''Laxmii'' is a 2020 Indian

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language

horror comedy Comedy horror (also called horror comedy) is a literary, television and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as having three types: "black comedy, parody and spoof." Comedy horror can a ...

film written and directed by

Raghava Lawrence Raghava Lawrence (born Lawrence Murugaiyan) is an Indian actor, choreographer, film director, composer, playback singer, lyricist, film producer and philanthropist known for his works primarily in Tamil cinema. After making his debut as a dance ...

, marking his directorial debut in the Hindi film industry. A remake of his own

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

film '' Kanchana'' (2011), it stars

Akshay Kumar Akshay Hari Om Bhatia (born Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia; 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian actor and film producer working in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as "Khiladi Kumar", through his career span ...

and

Kiara Advani Alia Advani (born 31 July 1991), known professionally as Kiara Advani (), is an Indian actress who works in Hindi and Telugu films. Advani is a recipient of several accolades including an IIFA Award and two Zee Cine Awards, alongside nominati ...

, while

Ayesha Raza Mishra Ayesha Raza Mishra (born 26 September 1977) is an Indian actress. Career Ayesha Raza Mishra began her career by working in theatre, advertisements, and television shows. She went on to portray motherly roles in several films including ''Mada ...

, Rajesh Sharma,

Ashwini Kalsekar Ashwini Kalsekar is an Indian actress who works predominantly in the Marathi and Hindi television and film industry. She has primarily worked with Sriram Raghavan, Rohit Shetty, Ram Gopal Varma and Ekta Kapoor. After playing a cop in the popu ...

and

Sharad Kelkar Sharad Kelkar is an Indian actor and voice actor who works primarily in Marathi and Hindi films, television and web series. Early and personal life Kelkar was born and brought up in Gwalior, his father was a PWD engineer in Madhya Pradesh Gove ...

play pivotal roles. The film revolves around a man who gets possessed by the ghost of a

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

person. Kumar, also produced the film under his Cape of Good Films and

Fox Star Studios Star Studios (formerly known as Fox Star Studios) is an Indian motion picture production and distribution company. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney Star (via Disney Entertainment), part of the Disney International Operations segment of ...

, along with

Tusshar Kapoor Tusshar Kapoor (born 20 November 1976) is an Indian actor and producer who works in Hindi films. Early and personal life Tusshar Kapoor is the son of actors Jeetendra and Shobha Kapoor. His elder sister, Ekta Kapoor is a television and ...

's newly launched production company, Tusshar Entertainment House and Shabinaa Entertainment. Lawrence co-wrote the script along with

Farhad Samji Farhad Samji (born 5 May 1974) is an Indian writer, singer, lyricist, actor, music and film director who works in Hindi cinema. He is known for directing '' Housefull 4'', ''Bachchhan Paandey'', and '' Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan'' independently. ...

, Sparsh Khetarpal, Tasha Bhambra, with Samji adapting the screenplay and dialogues to the Hindi version. The film was announced in January 2019, whilst the

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began in April 2019 and ended in March 2020. ''Laxmii'' was originally scheduled for a theatrical release on 22 May 2020, but the release was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. It was later streamed digitally through

Disney+ Hotstar Disney+ Hotstar, also known as JioHotstar or simply Hotstar, is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Disney Star. The brand was introduced as Hotstar for a streaming service carrying content from Di ...

on 9 November 2020, across India, thus becoming the first big-budget Bollywood film to release on a streaming platform. It was not released theatrically in India, but it was released in theatres in the United Arab Emirates, Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand. It received mostly negative reviews from critics and the audience, with criticism for the writing, screenplay, narration, editing and performances, although Kumar's and Sharad Kelkar's performances were praised.

Plot

Asif Ahmed, who doesn't believe in ghosts, lives with his wife Rashmi Rajput and nephew Shaan. They're invited to Rashmi's parents' Ratna and Sachin's house in Daman for their

silver jubilee Silver Jubilee marks a 25th anniversary. The anniversary celebrations can be of a wedding anniversary, the 25th year of a monarch's reign or anything that has completed or is entering a 25-year mark. Royal Silver Jubilees since 1750 Note: This ...

