Language: Telugu
The past few years have seen a different kind of sports drama. It was fun to watch generations of underdogs winning through sport, but it is also important to know what happens after. A rise is almost always followed by an inevitable fall, no? As we've seen in films like Panga, Toofan, and Sarpatta Parambarai, being good at a sport you are interested in is only half the story. Santhossh Jagarlapudi's Lakshya tries to do something similar to an extent. What happens to a skilled sportsperson when his primary source of motivation is suddenly gone one day?
Pardhu (Naga Shourya) loses his parents in an accident at a young age. He is raised by his grandfather(Sachin Khedekar) and is encouraged from a young age to take up archery, as a way to fulfil his dead father's dreams. He is a natural, predictably, but archery is an expensive thing to master. He also has a girlfriend, Rithika(Kethika Sharma) who is jealous and loud enough to key people's cars who dare to flirt with her boyfriend—to be fair, the women are creeps. The rest of the story is about what happens when this man, who seems to have everything, starts to lose one thing after the other.
Santossh Jagarlapudi, the film’s writer and director, has to be commended for writing a film that doesn't use the hero’s profession/skill to excuse his bad behaviour.
And even if the tattoo on the protagonist's arm is comically big, it is used to foreshadow a crucial plot point. That said, the filmmaking leaves a lot to be desired. Like all screenwriters wanting to seem important and serious, Santossh, too, borrows names from Mahabharatham, but he chooses Arjuna over Ekalavya. Rather basic and so is the film. Like an unprepared student trying to fill the answer sheet, the film keeps jumping to flashbacks of scenes and dialogues that happened mere minutes ago. We hear claps in a scene, and the accompanying wide-angle shot has people standing with their hands by their side. Shoddiness is still understandable for a second-time director, but sloppiness is inexcusable.
Naga Shourya is effective as Pardhu. The character he plays here is a capable yet suggestible man. He needs to look equal parts vulnerable and sharp, and Shourya fits the bill. I don't know how relevant 8 pack abs are for an archer, but if you have them you flaunt them, right? Kethika Sharma is good too. Even if her screen-time is far from substantial, the plot does depend on her to move forward. Her energy is boisterous which contrasts well with Pardhu/Shourya’s gentleness establishing believable, even charming, chemistry. Both Sachin Khedekar and Jagapathi Babu play similar roles at different points in the story. Neither is given much to do, but their presence does add some weight to a film that is always at the risk of disappearing into its irrelevance.
See, I understand a film trying to pass off the same school grounds as the setting for all matches—one of them is an international competition, by the way—because of a tight budget. But I don't understand the bad and apparent CGI. Why do photo frames need to be green-screened? In a close-up where the picture of the dead father is prominently placed in the background, we see the shaky CGI. Why couldn't they find a hospital folder? Why did they have to add it in post? The production and art design are incorrigible. I mean, the target practice sheet in the hero's room is hung on a brick wall. He is a professional archer. He would need the target practice sheet to be functional, wouldn't he? Junaid Siddiqui's editing does stand out and so does Kaala Bhairava's BGM, but nothing else does.
The allure of a sports drama is only partially tied to the sport at the center. As long as the story is engaging enough, the sport can be as foreign as Rugby, it was at the time of Sye's release, or as commonplace and popular as boxing or cricket. On the other hand, the film's victory is contingent on a well-etched character arc for the person at the centre of the story. That's where Lakshya falters. The filmmaking does nothing to lift the bare-boned plot either. Pardhu is never a troubled character, and the obstacles in his way aren't prominent enough to warrant drama. The only problem this character needs to overcome is his grief—to renegotiate his relationship with the sport in the absence of his grandfather, and I'm not sure if the film manages to convey that he does, in the end. As a result, we get a lacklustre film that ironically is about a man with infallible aim.
Rating: 2/5
Lakshya is playing in cinemas.
Sankeertana Varma is an engineer who took a few years to realise that bringing two lovely things, movies and writing, together is as great as it sounds. Mainly writes about Telugu cinema.
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source https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/lakshya-movie-review-naga-shauryas-bareboned-sports-drama-is-a-lousy-shot-10201251.html
