'Laxmii' review: No Akshay Kumar, that's not how you represent the trans community 

Just when you thought that Akshay Kumar could be given the trophy for making the most socially relevant, issue-based, message-driven films in Bollywood- he delivers 'Laxmii'. A film that falters at every step and misrepresents the transgender community.

Akshay Kumar's latest has been directed by Raghava Lawrence who is also attributed for the film's screenplay and story. A remake of 2011 Tamil film 'Kanchana', the film aims to raise awareness about the third gender and attempts to highlight the importance of inclusivity. On paper, the idea may have appeared great- a film on trans community, with dollops of horror and comedy thrown in and with Akshay Kumar leading the film- what could go wrong with the film, the makers must have thought. Yet, all these factors and a few more- spirals 'Laxmii' into a bottomless pit.

Kumar plays a liberal Muslim man called Asif, who runs an organisation that debunks myths around ghosts and evil spirits. He believes that there are no ghosts and if he ever happens to see one, he would wear bangles. Alarming statement from a man, who goes around educating people about the evils of superstition, who tries to find logic in everything and who himself has married a Hindu girl called Rashmi (Kiara Advani). Yet, he thinks it's okay to wear bangles as a sign of defeat. Unbelievable that its 2020 and Bollywood is still churning out such stupid stereotypes with absolute nonchalance in a movie that has a progressive theme!

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Asif and Rashmi eloped three years ago and decide its time to face Rashmi's family who has so far disapproved their alliance. During their visit, Asif starts behaving erratically, and that leads to the family to speculate whether he has been possessed by an evil spirit.

In the garb of being woke, relevant and funny at the same time- the film becomes a 2 hrs 20-minute cringe-fest where the jokes are not funny, the horror is too predictable and a theme that tries to appease too many people at the same time without making any impact whatsoever. The plot not just tries to talk of the third gender but it also slyly makes its leading man a Muslim to appease the actor's wider fan base. Lawrence makes everything too obvious. There is nothing left for the audience to interpret. A Muslim man talks of transgender god Ardhnarishwar with as much ease as a Hindu family calls a Pir baba to get rid of an evil spirit from their home. In Lawrence's world- all communities live harmoniously.

While watching the film, I had so many questions. Why were there songs arbitrarily placed in the film? Before the 'Burj Khalifa' song, Kumar tells Advani 'Come, let me take you into my dreams' and the next moment the two are dancing to a bizarre song in atrocious outfits. Every actor is overacting, every song is out of place, some characters disappear in the middle of the narrative without any explanation and there are scenes written in the screenplay that make no sense at all.

Sharad Kelkar and Akshay Kumar, both play eunuchs in the film. While the actors are quite convincing in their parts- they get the walk and the talk right- one can't help but wonder that why would the makers not cast an actual transgender actor for the main role. Sure a film bankrolled on Kumar's name works more- but couldn't they have cast a transgender person in place of Kelkar? Wouldn't that make the theme of the movie more effective?

Ultimately, 'Laxmii' is a shoddy film with a badly written screenplay that grossly misrepresents the trans community- makes a mockery of the idea of inclusivity and tries to appease people with a superficial storyline.

Akshay Kumar's 'Laxmii' won't make you laugh, it won't spook you either. It will just leave you angry, frustrated and full of questions.

The film is now streaming on Disney+Hotstar.