. Rashmi's father disapproves of the couple as Rashmi, a Hindu, had eloped with Asif, a Muslim, but her mother is kind to them. They meet Rashmi's brother Deepak and his wife, Ashwini. Asif and Shaan visit the grounds next door that are believed to be haunted. While he is putting stumps into the ground for a game of

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, the stumps hit a buried body. Blood gets on the stumps but Asif mistakes it for wet soil and washes it off into the house's lemongrass plant. Following this, Ratna, Ashwini, and Deepak all have supernatural experiences in the house. Following a priest's instructions, they confirm that there is indeed a spirit present among them. Asif makes lemongrass tea with the same plant he washed the blood in. When he drinks it, the ghost possesses him, and he begins to act

effeminate Effeminacy or male femininity is the embodiment of feminine traits in boys or men, particularly those considered untypical of men or masculinity. These traits include roles, stereotypes, behaviors, and appearances that are socially associated wi ...

, and goes on killing sprees at night, alerting the family except Asif, that something is wrong. It is revealed that three ghosts have kept him: a violent transgender woman, a Muslim man, and a mentally disabled boy. Asif's family hires an exorcist who drives the main spirit out of his body; trapped, the ghost reveals her story. Laxman Sharma alias Laxmii was disowned by her parents as a child for being transgender. She is taken in by a kind Muslim named Abdul Chacha, who has a mentally disabled son. Regretting that she could not become a doctor because of her parents' lack of support, Laxmii adopts another transgender girl named Geeta and works hard to support her financially. When Geeta leaves to study medicine abroad, Laxmii buys a plot of land to construct a hospital. The crooked MLA Girja illegally seizes her property. When Laxmii angrily confronts Girja and his wife, they brutally murder her, Abdul Chacha and his son, and bury the bodies in Laxmii's own land, the grounds that are now next door. Laxmii has already killed Girja's henchmen while possessing Asif earlier. After hearing her story, Asif is heartbroken at the lack of justice for her. Thus, he willingly lets her possess him once more to complete her revenge. Laxmi kills Girja's wife and bodyguards but Girja seeks refuge in a Goddess

Durga Durga (, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around combating evils and demonic ...

temple, which Laxmii cannot enter, being a ghost. However, Asif, being human, can enter and has Laxmii leave his body before forcibly dragging Girja out. Laxmii returns and finally kills Girja. Three months later, Asif constructed the hospital as per Laxmii's dream. It is revealed that Laxmii now exists

symbiotically Symbiosis (Ancient Greek : living with, companionship < : together; and ''bíōsis'': living) is any type of a close and long-term

will star in the remake of '' Kanchana'' (2011), directed by

, who also signed to helm the Hindi version of it, thus making his debut in Bollywood, whereas

, plays the female lead. The film marks Kumar's return to horror comedy-genre after a decade since ''

Bhool Bhulaiyaa ''Bhool Bhulaiyya'' () is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language Psychological Horror comedy film directed by Priyadarshan from a screenplay by Neeraj Vora and produced by T Series. It is a remake of the 1993 Malayalam-language film '' Manichitrathaz ...

'' (2007). Sources claimed that the sequences in the film will be different as of the original counterpart.

, who directed the actor's ''

Housefull 4 ''Housefull 4'' is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language fantasy action comedy film directed by Farhad Samji and produced by Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment and Fox Star Studios. The film is the fourth installment of the ''Housefull'' series, and sta ...

'' (2019), wrote the screenplay for the film, with sources claimed that the work took six months to complete the adaptation. The film marks the debut of

's stint as a producer, who bought the rights of the film, post licensing his production house in early 2013. On 22 April 2019, the film's title was revealed as ''Laxmmi Bomb''. The titular poster featuring Kumar was released on 18 May 2019.

Filming

The principal photography of the film began on 22 April 2019. The film came in the middle of controversy after Raghava Lawrence, quit the film in May 2019, as Kumar released the first look without consulting him. It was revealed that the director does not have any credit, in the poster which resulted him to quit the film. In June 2019, Lawrence announced his return to direction, after sorting out issues with Kumar. The second schedule of the film began in August 2019. The song "Burj Khalifa" featuring

and Kiara was filmed at

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

in January 2020. The climax scene of the film was shot at

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

on 26 February 2020, and filming was completed on 1 March 2020.

Music

The film's music was composed by

Tanishk Bagchi Tanishk Bagchi (born 23 November 1980) is an Indian music producer, composer, singer and lyricist in Hindi films. He is known for tracks like "Vaaste", "Bolna", "Ve Maahi", " Aankh Maarey" (recreated), " Dilbar" (recreated), "Jehda Nasha" (recr ...

