Update l Laxmii in single screens defying ban as it breaks Dil Bechara records on OTT . despite bad reviews and piracy

 

A distributor has been quoted as saying by the trade portal, “These are regular cinemas who come to us for buying the screening rights of films distributed by us and by the other distributors like us. If the terms demanded by us don’t suit them, they go away without striking deals but they then screen the film illegally and pocket the collections cent per cent.”

Disney- Hotstar the OTT that released Laxmii has said that " #Laxmii breaks all records to become the biggest opening movie ever on Disney+ Hotstar VIP! Thank you for all the love. Subscribe now to watch the entertainment blockbuster of the year.”. The previous record was Sushanth's Dil Bechara. The film Laxmii was produced by FoxStar for Rs 65 cr  and bought by Hotstar for Rs 150 cr excluding satellite rights. Star Gold ,the parent company bought the satellite rights for an undisclosed amount. Fox ' Star has to share the OTT rights amount with Akshay Kumar. By a rough estimate, producer makes Rs 85 cr as profit.Overseas the film released in UAE, Australia, New Zealand -Fiji. The film did a business of 15,886 USD [Rs. 11.78 lacs] from 43 screens in Australia. While in New Zealand the film collected 14,897 USD [Rs. 11.05 lacs] from 29 screens.Tamilrockers which was lying low bounced back with it streaming the film as it was available to only VIP subscribers.

The critics verdict is  Laxmii is till date the worst film of 2020 and beats Sadak 2. The film’s plot and screenplay that was created in 2011 and delivered as is it is in 2020 and taking away some points that appealed to the Tamil audiences then was bound to be a disaster. By just having the new equipments and technology is not enough but the script too needs a massive change. No wonder the producer’s wanted to dump the director and take the story alone In fact, as a film critic from the South, I would say that the subject does not have anything in it for a remake. It should have been left alone.

The story was set in a time which is much different from today. The transgender role had created a lot of curiosity as for one it was played by a macho top selling actor Sarath Kumar. The novelty of this had created an interest in the audience then. Today, we have a film Super Deluxe in Tamil with a BO saleable actor Vijay Sethupathi playing a transgender taking the role to another level. Secondly, Raghava Lawrence ,the director played the meek guy afraid of ghosts and this went well as he did not have any baggage of an onscreen image to carry. Here , the problem is that Akshay Kumar is totally miscast. The jump scare and so many other outdated elements has got a nod from Akshay is surprising. Lawrence has not moved an inch further than his first Kanchana  and every two- three years he keeps coming up with a sequel that caters to an audience that keeps their brains at home.

If at all there is something that one can say well is the Bumbholle song towards the climax. Sometimes everything goes wrong for a film. Apart from the content, you had many who launched a ban LaxmiiBomb hashtag and then another set saying that it is Hinduphobic and whole new group saying that Akshay ,a BJP supporter did the most bravest thing by playing a Muslim married to a Hindu. Some good actors like Kelkar got drowned in this messy film. Kiara is obviously in it for the money.