LAKSHMI- Subhash K Jha review Pg. 2 - Page 2

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars (Three and half stars)

Star cast: Monali Thakur, Shefali Shah, Ram Kapoor, Nagesh Kukunoor, Satish Kaushik

Director: Nagesh Kukunoor

What's Good: The film portrays unadulterated reality which needs to be faced.

What's Bad: Infusion of the contrived commercial essence dilutes the film's matter in the second half mildly.

Loo break: None

Watch or Not?: Nagesh Kukunoor has mustered up the guts to make a film that will shock you to the extent of feeling repulsed by it. And still it is a story that is so deeply rooted in facts and tackled with a coarse realism that it must be heard. Lakshmi is a film that will have you on the edge of your seats, unsettling you with its disturbing subject matter, pushing you to run out of the film and yet the story is so powerful that it will adhere you to it. There are no two ways about the fact that it is a must watch film and Kukunoor has toppled all his previous works by making a film which is yet abhorrent and yet every bit courageous.

User Rating:

Lakshmi (Monali Thakur) is sold off into prostitution by her father. Acquired by her pimp Chinna (Nagesh Kukunoor) and his brother Reddy Garoo (Satish Kaushik), the girl is faced with living as a sex worker at a brothel. After two failed attempts to escape from the hell and a near fatal experience, the girl is rescued by a local NGO. She then decides to retaliate by filing a case against Reddy and Chinna.

The film is an honest and appalling story of her journey to emerge victorious against all odds and set a legal example in Andhra Pradesh.

Lakshmi Review: Script Analysis

Based on the true life story, the film's script has probably been kept close to the facts surrounding it. A 13 year old is kidnapped and sold into prostitution. Smoothly socialized and trained into the art of selling herself every night, Lakshmis spirit doesn't suffer a beating despite drowning regularly in bottles of rum and living in haze of cigarette smoke. The transition of the innocent girl converting into a woman who must survive to satiate the lust of many men is spellbindingly done.

There are too many points in the film where the story seems to lose steam mainly in the second half. A lot of it coming off as unwarranted or unvalidated. But none of it matters when Kukunoor manages to enthuse a spirited narrative from a story that is heartbreakingly true and still not an isolated incident even today. Why Reddy Garoo's helping hand decides to help Lakshmi in her case against her pimps and why his personal physician testifies in court against him are confusing loopholes, but we are so busy feeling a part of Lakshmis success that these points are inevitably forgotten.

The story takes a while to fall in place with its initial hold being merely portraying the trauma of the protagonist. But when it gathers steam, it is nearly undefeated. Tertiary characters are etched with acute detailing. Lakshmis caring roommate who protects her and still teaches her the art of seduction or her caring boss who slaps her and cares for her with equal ease too manage to make a mark in course of narrative. They aren't just their to support the lead but have the dilemmas of their own life.

And in the end, the script wins for being able to evolve Lakshmi into an awe-striking character from the timid 14 year old. When she files a case against her offenders, she has the raw brutality in her wrath which manages to not allow her to lose focus on getting them convicted even when everything else goes against her. It is perhaps that audacious heroism that formed the crux of the film's theme and what it attempts to preach.

Lakshmi Review: Star Performances

Monali Thakur isn't an actress surely but she does a brilliant job in the film. Her natural innocence and childlike beauty is trapped wonderfully and comes handy in gaining an immediate sympathy factor of the audiences. You'll want to jump into the film and drag her out from the grotesqueness she is imprisoned in and it is her charm that will make you feel helpless for her.

Shefali Shah is an actress whose caliber cannot be put to words. She is simply terrific. She is so supremely versatile even in the film that you don't even realize when she shifts from being a caring mother to a lewd sex worker. In a particular scene the pimp ties her down and tries to burn her and her expressions of pain and horror are simply unmatchable.

Nagesh Kukunoor has always made a mark as a filmmaker but in this film he shows his flair for acting. Let's just settle with the line that you'll loathe him and he will make you want to throw up, filling you with disgust. It is quite commendable that he succeeds in what was expected of him.

Ram Kapoor in a small role manages to hold on graciously. His confidence as the lawyer who has to take on vicious sex mafias and fight a case solely on the basis of a 14 year old's testimony is done well. There is a scene where he tells Lakshmi that he is very scared and she tells him even she is equally scared and they both giggle about it is one of the film's most innocent moments. I doubt anyone except Kapoor could have brought in the nervousness and the humor with that much ease.

Lakshmi Review: Direction, Editing and Screenplay

Nagesh Kukunoor is afterall the one who walks in with maximum accolades for being able to show the valor in making a film which is absolutely unlike him. Usually known for the tenderness of delicate stories like Dor and Iqbal, he shows his true tenacity with Lakshmi. Toppling himself into an unsurpassable league he has conjured up the courage to make something so gutsy and marvelous that will get you so disturbed and yet you can't back out from hearing what he has to tell.

Lakshmi Review: The Last Word

Lakshmi is in one word a heroic film. Not only for the story that Kukunoor has decided to tell but also the crude manner in which he tells us that makes a far reaching impact. This is a film that will penetrate into your psyche and horrify you to wits for being a vehemently powerful and intense story. I am going with a 3.5/5. More of such heart in your mouth stories are needed to bring about changes.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4RdYMo-drs[/YOUTUBE]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4RdYMo-drs

None of the lead actors including Monali have charged money for the film. Hence the whole film was wrapped up within a budget of 5 crores in 22 days!👏

Wish there are many more people who come and support small budget films!

Originally posted by: YusBee

None of the lead actors including Monali have charged money for the film. Hence the whole film was wrapped up within a budget of 5 crores in 22 days!👏

Wish there are many more people who come and support small budget films!

Lakshmi: Hyderabad Bruise...Gut-wrenching, Raw, Real & Inspiring Story Of A Child Sex Worker

Starring: Monali Thakur, Shefali Shah, Satish Kaushik, Ram Kapoor

Written & Directed by: Nagesh Kukunoor

Movie Review: Brothels are NOT pleasure dens. As we watch in horrified disbelief, Nagesh Kukunoor's 14-year old protagonist being bruised, bartered, violated and battered by men of all shapes and sizes , what emerges is a deep-rooted societal bias where the girl child is often treated as a liability.

The picture that emerges in this deeply disturbing film is that of absolutely insensitive brutality towards the weak and the poor.

This ain't no sanitized brothel seen in our beautifully laid-our courtesan's courtyard in highly romanticized portrayals of the Fallen Woman in films like Pakeezah Amar Prem. Even Sudhir Mishra's Chameli seems like a visit to the beauty parlour as compared with the bestial brutality of Kukunoor's brothel .

You can almost smell the stench of stale sweat and semen in this stifling world of sexual deprivation. Standing ovation to the film's cinematographer Chirantan Das and editor Sanjib Dutta for making Kukunoor's murky world look so real.

This is no place for an innocent 14-year old girl. But then have we as the collective conscience keepers of the nation been able to foster a society where children, girls and women can feel safe? Lakhmi's exploitation begins early...too early. Sold off by her own father to a female corporator Lakshmi soon finds herself in the clutches of a vicious sleazy pimp, played with stupefying gusto by the director Nagesh Kukunoor.

The tightly-wound narrative's ingrained energy-level owes a lot of its momentum to the dynamics of the exploiter and the exploited as shared bond between Monali Thakur's Lakshmi and Kukunoor's Chinna propels the plot to a point of no return. The archetypal victim and the exploiter , Monali and Nagesh bring to the story a kind of compelling doom that dares you to flinch away in disgust and disbelief.

Lakshmi affords us no relief of escape or escapism. The brutality in the brothel is relentless. As the 14-year heroine( a true hero in every sense) is ravaged repeatedly, sometime by 6-7 men within hours, the female sexual organ becomes just a hole.

"Mujhe toh bas ek chhed chahiye," a blas customer at the brothel tells the Madame Jyoti(Shefali Shah, brilliantly ambivalent in her thankless role). Don't wince. This is not the occasion to get squeamish. Kukunoor takes us through the badnaam gallis of Hyderabad in search of reasons for why we treat economically weaker section of the female sex as play things.

Till mid-point there is no respite from the relentless assault on the protagonist's body and soul...Suddenly the narrative does a volte-face and we are face-to-face with an unexpected saga of vindication . Suddenly it's payback time for Lakshmi's tormentors as a kindly social worker and an out-of-work lawyer(Ram Kapoor, playing what we've seen Sunny Deol play in Damini) come together to get justice for the ravaged girl.

And you wonder if such good Samaritans really exist anywhere outside the movies. If they did, would the horrific saga of Lakshmi's brutal exploitation ever happen? Still, the passage into compassion is excusable,even welcome. You want the better side of life to show up in Lakshmi's life. When it does, the girl embraces the spot of sunshine with heartbreaking gratitude.

There is this shared moment at the end between Laskhmi and her lawyer where she struggles to hide her tears with makeup as the media waits outside for her triumph over her tormentors. It's a moment in the narrative that confronts the complexities of exploited gender with unexpected tenderness.

Yes, there is hope for the wretched and the exploited. Lakshmi is a powerfully-told inspirational tale that doesn't brush the brutal reality of sexual exploitation under the rug. It pulls out uncomfortable home-truths . There are portions of the narrative in the brothel involving Kukunoor and Shefali Shah as the pimp and the Madame that get unbearably violent and gruesome.Both come up with superlative fearless performances. Satish Kaushik as a nauseating paedophile makes your skin crawl. He is THAT convincing.

But the film belongs to singer-turned actress Monali Thakur. As the child forced into premature womanhood Monali's portrait of ravaged innocence will haunt you forever. The folk songs in the background about treating the girl child with tender care mock Monali's numbing pain and grief as she repeatedly tried to wash off the sticky blood of lust from her wounded private parts. It's the most soul-baring performance I've seen since Seema Biswas inShekhar Kapoor's Bandit Queen.

Lakshmi is not a film for the weak-hearted and the squeamish. Isn't same true of life too

http://skjbollywoodnews.com/2014/03/lakshmi-movie-review/419549.html

Movie review: Lakshmi slips in the second half

Lakshmi

Director: Nagesh Kukunoor

Cast: Monali Thakur, Nagesh Kukunoor, Satish Kaushik, Shefali Shah, Ram Kapoor

Rating:

It's one thing to show torture on screen to make viewers cringe at the violence. It's quite another if viewers feel like they have seen a film which is filled with unforgivably cringeworthy moments. That's the feeling we left with after watching Nagesh Kukunoor's no-holds-barred journey of a 14-year-old girl, Lakshmi (Monali Thakur), who is thrown into the bad, hard world of prostitution.

Kukunoor's mantra is reality bites and he doesn't shy away from graphic violence. A heartless, alcoholic father, an immoral politician, corrupt police officers and vicious men ensure that Lakshmi is a sex slave. The camera follows men walking into the dingy room, in which she is forced to have sex even when she is sick. It gets more discomforting when she is shown cleaning herself after the sexual assault.

Writing the film's foul dialogues and rickety screenplay is not Kukunoor's only job; he essays the role of the uncouth pimp, Chinna, who kidnaps Lakshmi and hurls her into a brothel in Hyderabad. Here, Lakshmi seeks comfort in alcohol to ease her woes and learns the trick of the trades to lure customers. She befriends her older roommate and finds a sympathizer in the mistress (Shefali Shah), who is in the business to fund her daughter's engineering education. The events suggest that she has accepted her fate. Instead she runs away only to be caught and subjected to more brutality.

Kukunoor opts for a documentary-style approach which offers little new insight about the plight of the women thrown into prostitution. The film slips in the second half when Lakshmi takes the perpetrators to court and doesn't buck under the pressure as she shares details about her ordeal. While the film avoids mawkish courtroom theatrics, the scenes are so listless and shoddily put together that they wear viewers out than draw a strong emotional response.

In her debut role, Thakur, best known as the saccharine voice behind Lootera's "Sawaar Loon", doesn't make much of an impression but it is not entirely her fault. She is left with a poorly written part but there's promise as she seems assured in front of the camera.

Can we make this thread sticky Mods?

Lakshmi

Madhureeta Mukherjee, TNN, Mar 20, 2014, 06.49PM IST

Kudos to the makers for such bold attempt. Haven't seen it yet.

I would so want to watch dis movie, but I doubt I hv d courage to watch it.

Kudos to d whole team for daring to make a movie like Lakshmi.