, Shashi– DJ Khushi and Ullumanati while lyrics written by

Vayu Vayu (; ), also known as Vata () and Pavana (), is the Hindu deities, Hindu god of the winds as well as the divine messenger of the gods. In the ''Vedic scriptures'', Vayu is an important deity and is closely associated with Indra, the king o ...

, Gagan Ahuja,

and Ullumanati. The background score was composed by

Amar Mohile Amar Mohile is an Indian film score composer who works predominantly in Hindi films. He is the son of composer Anil Mohile. Discography ;As background score composer As composer * 2000 - ''Krodh'' * 2004 - '' Ek Hasina Thi'' * 2010 - ' ...

. The song "Bam Bhole" is the remake of the song of the same name, by its original artists, Viruss and Ullumanati. The original song was released on an independent label called Acme Music, in 2017 and is a superhit song with more than 200 million views on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. The song "Mata Ka Jagrata" is a medley of the songs "Apna Time Aayega" from ''

Gully Boy ''Gully Boy'' is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language musical drama film directed by Zoya Akhtar, and written by Akhtar and Reema Kagti. The film was produced by Ritesh Sidhwani, Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar under the banners of Tiger Baby Films and E ...

'', "Kala Chashma" from '' Baar Baar Dekho'' and "Main Nikla Gaddi Leke" from '' Gadar: Ek Prem Katha''.

Release

On the announcement of the first poster release, the film was scheduled for a release on 5 June 2020. But a new release date was announced in August 2019, where the film's release will be advanced to 22 May 2020, coinciding with the festival of Ramzan. The release was further postponed due to the

, in which media reports speculated that the film will be released directly through streaming platforms. On 29 June 2020,

conducted virtual press conference where

announced that the film will release through the streaming platform, exclusively as part of ''Disney+ Hotstar Multiplex'' initiative which was a result of theatres being shut down due to COVID-19 pandemic. The rights to stream the film was sold to the platform, at an amount of nearly 1 billion. In September 2020, it was announced that the film will be scheduled for a release on 9 November 2020, coinciding with the eve of

Diwali Diwali (), also called Deepavali (IAST: ''Dīpāvalī'') or Deepawali (IAST: ''Dīpāwalī''), is the Hindu festival of lights, with variations celebrated in other Indian religions such as Jainism and Sikhism. It symbolises the spiritual v ...

season and also before the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the 13th edition of Indian Premier League happened on 10 November 2020. The film was also theatrically released on the same date in select overseas markets such as United Arab Emirates, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. But the film was not released in theatres across India, with exhibitors stating that they will not screen films which initially released on OTT platforms. Irrespective of this, the premiere of ''Laxmii'' was held ahead of the release on 7 November 2020, at a multiplex theatre in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, with

and

being present at the event. The official trailer of the film was released on 9 October 2020. The trailer which released through the official

channel of Fox Star Hindi, had the makers disabling the likes and dislikes ratio of the trailer. Commentators believed that, this is due to the backlash received by '' Sadak 2'', after its trailer became the second most-dlisked video, owing to the

nepotism Nepotism is the act of granting an In-group favoritism, advantage, privilege, or position to Kinship, relatives in an occupation or field. These fields can include business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, religion or health care. In ...

debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for opposing viewpoints. Historica ...

sparked after the suicide of Indian actor Sushant Singh Rajput. On a positive note, the film's trailer crossed more than 70 million views within 24 hours of its release.

Controversy

While the film was originally titled ''Laxmmi Bomb'', the film's title was altered due to legal notice sent to the filmmakers on behalf of Shri Rajput Karni Sena. According to the notice, the film's title was considered to be disrespectful to

Goddess Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, , ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of wealth, fortune, prosperity, beauty, fertility, sovereignty, and abundance. She along with Parvat ...

, thereby hurting Hindu community's sentiments. The notice also demanded a change in the film's title and said that the current one sends out a wrong message to the society. On 29 October 2020, the film's title was changed to ''Laxmii''.

Reception

Critical response

Taran Adarsh Taran Adarsh (born 13 June 1965) is an Indian film critic and trade analyst. He is best known for giving trade figures and box office updates on social media, as well as his reviews for Bollywood Hungama. Career Taran Adarsh started his journ ...

reviewing for ''

Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is an Indian entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides n ...

