Story
Viplav (Vijay Deverakonda) is son of a celebrated atheist Lenin Satyam (Sachin Khedekar). Aaradhya (Samantha) is daughter of a celebrated Hindu preacher Chadarangam Srinivas (Murali Sharma). Viplav and Aaradhya fall in love. But their marriage is rejected by their parents because of their ideology/faith. They get married at a register office and start living together. Rest of the film is about the couple fighting with each other and how they get back together.

Artists Performance

Vijay Deverakonda is refreshing as a lover boy who is madly in love with the heroine. He single-handedly carried the film on his shoulders with his portrayal and fun-moments. Samantha did well in a role of three shades. She is highly convincing and you can notice her dedication to work despite her health condition. Murali Sharma and Sachin Khedekar are good in father roles. Saranya Ponvannan is endearing as a god-loving wife of an atheist. Rohini and Jayaram have meaningful characters. Rahul Ramakrishna is entertaining as a friend of the hero. Vennela Kishore is fine as a helping hand in Kashmir. Shatru looks different in a brahminical character. Saranya Pradeep is good in the initial portions of the film where she keeps lying.

Story - screenplay - direction: Story of the film is good and a simple one. The actual story starts in the latter part of the first half. Though the director tried to provide love and entertainment in Kashmir episodes, it didn't click. The movie gets interesting only after the parents' characters are introduced. The conflict in the 2nd half is not well established and we might end up feeling that the lead pair keep fighting for silly reasons. However, the movie gets interesting in the latter part of the second half. The climax of the film is good. Director Shiva Nirvana should have made the film more intense by writing convincing conflict between the couple in the 2nd half and more convincing love episodes between the leads in the Kashmir episodes. He preferred entertainment and family orientation. It’s a kind of mixed bag from the director’s point of view. Some pluses and some minuses. You can also notice references to various Mani Ratnam’s films like Dil Se (Kashmir part), Sakhi (post-marriage), OK Bangaram ( learning about love from an elderly couple).

Other departments: Biggest asset of the film is music by Hesham Abdul Wahab. Three songs (Naa Roja Nuvve, Aaradhya and Kushi) are instant chartbusters. Background music is also decent. Cinematography by Murali G is good. Production design by Uttara Kumar and Chandrika is fine. Locations opted in Kashmir, Kakinada and Kerala are pretty good. Fights by Peter Hein are okay. Editing by Prawin Pudi should have been more crisp. Production values by Mythri Movie Makers are grand.

Analysis: Kushi is about how parents' culture/faith can affect their kids in an adverse way if parents stay adamant. The story of the film is good. The makers have cleverly made sure that the film gets engaging towards interval and climax (interval decides the talk for the first half and climax decides the talk for the entire film). The makers should have concentrated more on bringing love/entertainment out in an organic way in Kashmir. They should also have concentrated on having more depth in conflict between wife/husband. The older characters (Murali Sharma, Saranya, Sachin Khedekar, Rohini and Jayram) are written well. Plus points are music and Vijay. On the flipside, the movie is slow and the runtime is lengthy. Despite its shortcomings, Kushi makes a decent watch.