Artsee Media Pvt. Ltd., Big People and Company’s Ladki (A) is the story of a daredevil girl who seeks revenge for the murder of her kung fu trainer and saves his gymnasium from being usurped by a property developer.
Pooja (Pooja Bhalekar) is a kung fu champion, having been trained by Masterji (TianLong Shi). She soon befriends Neel (Parth Suri). Musharraf (Pratik Parmar) loves Pooja and, therefore, can’t bear to see her being so friendly to Neel.
One day, a builder (Abhimanyu Singh) decides to usurp Masterji’s gym. First, he tries to sweet-talk Masterji into vacating the gym. He murders Masterji when the latter refuses to oblige. Pooja now decides to not only avenge Masterji’s killing but also save the gym.
Ram Gopal Varma has penned a jaded story and an equally dull screenplay. Instead of a male protagonist, he presents a female one this time, but that’s about the only new angle. Otherwise, the drama is so clichéd and so predictable that nothing surprises the audience. He seems to have written the drama in a template format. His dialogues are ordinary.
Pooja Bhalekar shines in action scenes but is not heroine material. Parth Suri is okay in a role which gives him limited scope. Abhimanyu Singh is average as the greedy builder. Rajpal Yadav is miscast and he overacts as Swamiji. TianLong Shi is so-so as Masterji. Ravi Kale is okay as police inspector Nagre. MuQiMiYa (as Chang), Pratik Parmar (as Musharraf) and Temper Vamshi (as Kali) provide routine support. Others pass muster.
Ram Gopal Varma’s direction is dull. Music (Ravi Shankar and DSR) is weak. Nitin Raikwar’s lyrics are nothing to shout about. Manitha Srinivas’ choreography serves to exhibit Pooja Bhalekar’s body and figure more than her dancing skills, if any. Paul Praveen and Anand’s background music hardly deserves separate mention. Cinematography (by V. Malharbhatt Joshi and Rammy) is alright. More than anything else, the two camerapersons concentrate on exposing the leading lady’s figure and body. Action and stunt scenes (WincChun Anji and Chang Cheng Li) are thrilling but the audience is left wondering why Pooja Bhalekar is always under-dressed in action sequences. Madhukar Devara’s art direction is average. Editing (Kamal Ramadugu and Prabhu Deva) leaves something to be desired.
On the whole, Ladki will not be able to entice the audience to the cinemas in spite of exhibition of the heroine’s body. Flop.
Released on 15-7-’22 at Glamour (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru UFO Cine Media Network. Publicity & opening: very poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was pathetic everywhere.