LAXMMI REVIEW
Based on the theme of Horror-Comedy and acclaimed to be a remake of the popular Tamil movie “Kanchana”, Laxmmi was originally titles as ‘Laxmmi Bomb’. However, the producer Tushar Kapoor changed the title to the former after several Hindu outfits protested against the original title, claiming it to be an attack on their religious sentiments and an offense to the Hindu Goddess Laxmi.
Akshay Kumar is well recognized for his sheer brilliance and moulding peculiar characters into flawlessly ideal ones. Known for leaving the audience mesmerized by his versatility, actor Akshay Kumar rejuvenated his fans with the much-awaited movie of this year after ‘Dil Bechara’- Laxmmi.
Based on the theme of Horror-Comedy and acclaimed to be a remake of the popular Tamil movie “Kanchana”, Laxmmi was originally titles as ‘Laxmmi Bomb’. However, the producer Tushar Kapoor changed the title to the former after several Hindu outfits protested against the original title, claiming it to be an attack on their religious sentiments and an offense to the Hindu Goddess Laxmi.
CASTING AND DIRECTION
Directed by Raghav Lawrence, the movie stars Akshay Kumar, Kiara Advani, Sharad Kelkar and others including Rajesh Sharma, Ayesha Raza Mishra and Manu Rishi Chadha who were perfect in their skins. The movie has been produced under the Fox Star Studios, Tushar Entertainment House, Shabinaa Entertainment production houses and produced by Shabinaa Khan, Tushar Kapoor.
Owing to the pandemic and lockdown, the movie was released on 9th November on an OTT Platform, Disney+Hotstar.
PLOT
Since the movie is an official remake of the 2011 Tamil movie “Kanchana”, the plots are almost similar. But there are some noticeable variations throughout which act as the distinguishing factors.
In a nutshell, the film deals with a ghost seeking vengeance for being wronged and haunts everyone who is staying in the house.
Aasif’s (Akshay Kumar) belief in logic and science turns upside down the moment he is possessed by a transgender’s ghost (Sharad Kelkar), who has risen from her grave to seek vengeance from people who have wronged her. What starts as a comical journey soon unearths a dark secret.
REVIEW
Although the notion of the movie being a remake comes to highlight again and again, the theme is not entirely based on the idea of remake. Akshay Kumar stepped into the shoes of Raghava Lawrence, who not only played the lead but also helmed the original film.
AKSHAY’S CHARACTER DUALITY
When the trailer was dropped, we got to see everything but not who the actual transgender was, the role originally played by R. Sarathkumar in Tamil film. Akshay’s character is portrayed as the synonym of exaggerated masculinity who upon being possessed by a transgender’s spirit, starts to act like one rising the discomforts of his fellow family members. However, no matter how humongous the movie promotion as a horror comedy was, the script seemed neither funny nor scary. The film is too haphazard in its storytelling to leave any sort of an impact. The ‘X Factor’ seems to be missing throughout the movie.
The most baffling thing is the random stereotyping in the name of creating ‘quirky’ characters. The character of Aasif reflects cliched trans behaviour seems no less than a caricature. Crafting a comedy out of the story of a transgender who is gunning for revenge would always seem like a tall order in formula-obsessed Bollywood. The entire movie seems to be relying heavily on the duality of Akshay’s characters as a Rationalist and as a possessed person trying to fit into the shoes of a trans woman.
(SLIGHT) REFLECTION OF NATIONALISM
Claiming to break stereotypes by heavily stereotyping people across the board is a device bad Bollywood never seems to get enough of: all the transgender characters clap their hands, and dance around a fire; a good Muslim character wears a ‘topi’ and beard; and everyone else speaks their lines in the hope of making us laugh. No one succeeds, not even Akshay, who can be really good when he isn’t taking himself too seriously. The only one does take his role seriously is Kelkar (effective), as Laxmii-the-transgender, who is wronged.
When it starts, you have hope. Kumar plays Aasif, married to Rashmi who is a good Hindu girl. Given that the star has been fervently waving the nationalist flag in his recent movies, just the fact of him playing one half of a Hindu-Muslim pair comes as a pleasant surprise. A precocious child actor is made to spout this line: ‘abhi bhi Hindu-Muslim mein atkey huey hain.’ Is just another agenda of greasing the theme of nationalism. The revelation of Kiara’s character of Rashmi was streamlined to her appearance in the neck spraining song of “Burj Khalifa”.
OVERALL REVIEW
Owing to all these loopholes and mainstream portrayal of the characters and their backgrounds makes the movie a ‘Not-so-Fascinating’ one. The trailer had set the bars high along with the audiences’ expectations from the movie, especially Akshay. Nevertheless, the movie wasn’t entirely an off. Akshay’s expressions, dialogue deliveries and the walk, show that he can go to any length to get into the skin of his and were some of the enjoyable moments in the movie. Since the movie narrates about the ordeals of a Trans (Wo)Man overall, it might be skeptical for some to watch since a slight deflection in the character or story might led to a lot of aggression and offense to not just the LGBTQ+ Community, but to the general audience as well.