'' gave two stars out of five and opined that the film was no match to the original Tamil film ''Kanchana'', the Raghava Lawrence's screenplay is weak, horror had no impact. He praised the performances of

and felt that the supporting actors were okay. Concluding the review, he said, "''Laxmii'' lacks the punch. One expected so much more from this film, but it clearly disappoints."

Anna M. M. Vetticad Anna Marie Mathew Vetticad is an Indian journalist, film critic, and cultural commentator. She has been in the field of journalism since 1994. Vetticad is known for her political critiques of Indian cinema and the Indian film industry. She is a ...

of ''

Firstpost Firstpost is an Indian news website owned by Network18 Group, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC TV18. It has posted misinformation on multiple occasions. The Network 18 group was originally owned by Raghav Bahl. In January 2012, the gro ...

'' opines that the film is 'shrill' with loud storytelling. She finds

's acting insufferable but praises the portrayal of Laxmii by Sharad Kelkar. Rating it with one and half stars out of five Vetticad concludes, "Irrespective of its aims, Laxmii serves to further otherize the already ostracised trans community. It is also tacky and insufferable." Shubhra Gupta of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' gave one star out of five and opines, "Akshay Kumar-starrer is a two-hour clutch-your-head, can-I-really-be-watching-this nonsense, from beginning to end.." Pallabi Dey Purkayastha of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' gave the film two stars out of five, calling it "more noise and less fireworks", she concluded, "''Laxmii'' sets out to be a satire against age-old beliefs and biases – we get it! – but the insipidness of the narrative and whatever follows thereon, butchers the lessons it originally desires to impart." ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...

s Divyanshi Sharma wrote, "''Laxmii'' is the perfect watch with your family this festive season. The film has its faults but its heart is in the right place." Pradeep Kumar of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' stated "''Laxmii'' is what happens when an idea not worth the quantum of its original investment gets more money and a bigger canvas, and is expected to evolve by itself to match the new, grander scale. That doesn't happen; certainly, vengeful spirits cannot make it happen." Stutee Ghosh of ''

Bloomberg Quint BQ Prime, formerly BloombergQuint, was an Indian business and financial news organization founded as a joint venture of Bloomberg News and Quintillion Media. It was acquired by Adani Media Ventures Pvt. Ltd. In 2022 and was merged with NDTV P ...

'', gave the film half out of five stars and stated "Even judging by the Bollywood standard of "brainless comedies" ''Laxmii'' falls short miserably. Neither funny nor inspiring and a horror in the most literal sense, it makes mockery of the very things it claims to be celebrating." Rohit Vats of ''

News18 Network18 Media & Investments Limited, ( d/b/a Network18 Group) is an Indian media conglomerate owned by the Reliance Industries, headed by Mukesh Ambani. Rahul Joshi is the managing director, chief executive officer and group editor-in-chief ...

'' gave the same rating for the film and stated "The gags fall flat and actors appear clueless. Nobody has anything to do expect Kumar and then he also ditches the audience. Usually, even in a bad Akshay Kumar movie, you laugh on some puns but this one is totally devoid of any fun."

Audience reaction

''Laxmii'' broke the viewership records of ''

Dil Bechara ''Dil Bechara'' () is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language Coming-of-age film, coming-of-age tragedy romance film directed by Mukesh Chhabra in his directorial debut, and produced by Fox Star Studios, with a script written by Shashank Khaitan and Suprot ...

'', and became the most watched film on the streaming platform

. But, it was listed in the fourth position in most watched films, which were directly released on OTT platforms, according to a survey from ''LetsOTT''. It was listed in the sixth position on the most searched film in India, according to a report from

Google Trends Google Trends is a website by Google that analyzes the popularity of top search queries in Google Search across various regions and languages. The website uses graphs to compare the search volume of different queries over a certain period of ti ...

. The film was premiered through Star Gold on 21 March 2021 and registered 25.1 million impressions during the television premiere, a record for any Indian film.

References

External links

* * {{Raghava Lawrence Indian comedy horror films 2020s Hindi-language films 2020s Indian films Hindi remakes of Tamil films Fox Star Studios films Cross-dressing in Indian films Disney+ Hotstar original films 2020 comedy horror films Indian films about revenge Films about trans women LGBTQ-related comedy horror films Indian LGBTQ-related films Films shot in Daman and Diu Films directed by Raghava Lawrence 2020 LGBTQ-related films Indian interfaith romance films Hinduism-related controversies in film Religious controversies in India 2020 controversies LGBTQ-related controversies in film Hindi-language comedy horror films