It is almost a tradition for male Hindi stars to don a saree at some point in their career. Following in the footsteps of Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor and Govinda, Akshay Kumar taps into his feminine side with Laxmmi Bomb.
The trailer for Raghava Lawrence's supernatural thriller rides on the humour and panache of a spirit that possesses Akshay Kumar's character Asif.
The trailer opens with a very direct, some might say crass, line where a sceptical Asif says he will wear bangles if he ever meets a ghost, foreshadowing things to come. Asif, who is staying with the family of Kiara Advani's character, sets out to quell its fear of the supernatural only to be haunted himself, picking up distinctly feminine traits along the way.
There are plenty of split-second cuts, looming shadows and special effects to convince you of the presence of the ghost. Therein lies the flaw with the trailer: It seems to reveal too much of the story. While the production values look impressive, the punchlines do not land. However, the trailer does promise some chills.
Advani has little to do in the trailer besides being glorified eye candy. Knowing Akshay Kumar, the story seems to suit his slapstick style of comedy. The actor does his best to try and pull off the role of a woman inhabiting a man's body. The film also features Rajesh Sharma, Manu Rishi Chadha, Ayesha Raza Mishra and Ashwini Khalsekar.
Incidentally, the makers have hidden the like and dislike counter on their YouTube channel. It looks like a lesson learned from the last Fox Star Studio production, Sadak 2, whose trailer has earned the dubious distinction of becoming the second most-disliked video on the video-sharing platform.
Laxmmi Bomb is a remake of the Tamil film Muni 2: Kanchana (2011), which was the sequel to Muni (2007). The original film was followed by Kanchana 2 (2015) and Muni 4: Kanchana 3 (2019).
The film will be released on Disney+ Hotstar on 9 November.
Watch the trailer and let us know if you are keen on watching the film.