It's not for the faint hearted. If you are looking for entertainment then Nagesh Kukunoor's extremely disturbing film Lakshmi about the menace of child prostitution is not something you should be heading the theatres for. Also, if you do not have the stomach to digest brutally graphic violent scenes, you may not want to spend that Rs.200 on a multiplex ticket, where this film is most likely to find a limited release.
Yet, Kukunoor and his co-producer Elahe Hiptoolah's brave effort to delve into a subject of this kind is laudable. At a desolate location in a forest when girls who have barely reached puberty are lined up by Chinna (Nagesh Kukunoor), you already have guessed the doom that awaits the prettiest girl in the group, Lakshmi (Monali Thakur). She is singled out by Reddy Garu (Satish Kaushik), a rich, powerful influential man in a small village in Andhra Pradesh to be taken home. Therein also lies the problem. You have guessed it already. There is nothing revelatory or insightful that Nagesh offers about the tragic lives of prostitutes. As a result the first half of the film which tracks Lakhmi's forcible journey into prostitution, although painfully troubling is not at a story level enthusing.
The film is based on a true-story of the first convicted case of child prostitution in Andhra Pradesh. Kukunoor's film is inspiring for it brings to light the valiant effort that Lakshmi puts forth into dragging her perpetrators to the court. It highlights the intense hardship, pressure and indignity she has to go through to ensure the guilty are punished.
Kukunoor's manner of the showing you the sordidness of Lakshmi's plight is to bombard you with images of extreme graphic violence and scenes which are cringe worthy. The kind which will want you to throw up or close your eyes at the torture the protagonist is going through. In a particularly disturbing scene when Lakshmi is running high fever and has suffered a deep wound on her leg, when she is barely alive, you are shown that she is forced to service six to seven clients in one night. You are left wondering does the director have to show this? Could he have not been less brutal and suggested the violence than actually asking you to stomach it?
The good part is that the film does not degenerate into hyperbolic courtroom fight towards the climax. Yet, the way the courtroom proceedings take place, they do not elicit strong response in you as a viewer.
Luckily, Kukunoor is supported by a team of good actors. Of the cast, Shefali Shah is brilliant in her dual role of an evil-kind madam of the brothel. Satish Kaushik is successful in making you want to hate him with his restrained villainy. As the scheming pimp Kukunoor is flat and is not the best actor of the movie. Monali Thakur impresses you in a role that must have been undoubtedly very tough to essay. Her expressive eyes and her innocent face stay with you after the film is over. Lakshmi is not a film that can be recommended easily to everyone but Monali Thakur, the singer (She sang the dulcet Sawar loon in Lootera) turned actor is definitely someone to watch out for.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/lakshmi-movie-review-monali-thakur-nagesh-kukunoor-satish-kaushik/1/350433.html
Yet, Kukunoor and his co-producer Elahe Hiptoolah's brave effort to delve into a subject of this kind is laudable. At a desolate location in a forest when girls who have barely reached puberty are lined up by Chinna (Nagesh Kukunoor), you already have guessed the doom that awaits the prettiest girl in the group, Lakshmi (Monali Thakur). She is singled out by Reddy Garu (Satish Kaushik), a rich, powerful influential man in a small village in Andhra Pradesh to be taken home. Therein also lies the problem. You have guessed it already. There is nothing revelatory or insightful that Nagesh offers about the tragic lives of prostitutes. As a result the first half of the film which tracks Lakhmi's forcible journey into prostitution, although painfully troubling is not at a story level enthusing.
The film is based on a true-story of the first convicted case of child prostitution in Andhra Pradesh. Kukunoor's film is inspiring for it brings to light the valiant effort that Lakshmi puts forth into dragging her perpetrators to the court. It highlights the intense hardship, pressure and indignity she has to go through to ensure the guilty are punished.
Kukunoor's manner of the showing you the sordidness of Lakshmi's plight is to bombard you with images of extreme graphic violence and scenes which are cringe worthy. The kind which will want you to throw up or close your eyes at the torture the protagonist is going through. In a particularly disturbing scene when Lakshmi is running high fever and has suffered a deep wound on her leg, when she is barely alive, you are shown that she is forced to service six to seven clients in one night. You are left wondering does the director have to show this? Could he have not been less brutal and suggested the violence than actually asking you to stomach it?
The good part is that the film does not degenerate into hyperbolic courtroom fight towards the climax. Yet, the way the courtroom proceedings take place, they do not elicit strong response in you as a viewer.
Luckily, Kukunoor is supported by a team of good actors. Of the cast, Shefali Shah is brilliant in her dual role of an evil-kind madam of the brothel. Satish Kaushik is successful in making you want to hate him with his restrained villainy. As the scheming pimp Kukunoor is flat and is not the best actor of the movie. Monali Thakur impresses you in a role that must have been undoubtedly very tough to essay. Her expressive eyes and her innocent face stay with you after the film is over. Lakshmi is not a film that can be recommended easily to everyone but Monali Thakur, the singer (She sang the dulcet Sawar loon in Lootera) turned actor is definitely someone to watch out for.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/lakshmi-movie-review-monali-thakur-nagesh-kukunoor-satish-kaushik/1/350433.html
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