Samantha and Vijay Devarakonda starrer Kushi was Supposed to be the most anticipated film but after its release, it didn’t live up to expectations. Kushi has all the good ingredients like Soulful melodies, good actors, an exciting storyline, beautiful storyline and still it has not gotten its desired results at the box office. Let’s check in my opinion what actually went wrong for Kushi movie.
1. The Entire Kashmir Episode:
Many love stories tend to adopt a familiar narrative style, often beginning with well-known scenarios, such as a boy falling for a girl at first sight or both of them gradually developing feelings after initial conflicts. Kushi movie is no different in this regard. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with using these established templates, what truly matters is how effectively these sequences are executed. The audience should experience the same emotions as the protagonists did, making the storytelling genuinely engaging.
The initial encounter between Vijay and Samantha lacks impact. Except for Samantha’s good looks, the director fails to delve into the reasons behind Vijay’s rapid infatuation with her, leading to a marriage in such a short duration. Samantha, on the other hand, has a few more compelling reasons for her feelings toward Vijay. For him, it’s primarily based on her appearance. Rather than focusing solely on providing entertainment, had the director invested more in developing a meaningful love story between the lead characters, the outcome could have been different. Samantha’s motive for coming to Kashmir and adopting a Muslim persona is also inadequately explained.
While such storytelling might have been acceptable a decade ago, today’s audiences are more discerning, not sparing even one unconvincing scene. The entire Kashmir episode is out of sync with the overall tone of the film. Entertainment factors have saved here to some extent. The entire Kashmir episode is a half-baked attempt except for offering entertainment value and lacking the necessary substance to develop proper relations between Samantha and Vijay.
2. Samantha:
Nothing against Samantha here. She is one of the finest actresses we have currently in our Telugu cinema. However, the character of Aaradhya in this story called for a fresh face or an up-and-coming actress. Samantha didn’t quite fit the role, perhaps due to her recent health issues or the age factor, which seemed to have diminished the charm needed for this particular character. The makeup also didn’t do justice.
As the movie progressed into its second hour, she looked older than Vijaya Devarakonda. Their on-screen chemistry failed to convey the essence of a husband-and-wife relationship, making it awkward when Vijay referred to her as ‘baby.’ Samantha genuinely put in her best efforts, but unfortunately, it didn’t translate effectively on screen.
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This isn’t her fault; it is completely the directors’ fault. When casting an actor with such immense stardom, it’s crucial to either design the character to match that stardom or select an actor who better aligns with the character’s requirements.
3. Those Unnecessary Songs and Scenes:
When everything seems to be falling perfectly in the right place, the entire Samantha office party episode and Subsequent song acted as a distraction. The whole episode made us disconnected from the flow of the movie. As mentioned earlier, ‘Kushi’ combines both good and bad moments, with the former outweighing the latter. However, it’s the bad scenes that left a more notable damaging impact, ultimately affecting the overall viewing experience.
Kushi is not at all a bad film. It is a mixed bag that falls just a few steps away from the perfect entertainer. It had very good scenes like the last 20 minutes, a few entertaining scenes, and beautiful picturization of songs. One thing that must be appreciated by the director for balancing both communist ideologies and devotional personal ideologies. I still recommend you to watch this in your free time. Those mistakes have eroded the movie’s potential to become a blockbuster, reducing it to a timepass one.