MY3 review: Hansika, Mugen Rao, Shanthnu put up decent performance in this harmless sci-fi drama

3/5

Story: A young businessman, who suffers from loneliness, orders a smart humanoid robot from an ambitious robotic scientist. However, the robot stops functioning before it is delivered. The scientist requests his ex-girlfriend, based on whom the robot has been designed, to act as one for a few days. The businessman becomes obsessed with the robot without knowing that it is a human being. How would he react if he got to know the truth? What are the legal and emotional consequences?

Review: Rajesh, who is known for his expertise in handling comedy, has made his digital debut with MY3. The sci-fi drama, which is the official adaptation of the popular Korean series I Am Not a Robot, is likely to appeal to those who haven't watched the original. 

The story begins with the introduction of Adhithya Chandrasekhar (Mugen Rao), an Ooty-based businessman who also happens to be a millionaire. He leads a luxurious life which everyone aspires for, but he suffers from loneliness owing to a rare medical condition. He is allergic to human touch and badly craves a companion.    

Adhithya orders a humanoid robot from Eliyas (Shanthnu), an ambitious scientist who has been working on it for eight years. The latter and his team are elated over their collaboration with the businessman, but their happiness is short-lived. An unexpected incident leads to a technical glitch which further results in the robot's malfunctioning.

Eliyas seeks support from Mythiri (Hansika), his ex-girlfriend, to act as the robot for a few days at Adhithya's home, thanks to her striking similarity with the machine. What follows is a series of confusions, emotional conflicts and relationship issues. 

The plot has ample scope to generate unlimited fun, suspense and relatable emotions. The makers manage to entertain for most of its portions, thanks to some of the neatly designed sequences. Mugen comes up with an interesting performance and does justice to his role. Hansika entertains as a robot and as an emotional person who goes to any extent to make people happy. 

Shanthnu portrays various emotions in a flawless manner and contributes aptly to the proceedings. Janani, Abishek, Sakthi and Subbu Panchu Arunachalam deliver neat performances. Aneesh Kuruvilla's antics bring the house down in a few scenes and some of his portions with Narayanan are thoroughly entertaining. 

Karthik Muthukumar's cinematography is one of the pleasant aspects of the series. Ashish Joseph's editing is okay, but nine episodes are a tad long for this story. Some of the portions appear stretched which impacts the overall duration and dilutes a few entertaining moments.

The logic goes for a toss in a few sequences though actors come up with decent performances and overshadow them. The characters, except for a few, aren't explored much because of which we fail to connect with some of them.

Verdict: The entertaining plot offers a few delightful moments, thanks to the uniqueness of the subject. The performances keep you hooked to an extent, but the screenplay lacks the required punch.    

MY3 is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.