Mythri Movie Makers’ Kushi (dubbed from the Telugu film of the same name; UA) is a love story.
Viplav (Vijay Deverakonda) is the son of Lenin Satyam (Sachin Khedekar) and Rajalakshmi (Saranya Ponvannan). They live in Bombay. Lenin Satyam and Viplav are atheists. Viplav falls head over heels in love with Aradhya (Samantha Ruth Prabhu) when they meet in Kashmir. Aradhya otherwise lives in Pune with dad Sakharam Maharaj (Murali Sharma), grandmother (Lakshmi) and sister and brother-in-law. Although both the families are happy with the choice of their children, there’s a problem. Sakharam Maharaj, who is a firm believer in God and horoscopes, feels that Viplav and Aradhya can get married only after performing a havan, otherwise they would not be happy in their married life. However, Viplav and his dad will not hear anything of havans.
Left with no alternative to break the stalemate, Aradhya elopes with Viplav and they get married. Life goes on smoothly till Aradhya gets pregnant with their first child, but has a miscarriage.
Aradhya, convinced that the miscarriage had happened because they had avoided the havan before getting married, asks Viplav to perform a havan. But Viplav is adamant. Resultantly, cracks start developing in their relationship. Ultimately, Aradhya returns to her parental home.
Distraught, Vilpav goes to fetch her after some days, but her father insists on a havan before he can send Aradhya back with him. Viplav and his family agree. What happens thereafter?
Shiva Nirvana has written a fairly engaging story and screenplay but the ending is so half-baked that the audience wonders what the hue and cry was all about if this was to be the ending. The fight between believers and non-believers is never-ending and hence it was impossible for Shiva Nirvana to round off the drama convincingly for all. Instead, what the climax does is to keep everyone dissatisfied. If the first half is light and boasts of excellent Kashmir locales and some melodious songs, the post-interval portion becomes routine and even predictable. The drama, after interval, keeps deteriorating. Shiva Nirvana’s dialogues are quite nice.
Vijay Deverakonda does a very fine job as Viplav. Samantha Ruth Prabhu looks gorgeous and acts wonderfully as Aradhya. Murali Sharma lends nice support as Sakharam Maharaj. Sachin Khedekar stands his own as Lenin Satyam. Saranya Ponvannan makes a mark as Viplav’s mother. Rohini (as Zoya) leaves a mark. Jayaram (as Zoya’s husband) has his moments. Vennela Kishore is entertaining in the role of Pitobash, Viplav’s personal assistant in Kashmir. Rahul Ramakrishna does a fair job as Viplav’s friend, RK. Sharanya Pradeep is alright as Deepu, friend of Aradhya. Srikanth Iyengar is okay as Aradhya’s boss, Chatur. Lakshmi lends routine support as Aradhya’s grandmother. Others do as desired.
Shiva Nirvana’s direction is good except that the rounding up of the drama is not convincing. Hesham Abdul Wahab’s music is melodious but not a single song is hit in Hindi. Raqueeb Alam’s lyrics are quite nice. Song picturisations (Raju Sundaram, Brinda, Pony Prabhu) are fair. Background music is nice. Murali G.’s camerawork is excellent. Action scenes (Peter Hein and V. Venkat) are functional. Jayashree Lakshminarayanan’s production designing, and Uttar Kumar Surisetty’s art direction are of a fine standard. Prawin Pudi’s editing is sharp. Dubbing is nice.
On the whole, Kushi does not have any chance at the box-office. Its second half is a major dampener. …..The original Telugu version can be expected to fare much better than the dubbed Hindi version because of the popularity of the songs there as also due to the super-popularity of the lead stars.
Released on 1-9-’23 at Glamour (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Grand Master. Publicity: poor. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over.