Right from the announcement of the movie with a pitch dark screen teaser nothing but just a voice-over commentary on smartphone addiction, the interesting buzz around the world of Upendra’s Intelligence started. The filmmaker had shocked everyone with the visuals of a well shot dystopian future. The shocks and surprises don’t end as just promotional gimmicks. UI is a genuine shocker with far too many surprises that sometimes tests your intelligence, sometimes tests your patience– the perfect blend made from Upendra’s Universal Intelligence.
Upendra Rao has two roles in UI. One is Sathya, an altruistic hopeful man with the dreams of an utopia. Another is Kalki, a pessimistic sadistic person who thinks the death of human civilization as the only solution to save his mother– the metaphorical reference to mother earth. The contrasting characterization was intended to reveal something more about us and society than the characters themselves. That was the aim of Director Upendra– to make you spot the ‘focus’ in the movie. Upendra is also a director in the UI movie and supposedly has made a cult film that made the audience go bonkers and embrace the reality of life without any shame. This might be a bit of an autobiographical stretch that doesn’t appear odd considering the acceptance of his hot takes on society and women in pop-culture.
As usually, UI begins with the mind bending banger that we saw in his previous movies. His movie’s first 20-30 minutes are his direct statements of his hot take philosophies to the audience. He doesn’t bluff, he doesn’t beat around the bush. He directly addresses the hypocrisies of society. Upendra has garnered a reputation of the man with irrefutable hot takes. UI gives you several allegorical as well as direct references. The creation of a dystopia– sets designed by Shivakumar.J– where Kalki is the new demagogue is as direct his ideology can get. The allegorical reference of Adam and Eve eating the sinned Apple; his mother with mother nature– where group molestation symbolising the exploitation of natural resources by greedy rich is really astounding. The meaningful understanding of the film just expands a lot.
Upendra being one of the most unique voices of Indian cinema, made eccentric films, like Upendra, Super, A. These are certainly not for everyone. His films always had a weird intelligence. I call it weird intelligence because the creative genius portrays the characters with extreme hot takes on society in such a way that the line that differentiates the art and the artist is not very obvious. Thus, the debates his films can ignite are very powerful and relevant.
If you are willing to bear the Uppi’s mark of soulless heroine treatment as sole hero’s non-judgemental admirer and the unimpressive songs, UI will surely be an entertaining watch and hopefully a ‘focus’ to enlighten you as well.
TF Rating: 3.5/5
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