Lakshmi- Film Review and Conversation with Nagesh Kuknoor

Director: Nagesh Kukunoor

Producers: Nagesh Kukunoor, Elahe Hiptoola, Satish Kaushik, Jayantilal Gada

Writer:  Nagesh Kukunoor

Cast: Nagesh Kukunoor, Monali Thakur, Satish Kaushik, Shefali Shah, Ram Kapoor, Gulfam Khan, Flora Saini, Vibha Chibber

Music: Tapas Relia

Release date: Austin- May 14-2015

Running time:104 minutes

Genre: Social, based on a true life story

Rating: ***
Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed

(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)

Disturbing, traumatic, inhumane, sensitive, graphic, realistic,….. many such words describe this movie Lakshmi.  A story about child trafficking and  prostitution and a portrait of a 14 year old who after enduring the brutality of the societies underbelly, resiliently stands up to this ruthless exploitation and overcomes the perpetrators.

                                                                                                                                      

The film based on true life story of 14 year old Lakshmi, chronicles her life from her childhood to getting sold by her family, her kidnapping, rape, prostitution, inhumane torture, her escapes and her captures, police indifference, and her unbroken spirit to stand up in court against her sex traffickers. The movie shows such realistic incidents and graphic details which makes you cringe and rattles you with sad and sordid realities. Yet the depiction of courage and heroism of characters like Lakshmi are applaudable to bring perpetrators of such exploitation to justice and give hope that this system of sex trafficking can stop.

Though the original story happened in Ongole, a town in Andhra Pradesh, this movie is set in Hyderabad, and weaves the cultural milieu of Hyderabad with the locations, narrow lanes, language dialects of Hyderabadi Urdu and Telegu language mixed with vulgar and brazen language of the social strata of prostitutes and pimps. The story is served with true to life approach while exposing the compelling realities of many such women.

 Performance of all characters are brilliant and ‘phenomenal’ (as said by Kukunoor). The doe eyed Monali Thakur as Lakshmi, with her excellent acting coerces our sympathies with her naivety, innocence, depiction of pain and display of resilience and strength.  Ofcource actress Shefali Shah as madam Jyoti who has a bold yet painful and sympathetic role carries out her acting exceptionally. While Nagesh Kukunoor, and Satish Kaushik bring out the creepiness of their characters very well with gut –wrenching performances.  Flora Saini in her role of Swarna, empathetic, yet accepting of her realities of prostitute stands out, and Ram Kapoor with his aura of niceness perfectly depicts a sincere lawyer. The Director Kukunoor definitely deserves applause for his execution and realistic depiction of the harsh realities without embellishment.

The movie though excellently made is not an easy watch, but movies like these are required to sensitize us of the harsh realities which need to be exposed and stopped.

Conversation with Nagesh Kukunoor:

On May 14, 2015, we saw an extremely well made, disturbingly traumatic movie Lakshmi (2014 film) with director/writer/actor of this movie ‪‎Nagesh Kukunoor in attendance. The movie was screened in Southwest theatre in Austin presented by Indie Meme and sponsored by South Asia Institute, UT andHumanities Texas and supported by Safe Place and the Institute on DomesticViolence and  Sexual Assault.  Indie meme has been bringing to viewers abroad indie films and documentaries which are  socially relevant & thought provoking.

Nagesh Kuknoor spoke before and after the Movie and here are a few excerpts from his conversation.

On what prompted him to make this movie:

He said when he met some of this women through an organization which was rescuing people from human trafficking he uncovered many inhumane stories, but when he met Lakshmi who was quite heroic and had a strong story to tell, this motivated him to push the cause forward and make the movie.

If there was any specific reason it was set in Hyderabad, India:

When asked why was the movie set in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Kuknoor said Hyderabad has a unique visual element to offer but besides that fact since he is a Hyderabadi himself, he knows the city well and felt it was easy to set the movie here.  Of course the real life story of Lakshmi is from a town of Ongole in state of Andhra Pradesh where this first conviction was successfully fought and justice prevailed. But of course he says this similar story unfolds in every city and town across India.

Has the real Lakshmi seen the movie Lakshmi?

The real Lakshmi hasn’t seen the movie yet, not wanting to relive the trauma, but plans to over time when she feels she is ready.  Now she is a married woman with a child. Kuknoor also has started Lakshmi Initiative and has been helping in fundraising money for her with help of Prerna, an organization which works in red light areas of Mumbai, India

Why the director casted himself in such negative role:

Director has acted many times in his films but when asked why he chose to cast himself as the pimp, he jovially said sometimes the director is a pimp;).  On a serious note he said he felt he understood the role very well and felt the character he wrote was very black and decided to play this character himself, to not let anyone else take it over the top.

On how he cast the actress who played Lakshmi

Though initially he was signing a 14 year old actress for the role, He didn’t want to use a 14 year old to go through the horrific process even though movie making is make believe, on the set while acting  in scenes even make-believe feels real, it crosses the line. Hence he wanted the person who was doing the role to be older yet look 14. He stumbled upon Monali Thakur at a party and her innocent child like face caught his attention to cast her. She is also a playback singer in Bollywood, and was 26 years when she acted in the movie.

On how did the censor board handle this disturbing and inhumanely explicit movie?

He said he has had troubles with previous movies like his first film “Hyderabad Blues” regarding language and simple kissing scenes. But this time he was fortunate that the censor board was easier to work with on this film because the lady chairing the review committee worked with an NGO on human trafficking and hence except for a few scenes, let the story be told.

On a question about how did these women who faced such brutality and exploitation have the resilience to go on with their life.

He felt, some may have ended their lives but some go on resiliently. Most of these women had seen such a tough life from the very beginning of their lives and it’s hardened them to be able to handle brutality and move on and survive. He said when he met Lakshmi, she rattled out her life in a very matter of fact monotone way about how her father sold her, after which she got raped, exploited into prostitution, and her standing up in court against the traffickers etc… that he felt she must have gone through a lot in too little a time that has made her so resilient.  Besides that Kuknoor said “Women are naturally tough people”.

                                                       

How he got into movie making from being an engineer.

Regarding the question of what triggered him to change his career path after his masters in engineering from Georgia Tech and working in the tech industry to jump into film making with his first movie Hyderabad Blues. He said a passion and love for cinema triggered his movie making and being a director didn’t require a skill set training to start with and he worked it out along the process.

Review published in Austin South Asian:http://issuu.com/austinsouthasian/docs/austin_south_asian._june._2015/25