In the recent past, big occasion films have most of the time pulled audiences to the cinemas, for full-family entertainers, irrespective of whether they are good or bad. So, during the pandemic, it was intriguing to see what impact does it have on an OTT platform? How the audience reacts to such films without the pleasure of collective viewing? Akshay Kumar starrer Laxmii, released on Disney+Hotstar, fails heavily in this test.

Deemed as a horror-comedy, Laxmii is the remake of director Raghava Lawrence’s 2011 hit Tamil film, Kanchana. But it is a horrific mess, the film is incoherent, illogical, and irritating. The film is plagued with over-the-top scenarios and dialogues, failing to conjure genuine laugh-out-loud moments or create believable atmospheric tension.

Laxmii is the story of a transgender person's vengeful spirit, which has been wronged, haunting the house and the family of the protagonists till it fulfils its wish.

The film has a casual story but feels structureless. It feels as if things are happening on-the-go, it is just inconsistent. Farhad Samji has penned the dialogues along with the adaptive screenplay, and he disappoints. Aside from one or two inside jokes, the film is shockingly unfunny, and the one-liners misfire bigtime. Laxmii suffers from lame writing, underdeveloped characters, and stereotypical storytelling.

The message of the film is good, i.e. to break the stereotypes surrounding transgender persons, but to achieve this, the film reiterates pre-existing cliques and stereotypes itself, it is shambolic.

The music is average, and the songs disrupt the narrative. The acting is in-tune with the script; Akshay Kumar’s energy does give some respite to the film. Kiara Advani is bland, the actor deserves better. The same could be said about the other cast including Rajesh Sharma, Ayesha Raza Mirza, Manu Rishi Chadha, and Ashwini Kalsekar. Sharad Kelkar is first-rate in a brilliant cameo.

WATCH OR NOT:

Laxmii is over 2 hours 21 minutes and is riddled with lackluster writing, and conviction-less performances. It is an excruciating watch and a bad film by all means. And yes, had it been on a big-screen, it might have been a bit better, but alas we are reminded of the same old clique, “content is king”.