Vijay Devarakonda, Samantha's romantic entertainer Kushi directed by Shiva Nirvana is releasing on 1 Sep 2023. The presence of Vijay Devarakonda and Samantha and the youthful romantic teaser and trailer increased the interest levels among movie lovers. Vijay Devarakonda, Samantha, and also Shiva Nirvana are pinning their hopes on this film to bounce back and return to the success track. The film's OTT rights are bagged by Amazon Prime and streaming will be after the end of its theatrical run. Let's dive into Kushi and find out whether Kushi made movie lovers Dil Kush or not.
Kushi's story is all about a young couple who get married against the wishes of their parents and how they overcome the misunderstandings in their married life.
Viplav ( Vijay Devarakonda ) requests his boss to get a posting in the exotic location of Kashmir as he loves to explore new places breaking from the monotony. He happens to fall for a Burqha-clad girl Ara (Samantha). On fine day, Viplav finds Ara missing and subsequently finds shocking revelations about her.
Where their relationship leads to, why Ara lied about her identity as Aradhya and how they take their relationship forward, how Viplav's father,renowned atheist and professor Lenin Satyam (Sachin Khedekar) and Aradhya's father, popular astrologer Chadarangam Srinivasa rao (Murali Sharma) react, form the rest of the story.
Vijay Devarakonda toned down his aggressive performances in his recent films and slipped into the role effortlessly. He looked good, handsome, and charming on the screen. He performed well as a loverboy and also showed the right kind of expressions and emotions when faced with different difficult situations. He looked natural and realistic on the screen and delivered dialogues with ease. But sometimes one gets a feeling that he got monotonous in his dialogue delivery.
Samantha performed well on screen. She came up with the right kind of expressions and emotions. Vijay Devarakonda and Samantha's chemistry is the highlight of the film. Their on-screen romance be it in the songs and also in emotional and romantic scenes took the film to the next level. Both also enthralled fans with a couple of intense liplocks and an intimate scene. However, Samantha looked aged and she put on a lot of weight. Her age showed off opposite Vijay Devarakonda and he looked like her younger brother.
Vennela Kishore entertained to some extent in the first half helping the story to move forward slowly but steadily. Rahul Ramakrishna is ok in his role and he appeared in the second half. Murali Sharma and Sachin Khedekar did what was required of them as believers of God and non-believers of God.
Sharanya Ponnavannan, Rohini, Lakshmi, Sharanya Pradeep, Jayaram, Ali, and others performed according to their roles.
Kushi's story selected by Shiva Nirvana is all about two youngsters falling in love and how they overcome the misunderstandings that affect them due to their surroundings and due to the influence of their atheist and non-atheist family members. Director Shiva Nirvana starts off in a predictable manner and the Kashmir episode springs a surprise with Samantha shown as a Muslim girl. Many expect a different kind of love story and the narration generates interest towards it but quickly the story assumes a routine plot.
However, Shiva Nirvana managed to turn the first half watchable thanks to the beautiful and exotic locations of Kashmir, Vijay Devarakonda, and Samantha's settled performances. Vennela Kishore's presence helped to an extent. The romance between Vijay Devarakond and Samantha interests at the start but Shiva Nirvana stretched it a bit in the middle. The first half however ends on a decent note with viewers content on getting a good romantic experience despite a few lags, repetitive scenes, and monotonous elements in between.
Viewers wait eagerly for the second half and the second half assumes a serious note. The entire second half is serious and a few scenes are unnecessarily dragged. The comedy between Vijay Devarakonda and Rahul Ramakrishna makes viewers impatient. Shiva Nirvana tries to make it up with a few romantic scenes between Vijay and Samantha. But the Murali Sharma and Sachin Khedekar's believer and no believer of God scenes are dragged to eternity and even the conflict and misunderstanding scenes between Samantha and Vijay Devarakonda. To the top of it, the scenes featuring Rohini and Jayaram also test the patience of the viewers.
Shiva Nirvana came up with an interesting plot and though the story is routine, he managed to keep viewers interest intact for the majority of the first half. The dragged scenes in the second half impacted the film in a negative manner. The screenplay and direction went for a toss. But the climax once again elevates the scenes with Murli Sharma and Sachin Khedekar making their presence felt. All the actors including Sharanya Ponnavannan came up with impactful performance during the climax.
Hesham Abdul Wahab of Hridayam fame who made his debut with Kushi did a reasonably good job. A couple of songs are tuned in a beautiful and soulful manner and are shot in the backdrop of exotic locations. A couple of songs however acted as the speed brakers and tested the patience of the viewers. Background music is in sync with the storyline.
Murali G's cinematography is captivating. He showed the beauty of Kashmir, capturing the snow-filled mountains and valleys in a spell-bounding manner. His cinematography gave a rich feel to the film on the screen. The editing of Prawin Pudi left a lot to be desired. He could have easily chopped off many scenes in the second half and also a few in the second half to turn the film into a racy one. Wonder why he failed to do so. Production values of Mythri Movie Makers are lavish.
Altogether, Kushi is a feel-good romantic entertainer. Shiva Nirvana with stars like Vijay Devarakonda and Samantha tried to recreate the magic of Pawan Kalyan and Bhumika's cult classic Kushi. Shiva Nirvana starts off in an interesting manner and though he got a good idea, he failed in his execution. He should have created strong characters and given scope to Vijay and Samantha and got the optimum out of them. The character arcs curtailed their performances. Kushi coupled with a couple of beautiful songs and captivating visuals would have reached the next level, had he worked on the script concentrated on the writing, and paid attention to the execution. Considering all these elements, Cinejosh goes with a 2.5 Rating for Kushi.