Prostitution is never a woman’s chosen profession. They are usually forced into it when the men in her life fail them – is the message Puri Jagannadh tries to send across through his latest flick Jyothi Lakshmi. While the film’s intentions are noble, it’s a complete letdown in terms of execution as Jyothi Lakshmi lacks subtlety and class. What starts out as an exciting prospect, finishes with a tame whimper.
Narayana Patwari (Ajay Ghosh) is a notorious criminal who kidnaps young girls and forces them into prostitution. Even as hundreds of girls are sent into this prostitution racket, a young bachelor Satya (Satyadeva) goes to Goa in search of a prostitute.
After days of pursuit, he manages to find Jyothi Lakshmi (Charmme Kaur) and immediately falls in love with her. Obsessed with the prostitute, Satya pleads with her to marry him and somehow manages to smuggle her out of the prostitution.
The marriage, however, has grave consequences. How they manage to survive the wrath of the furiously powerful pimps, how they battle the insecurities within their marriage and how they try to bring down a massive prostitution racket, makes for the rest of the story.
The film’s biggest letdown is its script, which is weak and unimaginative. The portrayal of a prostitute is cliched and predictable and makes one wonder why all of them speak in the same unsettling tone, especially when the makers are trying to portray the human side of prostitutes. Even after a positive start, Jyothi Lakshmi completely loses the plot in the second portion of the film, inflicting tremendous misery on its viewers.
SR Sekhar’s editing is poor, while Sunil Kashyap’s music leaves a lot to be desired. You can literally nitpick the positives in this film, PG Vinda’s cinematography is first rate and the camera work is excellent. Shot entirely in Goa, the visuals are easy on the eye and is well picturised.
From start to finish, Jyothi Lakshmi revolves around Charmme Kaur who does a commendable job. However, her transformation from a sensuous sex-worker to a fiery activist battling against the prostitution racket looks forced and unnatural. Even though the actress sizzles in the role of prostitute, she struggles to keep pace with her character and looks unconvincing as an activist taking on dangerous criminals on her own. Satyadeva does a decent job as Charmme’s love interest, while Ajay Ghosh does a fine job as the dangerously powerful Narayana Patwari. Unfortunately, the supreme talent of comedian Brahmanandam is wasted in an inconsequential role.
Puri Jagannadh, whose previous film Temper was equally abhorrent, seems to be riding on his past success, as most of his films in recent times have been ordinary to say the least. The director fails to efficiently execute what looked like a promising message. While watching issue-based movies, viewers expect entertainment with a message given in a hard, yet subtle manner. However, nobody likes to listen to a lecture and unfortunately, that’s exactly what viewers are in for with Puri Jagannadh’s Jyothi Lakshmi.
Boring and unimaginative, this flick, though glamourous, is a major disappointment.