Lakshmi (2014) User Reviews (23)

The plight of prostitutes and child sex workers has been strongly depicted.

[braddugg · 8/10 · 5 May 2014]

Note : This is a personal comment on the issue and not just a review. All opinions here are personal.

The plight of prostitutes and child sex workers has been strongly depicted.

Before I begin reviewing I would like to convey my feelings towards women. I respect and adore women. It's tough and painful to be women. Women bleed more in their lives. A girl bleeds when she matures to a woman, she bleeds when she has her first sexual intercourse, and she gives her blood and mass while becoming a mother. Additionally, she has to undergo a certain pain almost each month till her menopause. So, as such the anatomy of women is intricate and indeed it takes a lot of pain to bear the bleeding. In some cases, it can be a matter of life and death too. So, most women have multiple lives embedded in a lifetime. If we as humans subject a women to any further pain then it is simply inhuman. In the due course of the film, a girl is subjected to lot of pain, and thus the tag line "Are We Being Human" is rightly justified.

I am completely against prostitution, yet if it has to be an ailment in the society then better legalize it. I am all for the legalization of prostitution. Coz, only then women can claim the right stake and they need not have to live a life in disguise or fear. If they bargain a petty amount with their customer(animal) as of now, then post legalization they can demand the same and if that animal fails to pay, they can take some action. Firstly, they can live a legal life of dignity which is so much abhorred by the hypocritical society of India. So if sex workers or prostitutes have to be even considered as equal humans, their job must be legalized. This will keep the mafia and other dark forces out of this and I hope so that gradually forcing women into this kind of profession shall mitigate. Only after legalization, I believe they can claim their rights as girls and need not be put behind the bars for no fault of theirs.

Okay, now coming to the review, this is a film that is about child trafficking. The title is aptly put as Lakshmi. It indicates the irony of our society where when a girl is born, it is said, "ghar mein lakshmi aayi hai" (Lakshmi! the goddess of wealth has come home) and as the girl grows, she is sold by parents for money, to acquire wealth. Thus, the title and the name of the protagonist is rightly put and it is wonderful of Nagesh Kukunoor to have such thoughts and present them in a provocative way.

Acting by each and everyone is fine. The casting of Monali Thakur as Lakshmi is bang on. I am now a fan of this girl, who took the most challenging role in the recent times and played it with sensibility. Nagesh himself played as the villain. He was ruthless and terrific. Kudos to a director who can play a brutal negative role in his own film. The youth of a girl was raped and ravaged, there are moments that have haunted me and are lingering still in my mind.

The music was good. I loved two songs "Sun Ri Baavli" and "Sun Suguna Re". They will be on my playlist for long time. The editing was precise, cutting out the unnecessary elements, and yet sticking to the needed things, which are a need to be shown, only then will evocative emotions come out from the viewers. When we say "this should not be shown" it essentially means that the particular thing has made an impression on mind, you make like it or not is subject to choice of conscience.

There are movies made on this subject long back but I cannot recall one in last 10-15 years. This one is not for the weak hearted and it takes a lot of guts to see it in the first place. The makers and actors need a huge applause for presenting it. Great work team.

A 4/5 for the film. It's not flawless, and I will not be seeing it again, I wept badly after seeing this, and the scenes are still haunting. Perhaps, I will see only if it is a must. Yet, it is a must must see film, for those who are concerned about a girl child.

Though the content remains the same, it's Nagesh's brutally honest execution & the performances which actually make an impact.

[bobbysing · 7/10 · 27 March 2014]

Thankfully with LAKSHMI, the director regains his somehow lost spirit back and delivers a pretty sincere, relevant and hard hitting film which is disturbing enough to make you feel uneasy thinking about its innocent protagonist and the inhuman cruelty suffered by her in just the tender age of 14.

Made in a clichéd style, LAKSHMI is reportedly based on a true story of a minor girl who is forcibly made to spend six horrible months in a brothel run by a local leader. After making few attempts to run away from that awful hell, the girl gets her severe punishments in the shape of ruthless beatings and repeated rape by men in a single night turning her into a lifeless body lying on the dirty bed with some bloody wounds and high fever. Accepting her unfortunate fate, she starts selling her body to all the strange men every night until she gets another chance of making an exit with the help of a NGO activist. The brave girl decides to be the only witness in the court against the powerful & wealthy opponents and then wins the case too, setting a new trend in the entire region saving many other minor girls from being abducted and thrown into a similar hell.

Showcasing some remarkable performances by the entire cast, LAKSHMI actually becomes an essential watch for its fabulous acts alone and there is a specific reason for this questionable statement discussed later. Monali Thakur plays the lead role impressively, speaking through her child-like face and expressive eyes along with Flora Saini providing a strong support as her close friend sharing the same room. Both Satish Kaushik & Nagesh Kukunoor are simply terrific playing the two evil men and the rest of the cast equally plays it well in their respective roles. However the characters which stand out with something exceptional after Lakshmi in the film are of Shefali Shah as the brothel manager and Ram Kapoor playing the frustrated lawyer fighting for justice. The noteworthy camera-work and decent background score helps a lot in enhancing its overall impact, but the film ideally should have been made with no songs and in a lesser duration to reach out its audience more strongly.

Coming to the statement left unexplained above, no doubt such stories need to be told and brought forward to show the society its own sick mentality revealing the hidden ugly truth. But at the same time, from cinematic point of view, the specific plot of the film has certainly been used several times before in many films and therefore has nothing fresh in store for the viewers as far as its basic content is concerned. Now as I feel, Nagesh being an experienced director, was also well aware of this lack of novelty & completely predictable storyline of his chosen subject. And thus had only two possible ways to make it work.

One - make the movie emotionally so strong that the audience get moist eyes and can feel empathy for the girl going through all that unpleasant sufferings like a lifeless object or Two - make it so disgracefully shocking that the viewers feel extremely sick watching its extraordinarily gory sequences like never before and start talking about Lakshmi, spreading a quick word of mouth after watching it. Now since it was the second option which was likely to bring in more footfall in the theaters & critic's praises too (becoming the talk of the town), therefore Nagesh courageously went for the same and made one of the most hard hitting films of the recent times with many dreadful, distressing and appalling scenes which might be a first for many Indian viewers not familiar with the films of world cinema.

Making it more clear, in order to make the message reach the end user in the most upsetting manner, Nagesh bluntly uses many awful but realistic scenes/dialogues in his film, with an honest mention of all the physical discomforts faced by sex workers without any hiding or adapting any 'audience friendly' style. For instance, though we have a masterpiece MANDI made in 1983 by maestro Shyam Benegal based on a similar premise, still a Hindi film has never looked into the daily activities of a brothel as truthfully depicted in LAKSHMI, with scenes showing strict instruction being given to use condoms before making the deal, the use of lubricants to make it easier, the girls being taught how to fake it all and then its climax sequence where Nagesh mercilessly tortures the revolting lady with a burning cigarette, only to face a more ruthless revenge taken by her later, beyond imagination.

Having said that (praising the project largely), I still found the film portraying many 'single layered characters' only and unable to go deep into the psyche of that innocent 14 year old girl facing that shameful trauma. The whole effort looked like a more deliberate one with the 'strong feel' of an intentionally made movie just to make the heads turn through its exceptionally gruesome scenes being the major attraction. Yes, the director does bring forward one of the most important problems of sex trafficking in our country, involving the adolescent girls sold at a price by their own families (in the remote areas) and the rehabilitation problem faced by these rescued women too searching for a stable life.

But despite the fact, I truly felt that perhaps Nagesh was also exploiting the same inhuman torture faced by the unfortunate victims in his film too, which was supposedly made to spread some social awareness about the concerning issue.

Anyway, as I might be the only one thinking in that direction, so just ignore this personal perception of mine and do try to give LAKSHMI a chance, mainly for its socially relevant theme and some powerful performances simply not to be missed.

Lakshmi - A story of Hope, Courage and Victory

[binducherungath · 9/10 · 30 March 2014]

The Plot: Lakshmi is a movie inspired by a true story which deals with immoral trafficking of girls, and child prostitution. Monali Thakur plays the role of the protagonist Lakshmi. She is a victim, who at the age of 14 finds herself in a brothel, run by Reddy Garu (Sathish Kaushik) and Chinna (Nagesh Kukunoor). What follows after Lakshmi being sold by her father and pushed into this dirty world of prostitution at Dharam Vilas, is quiet disturbing, suffocative. Jyoti, the hard-hitting, dirty-talking head madam of the brothel (played by Shefali Shah) is assertive enough to manage the girls as well as the clients. No sigh of relief for Lakshmi since she is continuously battered and bruised. But then Lakshmi gets the courage and support to fight back with the legal support for all the miseries which she faced. Post-interval, her journey of triumph is just incredible. Credits at the end of the movie say that this is the first case in which the accused were convicted in Hyderabad and this became the precedent for many other cases of immoral trafficking. Official Trailer:

Director and Story Writer: Nagesh Kukunoor (Direction and Story) has done a great amount of justice to the movie. No exaggeration at all. He tells the pain-staking story of Lakshmi in a commendable manner. He depicts the murky world of prostitution realistically. Indeed he has given a story of hope, courage and victory.

Cast and their Performance: Monali Thakur as Lakshmi is extremely good. As Lakshmi, she is fresh, innocent, bewildered, helpless, grief-stricken…displayed all the emotions with so much perfection.

Nagesh Kukunoor as Chinna raises so much of anger and hatred. One would end up hating this brutal man every time when he tortures girls in the brothel and no sense of mercy towards them even when they are physically unfit.

Shefali Shah as Jyoti has given a great performance as the head madam of the brothel. She is strict and at the same time kind and full of empathy. A brilliant work from her.

Satish Kaushik as Reddy Garu forces us to think that there are such men also in the society who is sexually abusive for their own weird reasons.

Ram Kapoor as Avinash, the lawyer brings hope and respite. He is empathetic and sensitive while handling Lakshmi's case.

Flora Saini as Swarna, Lakshmi's room mate has also given a great and noticeable performance. There are scenes where she teaches Lakshmi to dress up, do make-up and ways to woo a client.

Rest of the cast also have done great work viz. Gulfam Khan as Corporator Radha,, Vibhor Chibber as Amma, Ramakrishna Shenoy as Mohan, Vinita Joshi as Asha, Priyanka Vir as Uma Didi, Sumit Sharma as opposition lawyer, Suresh Kumar as judge, and Subhash Gupta as Dr. Murali.

Cinematography: Chirantan Das has taken shots in such a manner so as to make the frames very very realistic. Even the narrow lanes are shot so nicely.

Music: Music by Tapas Relia is good and it brings tears into our eyes especially when the songs are clubbed with disturbing visuals.

Moments to watch out for: Lakshmi's journey towards triumph, a beautiful relationship which developed between Lakshmi and Avinash (advocate), Lakshmi doing the make-up just before facing the media on her victory…

Thumbs up: Watch this movie since it conveys a great social message. A story of an entirely different India, where having a girl child itself is supposed to be cursed. And then the girl is being sold to pimps, or forced into wrong profession, at a very tender age.

Thumbs down: Oops! No 'Thumbs down' moments. But yes, this movie is not for you if you just seek entertainment through movies. It might force you to grieve along with Lakshmi.

Awards: Best Film – Mercedes Benz Audience Award Best Narrative : Palm Springs International Film Festival 2014

One-Liner: Lakshmi does ask us : Are we being human?

One of the most Brilliant, realistic and thus disturbing movies

[abhyam · 10/10 · 31 March 2014]

I was trying to catch Lakshmi but it proved to be really difficult. Firstly, it had a very limited release on rare screes and secondly, couldn't find a DVD as well. However, the wait was worth and I just watched one of the most realistic movie ever made in Hindi Cinema. Amazing performances by the actors. No words to describe it. Nagesh's subject for the film is one of a kind not witnessed in recent times. His direction is top notch as well but the second half drifts more towards hope than reality. Overall, an amazing thought provocative and introspective movie which forces you to rethink about the society you live in. Must watch.

A good movie based on unpleasant true story

[sumitds · 9/10 · 22 March 2014]

This movie is claimed to be based on true story. The subject is very strong based on prostitution. It's not for faint hearts. This movie shows some absolutely unpleasant scenes, inhuman acts and story where girls are forced into prostitution against their will and brutally punished, raped. We live in such male society where you will be ashamed to be part of this while watching. Peoples are so selfish & cruel that they don't bother to kill a child innocence and throw her into a jungle with wild beasts.

There are numerous scenes on the movie that will give you enough shocking. This movie is not for you if you want to have some weekend enjoyment or relaxations. This movie is very engaging and leave you a mark after it ends. Performance wise, everyone did good job but, I think it could be much better if the main character Lakshmi(Monali Thakur) has much more dialogues or acting to show the pain of that girl Lakshmi. She has the courage to stand against the wrong and after the through out shocking experience, at the end this movie shows you hope & some justice.

Amazing. But sadly Indian audience ignores it as usual

[subratjain1 · 8/10 · 4 December 2015]

Nagesh Kukunoor has came a long way starting from hyderabd blues as a light film and then continuing with the likes of 3 deewarien and dor.

Lakshmi sits right in my the top 5 favorites bollywood movies from last year. It was wonderful to see that gruesome scenes, which will make your gut wrench, were shown with impeccable subtlety. The story, though fictionalized can be related to by any person and it doesn't exaggerate anything just for the sake of it.

A couple of songs thrown here and there merge right along with the plot and don't add to length unnecessarily.

All i have to say is that we should appreciate and promote such genuine work. We are so obsessed with star studded crap that such gems always get ignored.

Must watch

[Ontohin99 · 8/10 · 5 April 2020]

Such films should be properly promoted so that it could reach millions of people and making them aware of the harsh reality of lives of people who are in this situation in real. I couldn't see it as film, I felt it is happening in front of me

Tough viewing, horrid, and not a perfect film, but also quite inspiring

[Peter_Young · 6/10 · 6 August 2022]

Lakshmi is the story of titular character played by Monali Thakur, a 14-year-old girl who is abducted and sold trafficked into prostitution in a Hyderabadi brothel. The film is a harrowing account of the exploitation of young girls into prostitution. The portrayal of the brothel is an antithesis of the countless romanticised stories of what popular Hindi cinema used to show as courtesans, who dance and sing and who are overall very stereotypical filmi figures the kind of which you won't see here. The brothel is very much a real place which gathers some demonic humans who mercilessly trade young girls' bodies. The main madame, played by Shefali Shah, is testament to that, as she is a real person, who is cruel and kind in equal doses. She can be loving and caring one moment, and absolutely wicked and vicious the next, because that's what the job calls for, and she has a young daughter whose future depends on this very job. She is a very effective manager, as terrifying as it may sound, and Shah is brilliant in this difficult role, as usual.

Lakshmi is directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, who also plays the cruel trader and head of the brothel, along with his elder brother, Reddy, played by the great Satish Kaushik in a role that epitomises a wolf in sheep's clothing. Kukunoor does his best to give the brothel a horrific feel of authenticity, but while it could be mistaken as a realistic portrayal, it is much subtler than one would expect. The tough viewing is more due to the story itself, the characters and the dialogue, but the film remains quite clean and spares the viewers the horrid, disturbing pictures of films like, say, Bandit Queen. More than anything, the story takes a cathartic turn of events somewhere post interval where it turns into a standard courtroom drama which sadly isn't the most convincing you'll see. I think Kukunoor, being the director he is, could have done a better job with the material. The title character is played by the well-known singer. She does really well playing the girl's innocence and does look the part even if not exactly so young. The film is a good watch.

Outstanding movie

[suansi-98685 · 10/10 · 9 November 2020]

Brilliant movie..... Very heart touching story line... Epic performance by akshay kumar sir 🔥🔥🔥🔥 hats off ... He plays transgender role perfectly 🙌 must watch movie❤

Average

[prashantanshupt · 6/10 · 10 November 2020]

*Lakshmi* *movie review* So let Start from beginning- First hulf is average ,it is nighter good nor bad , it is average. Some time you can feel bored because of over acting . But after 40 min when *Lakshmi* came into picture movie was Rock specially acting of Akshay ⚡but other supporting cast is not upto the mark. Akshay Kumar acting was solid in The role of Lakshmi. I am little bit disappointed from climax .but overall movie was *good* .and you can watch atleast one. *My Rating:* 6.5/10 *Lesson from movie* movie will able to change your thought about *Transgender*

The movie will inspire one to bring the change.

[krishnarajsingh9211 · 10/10 · 27 April 2017]

Lakshmi movie is portraying the dark world in the most realistic way possible. The movie revolves around a 14-year old girl who was kidnapped and then come under the trap of human beings' inhuman activities. But unlike other girls also trapped in the same world, she never gave up the idea of punishing the culprits. Her goal was to eradicate everyone who was involved in trafficking. She was more courageous than any other girls of her age. The movie will convince you to come out and fight for justice and to strictly punish the wrong-doers.

