'I Love you' is not only easily predictable, but is a very poor and pathetic version of P2

An American thriller film P2 follows a young businesswoman who is working late becomes trapped in an underground parking garage in midtown Manhattan on Christmas Eve, only to later realise that she is pursued by a psychopathic security guard who is obsessed with her. Does it ring a bell? Yeah, that’s Nikhil Mahajan’s new film I Love You streaming for free on JioCinema.

Taking P2 as the main base and drawing inspiration from similar cult movies like ‘Darr’ and ‘Anjaam’, ‘I Love You’ starring Rakul Preet Singh, Akshay Oberoi and Pavail Gulati is all with an empty premise just like the empty building. If you guys have already seen the Hollywood film P2 (which either way was a box office disaster), you can simply stay away. And those who haven’t watched the film, can simply watch it for a more enjoyable experience that the insipid I Love You.

Coming back to the story, the characters are established on a pre-Diwali day, primarily focusing on Satya (Rakul Preet Singh), an independent and strong corporate woman who has recently been proposed by her boyfriend and colleague, Vishal (Akshay Oberoi). The pair intends to leave the city for their Diwali vacation, but later on Satya is unable to contact Vishal or her driver, who was scheduled to drive her to the airport. As she attempts to exit the office building on her own, she realizes that she is locked within its walls, with no one else around.

With Vishal’s phone switched off, Satya calls her close friend and colleague, Rishabh Oberoi aka RO (Pavail Gulati), who works in the same office's technical department. When RO arrives to help her, their situation takes a nasty turn as the night progresses. With her driver murdered and his body dumped in her own car, Satya's life is irreversibly altered when she finds out that RO is the one who is doing all this to her. What for? Only to tell her that he loves her immensely and to achieve that, he can go to any lengths. Even if that means killing Vishal in front of Satya. For he believes, its only him who can protect her and love her immensely.

Though Pavail Gulati gives a strong performance as RO, he couldn’t bring in the charm that Shahrukh Khan brought in Darr or Anjaam convincingly to convey his character's murky shades. While popular songs like ‘Tu mile dil khile’, 'Jhooma chooma de de' and ‘Rooth na jana tumse kahoon toh,’ among others, convincingly convey the nostalgic aura of the time, the film falls short of giving a really spine-chilling experience when compared to P2 or other films of the same genre. Rakul Preet Singh was passable so is Akshay Oberoi with his limited role. In short, I Love you is not only easily predictable from the outset, but is a very poor and pathetic version of P2. Neither its screenplay nor the impactful performances make it worth your time.