Laxmii
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Kiara Advani
Director: Raghava Lawrence
Just when you thought life can’t be more ridiculous in the remaining days of 2020, Akshay Kumar smashes our senses with his new supernatural flick Laxmii, previously titled Laxmmi Bomb. It also gives Sadak 2 an outside chance to redeem itself as the second worst film of the year. It’s a complete mockery of the audience’s intelligence and a big blow to Disney+ Hotstar’s chances to stand in the way of other major Indian OTT players.
I remember there was a lot of hesitation initially in pushing Laxmii for an OTT release, but after watching the film, it doesn’t seem worthy of spending money to watch just one film in happy isolation. It’s so bizarre that even Housefull series seems like classics.
I have seen Kanchana (2011), the inspiration for Laxmii and never liked it but trust me, the remake is far worse than the original. With a mind-numbing approach to the transgender community and filmmaking, Laxmii is so absurd that after a while you may start screaming for no reason, just what Akshay Kumar does in the film. Logic and sensibilities were never a problem because hardly anybody expected that. What surprised me is that how unfunny and inexplicable Laxmii could get despite such a low standard!
Asif (Akshay), a rationalist, is married to Rashmi (Kiara Advani, they never bothered to disclose her occupation. They visit Rashmi’s parents who live in a huge bungalow in Daman. Things go south when a supernatural power enters Asif’s body. It was fine till here. There were a couple of typical physical comedy scenes involving Akshay Kumar, but as the central plot takes over, laughter wanes and all you’re left with is half-bent Advani performing a totally uninspired dance on ‘Burj Khalifa’.
Despite selling the film in the name of a transgender character, it’s a joke on the community. This is the same Bollywood view of looking at the community as a group of burly, violent people who demand justice and spill blood simultaneously.
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The gags fall flat and actors appear clueless. Nobody has anything to do expect Kumar and then he also ditches the audience. You’ll also meet some template characters like a benevolent Muslim man, a specially-abled oppressed child and some unimaginatively outspoken kids. God, they are so annoying.
The director has a set formula—bring a song when you feel like. He is so good at spoonfeeding that he writes ‘next night’ for a scene change, in case you are not paying attention.
Usually, even in a bad Akshay Kumar movie, you laugh on some puns but this one is totally devoid of any fun. Don’t let your conscience blame you for the rest of your life. Stay away from Laxmii’s antics. We have anyway a pandemic to deal with. Let there be one less problem.
Rating: 0.5/5
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