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I am Kalam - Notepad

I am Kalam

Gulshan Grover, Harsh Mayar, Pitobash Tripathi, Beatrice Ordeix Dir: Nila Madhab Panda

wogma rating: Add to 'must watch' list ^(?)

quick review: I am Kalam charmingly visualizes the life of a little boy who has to work to sustain himself and his family. Its simplicity is works as both an advantage and a disadvantage. The easy-going narrative is a pleasant watch but too-good-to-be-true plot is distracting.

wogma review

Notepad

External Reviews 4.4/5.0

Readers Reviews 5/5.0

Twitter Verdict 4.9/5.0

82 views | Add comment | Movie Details | Trailer

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Plot Summary

9-10 year-old Chhotu works at a roadside dhaba. He is enthusiastic about life but is pulled down by the people around him.

What Worked

Close-up shot of marbles.
The Karni Maata temple as a choice for one of the locations.

What did not

Note: This section simply lists the things that I did not like in this movie. This is not the overall impression about this movie. Please read the full review here

The random use of Rajasthani (marwadi) words.
The philosophy about changing times being talked over a game of chess. Very arbitrary.
How can a teacher ask a 9-10 year old boy to prepare for an "inter-school" competition by himself, just one day in advance?
Why was Rannvijay Singh walking like he had hurt his back? Or was he imitating the style in which his father might have walked?!

I am Kalam - Movie Details

Official Sites: Website Facebook
Banner: Smile Foundation
Producer: Santanu Mishra
Director: Nila Madhab Panda
Lead Cast: Gulshan Grover, Harsh Mayar, Pitobash Tripathi, Beatrice Ordeix
Supporting Cast: Husaan Saad, Namrata Dixit, Meena Mir, Garima
Story: Sanjay Chauhan
Screenplay: Sanjay Chauhan
Dialogues: Sanjay Chauhan, Nila Madhab Panda, Sanjay Chauhan
Cinematography: Mohana Krishna, Mohana Krishna
Editor: Prashant Naik
Background Score: Deepak Pandit
Music Director: Sushmit Bose, Abhishek Ray
Lyrics: Kishore, Manavendra
Costume Designer: Narendra Kumar, Branali Rath
Facebook Page: Link
Running time: 100 minutes
Reviewer: meetu
Categories: Hindi Movies
Genres: Comedy, Docu-drama

I am Kalam - Trailer

If you cannot see a video above, click here to see it on YouTube

I am Kalam - All reviews summary

External Reviews

40 reviewers have given I am Kalam an average rating of 4.4/5.0. 34 yays, 3 nays, 3 so-so. See all external reviews »

Twitter Reviews

On twitter, 85 twitterers have given I am Kalam an average rating of 4.9/5.0. 84 yays, 1 nays, 0 so-so. See all tweets »

Readers' Ratings

1 readers have given I am Kalam an average rating of 5/5.0. 1 yays, 0 nays, 0 so-so. See all reader reviews »

Comments (3)

Saurabh Sengupta:

loved this movie

posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago Saurabh Sengupta has given this movie a Thumbs up (luv you chhotu) . Saurabh Sengupta has posted 1 comments and has rated 1 movies. See Saurabh Sengupta's page for more details.

Garud:

The rating system is a bit misleading. Practically every critic has given the film 3 - 3.5 rating, yet the average critic rating is 4.4/5. Is this the average of the star ratings or just an average of counting the yays, nays and so-so's - with every yay meaning the same regardless of star rating?

I believe it's the latter case. In which case, a film with many raving reviews (e.g. ten 5-star reviews and one 2-star review), and one or two negative reviews would fare worse than a film with all mildly good reviews (e.g. ten 3.5-star reviews). But in reality the former film will be the one most people raved about while the latter one everyone just gave a cursory nod to.

You must explain somewhere how the ratings are calculated on this site.

posted 9 months, 1 week ago Garud has posted 1 comments and has rated 0 movies. See Garud's page for more details.

meetu:

@Garud you are right. The problem is that not all reviewers give stars, so I needed to come up with a scheme that gave an overall opinion of a film. I could not make it on a scale of 5 because for the ones that do not have a rating, it would be very difficult for me to judge whether the reviewer felt that the film was a 2.5 or a 3 or a 3.5. Hence, this in-between.

And yes, I should have a page that describes how this rating is arrived at. Will get on it soon. Thanks.

posted 9 months ago