‘I Am Katheran’ Review: Fast-paced internet crime thriller ends up being a mediocre box office hit

“I am Katheran” stills

If there is a parallel world where losers must find redemption, then Girish AD’s character would probably be the ruler of that world. Down and out protagonists have been a common factor in all of his films to date, whether Tenniel Mason Dinangal or super saranya or Premaru. his latest outing I’m Katherine Nothing different, but as always, he brings the same basic themes in a different package.

Cybercrime is the shiny package he’s using this time. Only, we see the film primarily from the perspective of hacker Vishnu (Nasren), who has completed his engineering course but still has a mountain of background paperwork to clear. His lack of ambition and string of failures displeases his girlfriend Shilpa (Anishma Anilkumar), who joins her father’s (Dileesh Pothan) financial company as an IT director. When problems arise between husband and wife, Vishnu’s sinful tendencies are triggered.

Vishnu’s character not averse to using his technical knowledge for dirty tricks was established early on, when he attempted a phishing attack on a female classmate’s social media account for his friend. Clearly he was unwilling to try anything on a larger scale. Hidden behind the technological sophistry is a man’s rage at a girl who has plenty of valid reasons to dump him.

Girish and writer Sajin Cherukayil pare down the hacking sequences to their bare essentials, making them digestible. Humor is a common element in all Girish’s films, but given the nature of the plot, there is very little of it. One of the more interesting parts was to break the stereotype of hackers in some Malayalam films, including hoodies and backpacks.

At just under two hours long, the film is tightly packed with events and moves along smoothly for the most part. But it fails to offer much more than what the first hour shows, always returning to another iteration of the hackers carrying out their deeds and the victims updating their security systems. The addition of a moral hacker (Lijomol Jose), a character who also defies stereotypes, brings some excitement to the proceedings. Some elements of the writing were interesting, such as how the stress-relieving pillow rat designed by Vishnu was used at different points in the story.

While one of the characters does call Vishnu a criminal, the film is ambivalent about how it depicts him. At times, it slips into a sympathetic tone, especially in scenes involving Vishnu’s father. This ambivalence also limits the filmmakers from ultimately being able to fully confront the negative shadow of the protagonist, hindering the impactful climax. Despite being a fascinating watch, I’m Katheran The results were slightly lower compared to Girish’s previous games.