Kushi Movie Review

Vijay Deverakonda and Samantha paired up for a romantic drama Kushi in Siva Nirvana’s direction. All three of them are waiting for Kushi to become a success given their respective previous films did not fare well at the box office.

The songs turned chartbusters and the trailer appeared to be having romantic and fun moments along with the needed emotions. The movie Kushi is releasing today in theaters and it has to be seen how well the chemistry of Vijay Deverakonda and Samantha worked. And here is the review from one of the US Premieres.

What Is It About?

A BSNL employee Viplav (Vijay Deverakonda) falls in love with Aradhya (Samantha) in Kashmir and she too loves him. They realize later that their marriage is almost impossible because Viplav is the son of a popular atheist Lenin Sathyam (Sachin Khedkar) and Aradhya is the daughter of his arch rival popular Pravachanakartha Chadarangam Srinivasa Rao (Murli Sharma). How Viplav and Aaradhya get married and what happens in their married life is all about Kushi.

Performances

Samantha performed really well and she excelled in a few scenes reminding us of her performances from her first films. Vijay Deverakonda too did well in Kushi. Vijay’s performance, looks and role remind his Geetha Govindam many a time. The chemistry between Vijay and Samantha worked big although the story has it own flaws. Murli Sharma and Sachin Khedkar did their part, while Rohini and Jayaram looked routine. Veteran actress Lakshmi, Sharanya Pradeep, Shatru did fine in their given roles. Rahul Ramakrishna and Vennela Kishore tried their best but the comedy worked only in parts.

Technicalities

Kushi has rich visuals and the cinematography is extraordinary. The production values are really good. Except for the party song, all the melodies and the pathos song are soothing. The Kashmir part in the first half has got good frames all over. The background music is good. Apart from the performances, the overall plot of Kushi has more than one topic that fails to establish a proper connection with each other. The dialogues are fine.

Thumbs Up

Vijay & Samantha
Songs
Kashmir Visuals

Thumbs Down

Ineffective Conflict
Lack of emotional depth
Over-the-top scenes

Analysis

We have some cult movies like Sakhi with the eloped couples getting married and later facing the struggle of compatibility in married life. Kushi deals with a similar plot but with additional elements like belief in god included within.

The first half has mostly a breezy romance in Kashmir. Though the scenic visuals and songs enthrall us in the first half, the story moves at a snail’s pace keeping us waiting until the actual plot is revealed before the interval. The comedy of Vennela Kishore worked in parts.

While the first half is only about Viplav and Aradhya, the second half is a complete gear shift to family and emotional drama. Again, the story runs at a slow pace with a good number of missing logics, the emotions and comedy becomes the saviors working in parts. One particular scene of Vijay Deverakonda’s Arjun Reddy reference brings out laughs. Some prolonged comedy episodes in the second half manage to entertain the audience.

Kushi has a good share of narrative going flat and pale. Due to the lengthy second half the graph took a fall. The climax episodes with Sachin Khedkar and a few dialogues by Murli Sharma are impressive and they helped it pick up. Many emotional scenes worked well only due to the actors’ performances but the lack of depth in the scenes stuck out like a sore thumb.

The ego war between the fathers of the lead couple appears to be not justified by the misunderstandings they had. Also, the impact of another couple revealing their past is not shown well.

Overall, Kushi is a mixed plot of topics like marriage, misunderstandings, and parents’ egos that work only in parts. The songs, picturization, and a few comedy scenes make it a passable entertainer on the whole. Kushi gets decent marks compared to those disasters attacking audiences every week and it has to be seen how it fares at B & C centers.

Bottomline: Music Rocks – Story Has Cracks

Rating: 2.75/5

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