Review laxmii

Producers- Shabeena Khan, Tusshar Kapoor and Fox Star Studios

Director- Raghava Lawrence

Star Cast- Akshay Kumar, Kiara Advani, Manu Rishi Chaddha, Sharad Kelkar, Rajesh Sharma, Ashwini Sharma, Mir Sarwar and Ayesha Raza Mishra

Genre- Horror Comedy

Rating-***

Illogical but engrossing!

Jyothi Venkatesh

At the outset let me tell you that Laxmii is actually a remake of the Tamil hit Kanchana directed by the same director Raghava Lawrence who had also played the lead role in the film. Aasif (Akshay Kumar) has had a love marriage with Rashmi (Kiara Advani). Rashmi’s father (Rajesh Sharma) has disowned his son in law because he was against inter caste marriage.

Rashmi (Kiara Advani) sees it as an opportunity to mend ties when her estranged mother invites her over to their house in Daman for their 25th wedding anniversary. The woman, who has secretly been pining to reunite with her parents, takes her husband Aasif (Akshay Kumar) who has a granite and marbles business along. Soon after, the family home is witness to strange occurrences and Aasif is turning out to be someone he is not, when a vengeful spirit, Laxmii enters his body and has her own back story.

Aasif takes along in his car all the neighborhood kids refuse to play at the adjacent ground where supposedly an evil spirit dwells waiting for an opportunity to take revenge with her tormentors. Asif, who is known for his crusade against ghosts and spirits naturally brushes it off and insists that they play a game of cricket on that abandoned land. Though nothing major happens after he leaves the ground, when he offers to make green grass tea for his father in law, there is a sort of strange metamorphosis in him

Music by Tanishk Bagchi, Shashi-Khushi and Anup Kumar is too loud and looks very forced while the screenplay as well as dialogues by Farhad Samji (who also sings a song in the film ) are interesting, though the logic in the plot leaves a lot to be desired. Though Laxmii sets out to be a satire against age-old beliefs and biases the insipidness of the narrative and the absolute lack of logic in the screenplay at the cost of a safe formula makes the experience diluted though it will please the formula lovers.

Akshay Kumar reinvents himself as an actor with his portrayal of a transgender and convinced the viewer emotionally with his effective scenes while Sharad Kelkar also scores while Kiara Advani just fits the bill as the housewife and has nothing in particular as her way of contribution. Manu Rishi Chaddha has been shortlisted while Rajesh Sharma is good. Ayesha Raza Mishra as Kiara’s mother regales you with her comic sequences while Ashwini Sharma proves that she is a damn good actress.

It beats me logically why the screenplay writer Farhad Samji ought to have created a different character in Laxmi (Sharad Kelkar) in the flashback, when in the first place it is actually an extension of the character of Aasif. In a gripping narrative like this and it is disturbing to come across more than one song and dance, thus diluting the impact otherwise. Mir Sarwar as the helpful Muslim chacha who rescues Laxmii when he is thrown out of by his father is adequate.

To sum up, ironically though it is a predictable film with a revenge motif and is illogical it is scary to see the film end on an open ending and the thought that there could be a second installment in the offing, it is engrossing and advocates inter caste marriage and is against ghosts and supernatural elements.