Cast: Charmme Kaur, Satya, Brahmanandam, Sampoornesh Babu
Banner: Sri Subha Swetha Films
Music: Sunil Kashyap
Cinematography: P.G.Vinda
Editor: S.R.Sekhar
Producers: Charmme Kaur, Swethalana, Varun, Teja, C.V.Rao, C.Kalyan
Writer & Director: Puri Jagannadh
Tagline: Jyothi Lakshmi is Sexy but Shabby!
Avg User Rating: 2.75/5
Plot:
Jyothi Lakshmi (Charmme Kaur) is a noted commercial sex worker in a brothel run by Narayan Patwari (Ajay Ghosh) who also indulges in women trafficking. Satya (Satya) is a software engineer who falls in love with Jyothi Lakshmi, pursues her and makes a marriage proposal to Jyothi Lakshmi. What did Jyothi Lakshmi do and how did she bust the sex racket in the city forms the crux of the story.
Performances:
Charmme Kaur: The hero of the film is sexy and has got the right attitude but an able actress like her could have got her act more convincing and tugging while portraying the complexity of ‘Jyothi Lakshmi’ character.
Satya: This suave actor scored brownie points and is definitely one of the most promising names to watch out for.
Ajay Ghosh: You can see one of the best and full-length performances of this dark horse. He was darkly menacing in the antagonist role of ‘Narayan Patwari’ in the film. Tollywood…watch out! A new villain has arrived.
Brahmanandam, Saptagiri, Sampoornesh, Satyam Rajesh did mere special roles. So kindly don’t expect much from them.
The rest of the cast including Priyadarshini Ram, Gayatri Jujare (iQlikMovies’ Muhurtam short film fame) and others did a decent job.
Direction:
Puri Jagannadh’s storyline and his choice of telling it in a commercial format are commendable. But Jyothi Lakshmi, the tale of a prostitute discusses some sensitive and often unexplored issue like sex rackets, women trafficking and the victimization of sex workers that rather remained to be an unfinished and amateurish work by Puri. Subjects like these are supposed to be heart wrenching or otherwise, out rightly bold and radical with an emotional connect but unfortunately Jyothi Lakshmi doesn’t belong to both the categories.
Forget about the idealism or being an entertainer or wholesome family entertainer (spare your family for this film), Jyothi Lakshmi is glamorous (due credits to Charmme), informative (thanks to a new invention called Lapaaki App) and hatke but certainly not completely heartening and thought provoking. With its share of flaws in the narrative, the touch and go treatment makes Jyothi Lakshmi a onetime watch.
The first half sails off on a lighter vein with a concoctive interval episode and the second half was wrapped up blandly in a preachy and unconvincing manner without an emotional high.
Merits:
- Charmme’s glamor and the performances of the lead cast.
- Bold premise.
- Puri Jagannadh’s dialogues.
- Engaging screenplay that doesn’t induce boredom.
De-merits:
- The unconvincing touch and go treatment of a sensitive point that the film discusses.
- Lack of an exclusive comedy track might disappoint a section of audience and some scenes might not go well with the family audience.
Music:
Sunil Kashyap’s music is versatile but the songs are not so visually appealing. Except the “Aiyigiri Nandini…” chant in the second half, the back ground score went largely unnoticed.
Others:
PG Vinda’s cinematography and SR Shekkhar’s editing are impressive. And don't miss Puri's message about Selfies at the end.
Verdict:
With a bold and idealistic storyline told rather bluntly without any emotional connect, Jyothi Lakshmi remains to be a film strictly for adults (certainly not the so called “family entertainer”) and hardcore Puri, Charmi fans. It indeed looks like Puri’s shabby missile on Prostitution & Sex Rackets!