Movie Review: Laxmii: Ruined Genre as well as the Concept! *½

 1885th BLOG POST

Since lockdown commenced, there were several announcements of many full-fledged movies releasing directly on OTT but all the excitement evaporated when the initial set of movies couldn’t garner much curiosity from the viewers. Then the only hope remained of the survival for the OTT movies was “Laxmii” which was earlier named as “Laxmii Bomb” lead by Akshay Kumar – the 1^st OTT release to feature a superstar. I am finally done watching the movie on Hotstar which can be called as First Day First Show in the language of OTT as it released at 7:05 PM and I started viewing it right from the first minute.

The movie is based in the genre of Horror Comedy – the genre in which Stree did very well and every movie in the same genre is compared with the standard Stree has set. The first half of the movie is more about director trying to make the whole ambience more comical than horror whereas the second half is more about trying to scare us than make us laugh. I believe the script is the biggest failure for this movie. Yes! The movie is disappointing when it comes to its writing and execution. The concept of having transgender ghost in the body of a man played by Akshay Kumar could have done magic but mostly it seems to be some spoof. Even though I haven’t watched the original movie from which it has been adapted still it looks as if it’s an episode of The Kapil Sharma Show and nothing more than that.

 

The movie only picks up in the pre-climax and climax when Sharad Kelkar enters as the real Laxmii and later, when Akshay Kumar, plays the role of transgender with utmost sincerity while taking revenge against the perpetrators those ended Laxmii’s life. The social issue with transgenders is also highlighted nicely in this part but by then, they have done enough insult to the community. The background music has played its part nicely in few scenes but surely, it couldn’t scare me in most of the scenes where director must have thought that audience will jump out of fear. Similarly, dialogues aren’t great too. The comical stuff is also just plain and couldn’t make you laugh out loud. You just smile at the silliness of the whole scene.

 

The songs are inserted in the movie for no reason except the one where a bunch of real transgenders have danced in the devotion of Lord Shiva. The action scenes are great in the climax but with idiotic insertion of VFX, even that has been spoilt. There is no one section where the movie could do justice with its frame. There is something wrong in every scene. And I must say, the Hindu religion has again been targeted throughout with some or the other insults regularly happening – mostly in the first half. Also, the other religion’s superiority is regularly proved over Hinduism. This has really irritated me.

 

Now talking about the performances, let me start with someone I have no complaints with i.e. Sharad Kelkar. He has played the character of real Laxmii and what a performance I must say. His avatar of a transgender character has totally overtaken whatever Akshay Kumar was trying to achieve throughout the movie. He did magic within his short role itself which Kumar couldn’t even in the whole movie. Sharad is the surprise element of the movie otherwise there’s nothing to watch here. Akshay Kumar has disappointed big time except the climax. It’s only in climax that I felt he has done some serious prep for the role otherwise I thought he has done it for the sake of doing something different. Kiara doesn’t have much to do as his wife but only looks pretty and interesting. All the supporting actors are also a disappointment and nothing else. There are other issues with the movie too where a kid is shown taking name of elders whereas in another scene a DIL slapping her MIL and many such scenes but let's not talk much about them.

 

Overall, the movie is avoidable but still if you are looking forward to watch the actors playing transgender role, please watch only from where Sharad Kelkar enters the scene because after that, even Kumar’s performance sees an upward trend. I give this movie 1.5 stars out of 5.

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA