Kushi Review: Samantha, Vijay Deverakonda try hard to save a weak script

Kushi marks Vijay Deverakonda's return to the romance genre after Liger, an actioner and an experiment for the Arjun Reddy star, failed at the box office. Besides, Kushi also marks the last theatrical release for Samantha Ruth Prabhu for a while, considering the actress is on a hiatus due to health reasons. The film promised to serve as a breather from all the mass, action-packed star vehicles that, of late, have captured the imagination of filmmakers across India.

Does Kushi deliver on its promises and live up to the mark of a breezy entertainer? Find out.

3 things you need to know

• In Kushi, Lakshmi and Murli Sharma deliver convincing performances in supporting roles.
• In some parts, the movie seems to refer to Vijay's Arjun Reddy.
• The filmmaker fails to take a stand on the religious issues it takes up.

Hot Take

Directed by Shiva Nirvana, Kushi follows the template of a usual romantic drama. After briefly setting up its premise, the film takes us to the scenic hills of Kashmir, where our hero figure woos his reclusive love interest. We get a dreamy song sequence followed by some comic relief courtesy of Vennela Kishore, who plays a butler. Lovers soon unite, only to be separated by their warring parents. They rebel, but end up battling their internal conflicts. However, Kushi is not as harmless a narrative as it appears on the surface. With its half-hearted, defensive take on the science vs religion debate and sketchy protagonists, Kushi confuses more than it amuses.

Does Kushi live up to the hype?

Despite having stars like Vijay Deverakonda and Samantha Ruth Prabhu at the center of the narrative, the film fails to overcome its shortcomings. The lead pair's star power fails to elevate the film. Its protagonists are hard to root for. Kushi, as a concept, is character-driven. But, we fail to make sense of the choices made by the protagonists.

Shiva Nirvana tips his hat to Mani Ratnam in more ways than one, the most endearing of which is the song Naa Roja Nuvve. The film's premise is a nod to Ratnam’s Alai Payuthey. However, Nirvana's film is plot-driven and fails to give us characters we would care for. At one point, Viplav (Deverakonda) identifies himself as an atheist. A few scenes later, he arrives at a temple to pacify Aaradhya’s (Samantha Ruth Prabhu) father.

(A still from Kushi | Image: Vijay Deverakonda/Instagram)

Aaradhya, the female protagonist, is equally hard to make peace with. All we know about her is that she has an annoying boss figure and is religious and superstitious. 

Kushi’s biggest fault lies in how it doesn't inform us about Aaradhya but expects us to empathise with her nonetheless. Did Aaradhya and Viplav believe that having a child is integral to their marriage? What does Viplav feel after hearing the backstory of his boss’ daughter? Why does Viplav choose to humiliate his wife instead of talking to her in private? These questions are left unanswered.  

Arjun Reddy references work against Kushi

There are a few meta jokes about Deverakonda's Arjun Reddy, pointing towards the actor's misogynistic character in that film. It seems like, he uses these references in order to defend himself and his choice of films. However, it does not work as planned. We end up subconsciously tracking how different Deverakonda is in Kushi as compared to Arjun Reddy only to realise that there is very little progress. Viplav then starts to appear like a milder version of Arjun Reddy. He loses his temper easily and attempts to gaslight women. At the first given opportunity, Viplav even breaks into an angry diatribe about women folk.

Kushi's narrative unfolds from Viplav's perspective. His insecurities are presented as conflicts and it is hard for the film to keep that guise up for long. There are more than a couple of scenes that reinforce Kushi's casual sexism and its desperate need to glorify its hero's self-absorbed masculinity.

Kushi suffers from tonal mismatch

After a point, Kushi starts to feel like a comedy film. We have characters bickering and fighting with each other because of a misheard line or misinterpreted gesture. Such gags fit well in a comedy. Shiva Nirvana intends to make a drama, and that’s a very sad realisation for the viewer - to see such a mismatch between the film’s intent and execution and its content and tonality.

(Vijay Deverakonda and Samantha Ruth Prabhu were last seen together in the 2018 film Mahanti | (Image: samantharuthprabhuoffl/X)

Particularly in the first half, we have a bizarre sequence where a bunch of locals in Kashmir arbitrarily decide to attack Viplav. The director should have done better than to use the Kashmir conflict as a comical plot point. 

No stand on science vs religion debate

While you try to forgive the film for its misplaced humour in the first half, it dives into the science vs religion battle as a conflict point for the protagonists’ marriage. Soon, the narrative lands into troubled waters.

At one point, Aaradhya tells Viplav, “When you are being silent, that still means you are taking sides.” Ironically enough, this applies to Kushi as well. The director has no stand on the topics that matter. However, his stance becomes clear in the extended final act where a ‘stern’ man with a scientific temperament decides to temporarily defy his ideology to appease the religiously inclined. 

Deverakonda, Samantha's performances hindered by weak writing

Samantha Ruth Prabhu does the emotional heavy lifting. Vijay Deverakonda, whereas, hits the right note in early comical moments. In a train scene where a character suddenly begins to speak his native language, he evokes mirth. Overall, Kushi offers a weak material and both actors fail to rise above it, despite their sincerity.

(Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Vijay Deverakonda in the poster of Kushi | Image: samantharuthprabhuoffl/Instagram)

Lakshmi is a pleasant surprise in an extended cameo. However, it’s Murli Sharma who turns up with the most notable act despite limited screen time. He effectively uses his body language to convey the rigidness of his character.

Watch it or skip it?

Kushi offers absolutely nothing original to its audience. Right down to a wobbly descent into its third act and its easy, convenient resolutions that leave the viewer confused and unconvinced, Kushi truly exemplifies the ‘old wine in a new bottle’ adage. Unfortunately, the sheen of the bottle is also artificial. The film reinforces casual misogyny under the garb of relationship conflicts. It takes a different kind of maturity to make an honest, sensitive film about a troubled marriage, and Shiva Nirvana isn’t there yet.

Bottomline

Kushi deploys every trick in the bag to keep the momentum going. With a flimsy premise, weak script and protagonists that are hard to empathise with, the film fails to hold the interest through its 163-minute runtime. 

Rating - 2/5