darr, directed by Yash Chopra and starring Sunny Deol, Juhi Chawla, and Shah Rukh Khan. In 2023, director Nikhil Mahajan not only borrows the plot of Darr, but also adapts the dialogue as its title, while dropping the "K... K... Kiran". Now, you may argue that "I Love You" is a common phrase, but if you have seen the film, you will know why I am saying so. Rakul Preet Singh Opens Up About 14-Hour Underwater Shoot for I Love You Scene: Overcoming Cold Waters, Burning Eyes, and Emotionally Connecting.

Here, the "Shah Rukh Khan" character is Rakesh (Pavail Gulati), who for some reason hates his name and thinks it is old-fashioned. He works in the admin department of a company and is besotted with the "Juhi Chawla" character, his colleague Satya (Rakul Preet). Satya is very friendly with Rakesh, but she is in love with another colleague, Vishal (Akshay Oberoi). I would have wanted to call him the "Sunny Deol" of this film, but seeing what the movie does to his character will make Sunny paaji slam his dhai kilo ka haath on me for making that parallel.

When Vishal proposes to Satya at the office, little does she know that accepting that proposal would turn her life into hell the very next day. Satya finds herself trapped in the office after work hours, as Rakesh reveals his true murderous colors to her a la Rahul in the third act of Darr.

Watch the Trailer of I Love You:

When I say I Love You borrows its plot from Darr, I mean to say it borrows the climax of that film and extends it over its 90-minute runtime. At least I Love You is not shy about its inspirations. In the opening act of the film, Rakesh is seen listening to the One 2 Ka Four song "Osaka Muraiya", which was picturised on SRK and Juhi. Later in the film, he forces Satya to sing "Tu Mere Saamne" from Darr, also picturised on the same two stars, so that the influence is rubbed harder in your face this time.

However, while I Love You may try to acquit itself by trying to show that it knows what it is borrowing from, it also ends up being an unwitting victim for comparison. I Love You had an arresting setup - of a woman being trapped at her own workplace with a murderous stalker at her heels. This could have easily turned into a fine one-location horror tale, had the makers not chosen to dive so much into its Darr vibes that the film turns itself into a weak facsimile.

What made Darr so cult (even if it faced accusations of romanticising stalkerism) is that the characters feel well-rounded and the film at least acknowledges that its antagonist is not mentally fit. Rakesh's psychopathic behavior in here is never fully explained, but that is the least of the film's problems. In I Love You, the setup doesn't really require for you to know the characters beforehand; the initial scenes give us a fine idea of what's going on, and smarter writing would have used the trapped situation of the protagonist to develop her further. The fact that the film goes back to flashbacks, with Rakesh breaking the fourth wall, it not only breaks the intrigue factor but also tries to dumb down the viewer, who could have easily guessed what his intentions are without the need for spoonfeeding. Adipurush Movie Review: Prabhas, Kriti Sanon and Saif Ali Khan's Film is a CGI Mess That Does Lanka-Dahan Of Our Senses.

The cat-and-mouse game between Rakesh and Satya lacks the thrill factor to sustain interest. You can clearly see that the film is losing its steam despite its intriguing setup, and the flashbacks and certain 'revelations' (like Satya learning that he has been spying on her even at her home) are there to extend the runtime to at least be a feature-length film. Interestingly, the makers chose to use neon lighting in some of its action scenes, which was also done in JioCinema's last week's big release, Bloody Daddy (what's with this platform and its obsession with releasing a movie every week?). The weak finale adds salt to the hurt.

The one thing that I Love You does differently to stand out from Darr is give the heroine more agency to fight against her assailant. Rakul Preet does fine in these scenes, but they still don't give her enough oomph to stand out as a badass character. Pavail Gulati, a good underrated actor, walks the fine line between ham and fine acting, and at least he seems to be having fun with the role. Akshay Oberoi gets little scope with his character."

Final Thoughts

I Love You reminds you of the new-age remix versions of the '90s songs. There is fresh packaging and glitz, but sadly, the spirit, spark and the gritty soul that made the original stand the test of time, is sorely missing here, while the experimentation with its setup struggle around a weak screenplay. I Love You is streaming on JioCinema.

Rating:2.0

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 16, 2023 04:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).