Spell Bound Performances !

[nnk-39990 · 7/10 · 25 June 2018]

Some of the finest actors have done a great job in this movie , lovely executed I must say , some parts were not necessary apart from those movie was well made !

Suffocating fact

[dineshprakash · 5/10 · 21 March 2014]

Director Mr. Nagesh Kukunoor dealt the subject in authentic way and his approach towards this bitter truth is balanced. This movie could have been easily turned into unnecessary vulgarity and skin show but director was very clearcut that he is choosing the subject not for the scope of exposing rather he wanted to expose the dark corner of our society. Subject is dark and the way director narrates , it becomes suffocating. There are many scenes where you can easily feel that lungs are unable to suck oxygen. Screenplay and dialogues are according to genre. Makers claim that this movie is based on true incidents and facts, so you start believing that there is still a brutal, inhuman Jungle Raaj inside our so called progressive and open minded posh society. Only the climax gives you a ray of hope. Performance wise Monali Thakur as Lakshmi has given a very fine performance. Nagesh Kukunoor as Chinna Reddy is very good. Shefali Shah as Jyoti is good. Fllora Saini as Swarna is impressive. Satish Kaushik , Ram Kapoor and Vibha Chibbar as Amma, are fine. Music by Tapas Relia suits the need of subject and mood of film. 'Sun Sugna Re' song lyrics by Manoj Yadav is very good and it's music haunts you even after ending the film.

One of the most Brilliant movie I have seen.

[bhaskar-saxena · 10/10 · 14 March 2015]

I have always been fan of Nagesh Kukunoor's movie however Lakhmi is the best movie from Nagesh. Brilliant performance by Monali (Lakshmi) and Nagesh.

I din't even know when this movie was released and how come I missed this movie. movies from Nagesh have always have something new and have a meaningful story as well as have some message to society.

Lakshmi is based on true story.The movie story is little disturbing, however the way it has been directly is extraordinary. Performance of Monali Thakur is brilliant, the maturity of acting is comparable to Konkana sen.

Very few movies that have toughed me and Lakshmi is one of them.

Would 100% recommend this movie for all 18+ (strictly) audience.

Have some balls and rise up .......... An ignored gem of movie

[rocky-madhukar · 9/10 · 21 November 2019]

I don't know what to say once i finished watching this movie , there were moments of pause in between were tears just rolled out of my eyes . An absolute eye opener this movie is a harsh reality which would force u to change ur perspective when u watch a girl after it & being very honest it did that to me ...... We keep on lamenting about fact that we Indians won't catch up to Hollywood level of reality and authenticity but this movie did it ........ A must watch and an eye opener , outstanding acting ,beautiful story , great direction & trust me u have to close ur eyes in few scenes .

A pure masterpiece

[ujjwaldns · 10/10 · 23 May 2021]

Tears of joy nd Justice 🙂🙂 A must must must watch for everyone .

Fake acting

[kumarnikki-00489 · 1/10 · 9 November 2020]

Worst movie I ever wanted, acting is very bad and film also shown very bad about Hindu culture.

Worthless

[kinkarsingh · 1/10 · 11 November 2020]

Dont waste your time, money & Data Worthless movie, Go kanchana if you want to watch genuine entertainment

Bollywood movie tatti

[pktechpaytm · 1/10 · 9 November 2020]

Shut down all bollywood will ruin society and family

Bakwas movie.

[rinkubhunia-50724 · 1/10 · 11 November 2020]

Bakwas movie.zero rating milna chaihe. Boycott kro Bollywood Movies.

Useless movie

[sanjeevdubey61 · 1/10 · 10 November 2020]

Waste of time. The film has no proper story. It comprises of many incidents. Overall a third rate movie. I wasted my time.

only propaganda setting narrative against hindus

[ramkumarcadd · 1/10 · 10 November 2020]

This movie is not very effective in comedy as well as horror but setting narrative against hindus and promoting love jihad and showing peer is very powerful and showing love jihadi as a best lover.

Must miss

[sureshramesh-99487 · 1/10 · 10 November 2020]

Would not recommend just personal opinion. Bad story line.