I Am God (2009)

I Am God (2009)
aka: Naan Kadavul
Director: Bala
Cast: Arya, Rajendran, Pooja Umashankar
Indian drama.

A man and his daughter ask a holy mystic to help them track down the son who's been away on a spiritual journey for 14 years. Only on finding their son it turns out he has risen to the state of a Aghori God (must mean a god on earth). Gods aren't aloud to have bonds with humans so he is ordered to travel back to his home village, to end his ties with his family, before he can return to his spiritual life. Only he ends up staying in the village, helping a blind beggar stand up against a sadistic people trader and his gang.

Bollywood is one of the few world movie markets I've never fully embraced, for no other reason than, no matter what genre the film, they always contained impromptu song and dance moments, and musicals aren't me. On the surface 'I Am God' is no exception only its more in keeping with a tradition samurai movie or spaghetti western. Visually its fantastic, the music/sound is rich and the story is amazingly puzzling. Did I enjoy it, hell yeah. Did I have a clue what was going on, for most part hell no. The moral ground it takes was also beyond me, take the son, evens though he is meant to be a god, he's lazy smokes opium most the times hes awake, and beats up anyone who pisses him off including women and the police. Another thing is I've never seen as many people with pysical disabilities deformities in a feature film, even Tod Brownings Freaks pales alongside it. Oddly it is these moments with the beggars that I enjoyed the most, theres a real natural feeling to the scenes like the legendary dueling banjo scene from Deliverance or that Mama Sunshine musical number from that Todd Solandz movie, these parts would usually make you feel depressed or angry at the way they are being exploited but strangely the scenes have a great sense of humour and warmth. The squeaky voiced Samuel L Jackson looking guy and his laughing midget sidekick could have become a great comedy duo, I was so hoping they would have given them a Pulp Fiction type of diner moment together. Excellent movie that has deserved its praise among cult and world movie fans.

Cultdb Totals
[Rated 8 out of 10]
[Deathcount 2]
[Gorequota N/A]

Themes Included: Smokin' ● Midgets ● Spirituality
Corrupt Police ● Bollywood Fu ● Blind Busker Singing ● Tranny Dance Routine