Laxmii review: Akshay Kumar outdoes Raghava Lawrence's transgender act in a remake that looks forced and preachy | Bollywood Life

When remaking a highly successful film, the responsibility always remains to not only avoid tarnishing the legacy of the original, but also retain its essence while adding or changing something that gives the new version its own identity. Now, while the essence is retained and the changes are more than welcome in Laxmii, the truth of the matter is that they don’t do enough to improve upon 2011’s Tamil superhit, Kanchana, but instead, surprisingly, the film runs out of steam two-thirds of the way, something which the original never did till the very end despite a similar runtime. Does that mean Laxmii isn’t worth your time? Nope, regardless if you’ve seen the original or not. And what makes it watchable is Akshay Kumar’s fine comic turn, which outdoes Raghava Lawrence’s saree-swapping act as tough as it were. Also Read – Trending Tunes: Guru Randhawa-Nora Fatehi’s Naach Meri Rani tops the list followed by Burjkhalifa from Laxmii

Scroll down for my full Laxmii review… Also Read – Laxmii: Singer Viruss talks about his foray in Bollywood with an Akshay Kumar film [Exclusive]

What’s it about

For those who haven’t watched Kanchana, Laxmii revolves around three spirits — a transgender, a man and his mentally disabled son — possessing the body of Asif (Akshay Kumar) after he accompanies his wife, Rashmi (Kiara Advani), to her parents’ home, three years after they had cut ties with her for marrying outside her religion. The true intention behind the trio taking control over Asif forms the rest of the plot. Also Read – BamBholle singer Viruss calls Akshay Kumar the biggest bomb and Diljit Dosanjh a silent bomb with big impact [Exclusive]

What’s hot

The changes made in Laxmii, like switching Raghava Lawrence’s role from one who’s petrified of ghosts to the ghost-buster that Akshay’s Asif is indeed refreshing as are the decisions to do away with Raghava’s cringe-worthy love story and certain over-the-top scenes in the first half. The underlying message of transgender issues is retained though, and rightfully so. And, most of all, it’s Akshay Kumar, who proves why he is Akshay Kumar, by topping a nigh unbeatable transgender act by Raghava Lawrence, as difficult as it may have seemed. Beside him, Ashwini Kalsekar and Sharad Kelkar help keep the film afloat at several junctures where it threatens to sink.

What’s not

While the changes are welcome, the subtractions of some key moments in spite of the presence of the scenes they had originated from is bewildering, and takes a lot away from Laxmii’s impact as compared to that of Kanchana. The humour, too, is all down to Akshay’s delivery rather than the genuine comic sequences and delivery of the rest of the cast. It’s not as much as Rajesh Sharma, Ayesha Raza Mishra and Manu Rishi Chadha’s (all good actors in their own right) fault as it is how their characters have been sketched — befuddling when writer-Director Raghava Lawrence has adapted his own film. Moreover, the same loud BGM, editing and cinematography issues that plagued the original rear their head again.

Plus, though Kiara Advani has precious little to do like Raai Laxmi in the original, Tarun Arora being reduced to nothing more than a sidekick completely diminishes the villain’s crucial role. All this leads to a disappointing climax, where Akshay takes centrestage instead of the paranormal trio and the kills are made all PG-friendly as opposed to their gnarly nature in the original. Another vital element where Laxmii falls short is in putting its imperative message across. Kanchana did it organically and fluidly. Here it’s all forced and preachy.

BL Verdict

Though Akshay Kumar tops Raghava Lawrence’s performance, Laxmii falls short of overall impact both in terms of horror and comedy as compared to Kanchana. I’m going with 2 out of 5 stars.

Stay tuned to BollywoodLife for the latest scoops and updates from Bollywood, Hollywood, South, TV and Web-Series.
Click to join us on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.