Directed by Lawrence Raghavendra

Written by : Farhad Samji

Actors: Akshay Kumar, Kiara Advani, Sharad Kelkar

THE BLUF

It is the story of a transgender ghost that possesses a man’s body because he drank lemongrass tea.

THE MEAT AND THE POTATOES

For a movie meant to be making a statement for all gender choices’ inclusiveness, it goes off track. Instead, it makes a statement on behalf of and in favor of orthodox dogmatic rituals and narrow mindedness.

IN THE ZONE

Akshay Kumar plays Asif, a social activist who does not believe in ritualistic, non-scientific traditions. However, he gets possessed by the spirit of a transgender woman when he drinks lemongrass tea. The possession makes him behave not only transgender but also the body of revenge against the landowners who had previously killed the transgender woman Laxmii ( played by Sharad Kelkar). His wife and on-demand dancing queen potrayed by Kiara Advani and has no reasonable impact on the storyline except turning up at songs and dances.

FWAR

There are about half a million (490,000) transgender people currently living in India, and about 10,000 in Pakistan. References of transgender people go back to even stories of the Ramayana, resulting in traditions of transgender people blessing children in India.

Hinduism has traditionally afforded great acceptance to the transgender community, as in Hinduism they are referred to as “tritiya prakriti” or “third gender.”

Hindu affordances of a third gender correlate with the belief that due to the vagueness of human reincarnation, as we alternate between male and female in a series of lives, we carry subconscious impressions and tendencies with us.

Despite India’s traditional acceptance of the transgender community, texts of the Ramayana would suggest that it was never easy to talk about one’s identity and certain stigmas did exist – only to be exacerbated under colonial rule.

Had this been a movie that took the subject of acceptability of gender equality and personal choices seriously, this could have made many a statement. It does nothing of that sort. It is not even the horror-comedy that it was promoted to be. In fact, we couldn’t find a single spooky moment, and then we failed to find any jokes too.

Unfortunately, stories like this hurt the cause rather than make a case for it.

This movie should never have been made. Especially with a crowd puller lead like Akshay Kumar, it not only sends the wrong message to the audience but also creates the case for many other rudimentary unscientific principles in the name of belief to be looked as possibilities.

It destroys the fabric of logic and hurts the cause of gender choice being a personal decision.

Apart from crass attempts at humor, terrible loud characters, insensitive portrayal of rituals and beliefs, there is nothing left to see hear.

The movie is visually repulsive, the only technical appreciation being for the transformation of Akshay Kumar from Asif to Laxmii and that of Sharad Kelkar as Laxmii.

What we loved Sharad Kelkar. Bring more of him.

What we Missed The reason for the existence of this movie.