Laxmii: Akshay Kumar’s movie is a real torture

NIRMAL YESODA

Amid huge pre-release hype elevated through controversies regarding the title and theme, Akshay Kumar’s new movie Laxmii was released on Disney+Hotstar on November 9. Directed by Raghava Lawrence, Laxmii is the remake of Tamil blockbuster Kanchana helmed by Lawrence himself.

A cliched theme

The film revolves around the life of Asif (Akshay Kumar), who is a rationalist. Asif is married to Rashmi (Kiara Advani). At one point in time, they decided to visit Rahmi’s parents who are living in a bungalow in Daman. Things soon get creepy when a supernatural power possesses Akshay Kumar’s body.

In old Indian movies, it will be the female protagonist who gets possessed by the ghost. But here, it is the male lead who gets possessed. However, the reason behind the demonic possession remains the same, and it has that old cliched theme where the ghost comes back to take vengeance against his feuds.

Laxmii fails to engage audiences

The film which falls under the horror-comedy genre literally failed to engage the audiences in its 140 minutes running time. The film is loaded with the same old stereotyped jokes, and some of them were stale which can be considered as an insult to the transgender community.

Even though the film was sold in the name of transgenders, Laxmii is nothing but a joke on the community. This movie too looks at this community as a group of violent people who demand justice by spilling blood.

A mediocre movie which is real torture

Laxmii is a film that is loaded with an ensemble star-cast. However, none of the actors including Akshay Kumar failed to impress the audiences. Kiara Advani had nothing much to do in this film, apart from running here and there out of fear.

Wonderful performers like Sharad Kelkar, Rajesh Sharma, Ayesha Raza Mishra, and Manu Rishi Chadha were completely wasted by the director in this movie.

Overall, Laxmii is nothing but a cliched horror movie with no elements of surprise. This film offers nothing new, and the makers would have considered dubbing Kanchana to Hindi before thinking about a remake.

Verdict: Better watch the original (1.5/5)

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Kiara Advani

Director: Raghava Lawerence