Ram Kapoor's in Laxmi - All Discussions, Articles, Pictures - Page 18

During a crucial interrogation scene in the climactic court proceedings, the 14-year-old Lakshmi is asked by a lawyer to explain what rape is, in front of everyone. Her face turns pale, her body shivers, she is about to break down when she somehow manages to let out one line... "Rape mujhe samjhana nahin aata... Jispe hota hai, woh samajhte hain."

That's what Lakshmi the protagonist says but what Lakshmi the film tries to do is to actually make you go through the horrors of not only rape but all forms of sexual violence. Of the most graphic kind. From hymen-breaking to penis-chopping " and buckets of blood flowing freely throughout "Lakshmi is an extreme experience. Because what Lakshmi " and many, many girls in Indian villages and towns " go through is... extreme.

Having lost his mojo since the brilliant Dor in 2006 " dishing out garbage like Bombay to Bangkok, Tasveer, Aashayein, Mod " writer-director Nagesh Kukunoor is clearly attempting to reboot his career with this star-less, compromise-less, relentless tale culled from a true story.

Lakshmi initially comes across as a very familiar narrative, one whose nooks and crannies have been visited many times on screen. A girl is bought and brought from her village, raped by the pimp before being thrown into a brothel for a successful career in wh**edom. She will try to run away and somehow manage to reach the cops only to find out that the police and even higher powers are all collaborators in this trafficking and sex-trade racket.

But this premise is just the launchpad for Kukunoor who wants to tell a story of heroism in the middle of all the blood and gore, the pain and the penetrations. In Lakshmi, he creates this girl who is innocent and naive at the start of the film but soon becomes aware and wise enough to make every possible attempt to reverse her fate. In that respect, the 14-year-old Lakshmi's struggle for survival is reminiscent of the trials of the 16-year-old Lilya from Lukas Moodysson's groundbreaking Swedish film Lilya 4-Ever.

A big chunk of the second half is the legal battle between Lakshmi and the Reddy brothers who bought her and who run the brothel in Hyderabad in the guise of a girls' hostel. It's in court, as everyone watches and the media records, that Lakshmi puts up her bravest front, not only narrating the details of her damage but also sharing the hidden-cam video of her being repeatedly raped by six customers through one night. That does it.

Despite his no-holds-barred approach, Kukunoor often exploits the plight of his protagonist juxtaposing her sorry state with images from her happy childhood. The background violins go in rudaali mode to attack your tear-ducts and end up melodramatising many a sensitive moment. Even the court scenes are unnecessarily underlined with a soggy TV-soap score stealing the film's subtlety and larger impact.

What keeps Lakshmi real and unflinching are the strong performances from the cast. Monali Thakur, who was first seen in Raja Sen's Krishnakanter Will and then heard in Rituparno Ghosh's Noukadubi as Riya Sen's voice, is extraordinary in her Hindi film debut. Every emotion hatches so easily on her pretty face and then blends into the next effortlessly. You laugh with her, you cry with her and you feel her pain... Lakshmi is more an embodiment than a performance by Monali.

Satish Kaushik, who is also one of the producers of the film, is quietly menacing as the big brother of the girl-buying-and-selling business. In the scene where he rapes Lakshmi, his gestures and expressions make the act look so grotesque and sickening and set the ball rolling for all the abuse to follow. Shefali Shah as the Madam of the hostel who has a change of heart is very convincing. And she gets to do in the film what many women in this country want to do to many men in this country.

Flora Saini as Lakshmi's been-there-done-that friend in the brothel is fun. Ram Kapoor is again very good in his cameo as the lawyer. Kukunoor is obsessed with casting himself in his films and to play around with his facial hair. Here he's got the beard of a goat and as Chinna, the evilest of them all, he is quite effective.

Lakshmi needs to be seen because it gives a new human face to the countless girls being trafficked every day in this country and thrown into the dungeons of sexual slavery. It also talks about this one young girl who fought all odds in her bid to return to innocence. Maybe because she never lost the faith. Even after spending many an excruciating night in the hostel, she sat there whispering a prayer to the little idol on the window sill.

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