Movie: Lakshmi
Director: Nagesh Kukunoor
Cast: Monali Thakur, Nagesh Kukunoor, Shefali Shah, Flora Saini, Sathish Kaushik
Rating: ***
It’s not that you haven’t watched a film made on child trafficking or sex workers previously. And it’s also not that stories haven’t been executed in the past to associate this medium with a certain element of social responsibility. It’s neither a work that’s made to salvage a drowning career of a heroine whose ticket to stardom is nearing an end. In fact, it has a newcomer in the lead role, the singer turned actress Monali Thakur.
Still after watching Lakshmi, you come out with disgust. There’s so much pain embroiled in the utterly raw narration of a 14 year old minor that a smile only seems a force-fit after a viewing. The climax ends with a fitting line that says though there’s a lot of system-cleaning left to be done in spite of her victory, let us celebrate her heroism for a moment. Lakshmi is boundlessly happy and in one of the film’s most beautiful instances, she looks at the mirror before applying lipstick and doing her touch-ups, just like her shady past for the last time, before an interaction with the media. It springs a thought. It never states or preaches about it endlessly. The message-giving is not saccharine. It slaps you on your face with recklessness.
Choosing Hyderabad as his backdrop for a tale he confesses to be partly fictional and real, Nagesh Kukunoor, who till date was very comfortable showcasing his delicately carved characters which had true-to life facets, dares to break-free of his strengths. He has a story that could have been stereotyped as just another desperate product of feminist cinema. That’s where the method changes. He takes up the challenge of viewing a sex worker beyond the obviousness that filmmakers generally subject them to.
The movie indeed starts with a series of abuses that Chinna, a trafficking broker, hurls on a call, as part of the sex-jokes he is mouthing which the listener isn’t able to comprehend. The dialect is unabashedly true-to-life and the censored version mutes none of it. Being sold by her very own father, Lakshmi’s entry to a brothel is a forced one. She finds it hard to digest that this will now be her way to earn a living throughout her existence. She succumbs to the thought and is continuously uncomfortable with it. Even after having private parts bruised, she has to stick to her daily chores. But, does she have a choice ?
In one of the situations where she has to go about her trade just like any other day, she takes a beer offered by her roommate and naively laughs when a customer takes off his wig that he had donned to mask his age. Such is the apathy depicted that she is shown to find happiness in situations like this. There is also sympathy here, but it just ends there. Nothing more or nothing less. The racket-owner, Shefali Shah has a daughter herself, who knows nothing of her mother’s darker side. There’s another, the room-mate Flora Saini who accepts that she can’t think beyond this body-surrendering trade. The riddance of the stereotypes in the character-development is refreshing and the first half ends with a chill in your throat.
The courtroom episodes in the latter half meanwhile almost undo all the bluntness that you just were a witness to. The victim for once is asked to explain the meaning of rape and sex. Just then, the painting of characters as good and bad begins. There are lectures about standing tall during a crisis and with that you know where the story is seemingly landing at ; the title being enough of a hint. Ram Kapoor is an ever do-good’er and a lawyer. Satish Kaushik is the clear opponent. This convenient shift dilutes the hard-hitting settings. But, there’s still that honesty in the intentions that keeps you interested. Having actors like Shefali Shah on-board did help the maker’s cause, for you don’t take much time to start believing in her actions. Monali Thakur is required to wear an uncomfortable expression throughout the film and she exactly does that even if her spontaneity isn’t quite visible. Lakshmi is however her story. It’s dark,raw and cold-hearted. If paying a tribute to the female change-makers is what the storyteller hinted at, he succeeds for the most of it.
Review by Srivathsan N, who had originally written it Cinegoer.net