Leela Samson – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: The theatre requires more area, doesn’t it?

Vampire Bat: The movie has been taken up as a celebration by the audience.

Vampire Owl: These are the Pooja Holidays. So, it is expected.

Vampire Bat: Even for such a holiday rush, this is quite a lot.

Vampire Owl: It is only the blog which has lacked any rush this year.

Vampire Bat: We have been too busy this year.

Vampire Owl: We have always been busy towards eternity.

Vampire Bat: This is also the first Vijay movie that we are reviewing.

Vampire Owl: Yes, we had at least one review of most of the other stars already.

Vampire Bat: There is always a chance in violence for a new beginning.

[Gets a plate of chilli porotta and three cups of mint tea].

What is the movie about? :: Parthiban (Vijay) is an animal rescuer and a chocolate-specialized café owner who is now settled in Theog, Himachal Pradesh. He lives with his wife Sathya (Trisha Krishnan) and two children Siddharth (Mathew Thomas) and Mathi (Iyal) in a cottage which is located some distance away from the main town. Their only family friends are Forest Ranger Joshy Andrews (Gautham Vasudev Menon) and his wife Priya Joshy Andrews (Priya Anand). Parthiban wishes to keep himself away from public attention, which he somewhat manages to do despite him being able to tame a hyena which attacks the town with the help of Joshy and Siddharth. But when his café is attacked by a group of robbers and one of them tries to sexually harass his employee Shruthi (Janany Kunaseelan), he takes matters into his hands, and seeing his daughter in grave danger, ends up murdering all of them using their gun, despite never having used any firearms before. The court declares it self-defense, but the family of one of the robbers swear vengeance and his photos also become part of different newspapers all around India.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: After the incident, Parthiban becomes very careful about his family’s safety, installing CCTV cameras everywhere and checking the entry points to his home. He wakes up at night, feeling the requirement to protect his family from evil forces. His photos which were published in newspapers come to the attention of some of the gangsters in Telangana and the news spread further. Harold Das (Arjun Sarja), a notorious and ruthless gangster with roots in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He informs his brother Antony Das (Sanja Dutt) who is a dreaded crime lord running an international drug business. Antony and Harold seem to identify Parthiban with another name Leo Das, as Antony’s son who was supposed to be dead some years ago. At the same time, facing threats from the relatives of Shanmugam (Mysskin) the leader of the robbers whom he murdered, Police Officer Napoleon (George Maryan) is assigned to his protection. Napoleon spends most of his time sleeping during duty, much to the dismay of Parthiban who feels that his home remains unprotected despite the best efforts.

And what more is to follow when chaos unleashes itself in the hilly terrain? :: Antony reaches the quiet town of Himachal Pradesh with his large group of henchmen. He gets to the café run by Parthiban and calls him Leo. But Parthiban refuses to acknowledge even knowing the man and the name which has been put on him. Antony meets Sathya and saves her from the relatives of Shanmugam and murders all members of the gang who were trying to hurt Parthiban’s family, while reminding them that the children are his own blood, the offsprings of Leo. This sets a sequence of confusing elements in motion, as Joshy Andrews visits Hridayaraj D’Souza (Mansoor Ali Khan), a former gangster now in prison, and he lets out a flashback about Leo and his twin sister Elisa Das (Madonna Sebastian). Meanwhile, Sathya and Priya goes on with their own methods to search more about Leo and Parthiban. But it seems that the truth is not something that they can find out easily. But they would need to unearth that early enough with Antony wandering around the town of Theog and Parthiban seemingly losing his mind. The question remains if they can be quick enough to do that.

The defence of Leo :: The movie, as expected is held strong by Vijay, and the action sequences here are difference, and in this world, mindless action makes way for more classic action. Vijay suits well in a new world of violence without that repeated style of action that we usually see. The action here remains more memorable as much as the violence. The visuals are breathtaking and the locations for the fights are so good that we will keep remembering them for the next few days. There is also no shortage of style, which is yet kept in control not to go overboard. We also have no slow-motion overdose here, even though the tendency would have been there. The final revelations nicely set things in motion here for more, and the good supporting cast means that this can contribute more to the overall universe of the same kind of movies. The background music remains stunning at all times, and we are made to go with the flow which is already supported by the visuals. Mathew Thomas of Kumbalangi Nights, Thanneermathan Dinangal and Jo and Jo also get the honours. The team of Gautham Vasudev Menon, Trisha, Priya Anand and George Maryan are very good and so are the menacing villains played by Sanjay Dutt and Arjun Sarja.

The claws of flaw :: The flashback remains a weak point of the movie, as Madonna Sebastian, despite making a quick impact with a return to the past, is done away too soon, and the same can be seen about Babu Antony who does not even get a name for his character after seemingly getting back to power with RDX again. The initial group of robbers are also disposed too early despite the scope which was exhibited. The movie also has that overdose of style even though not that much as one would fear. Some moments seem to be like from a game, and some of the action just goes a little too much ahead. Some characters actually needed to be stronger, and the antagonists could have been more than people of style and threatening. Considering the scale here, there could have been more to achieve, especially with the earlier avatar of the main character. A movie like this one requires to be more complex with its subplots getting further attention, but the secondary elements just seem to be there for providing support to the newly established hero. The movie, without that much of a tale from the past, could have surely been shorter too.

How it finishes :: Leo feels much divergent from other films of Vijay, and has a certain amount of Hollywood touch to it – the control that it manages to exhibit is to be appreciated as it does not go the way of Baahubali and RRR, overdoing with heroism. Our protagonist has been nicely managed in comparison, and so is his world, a small one in a large canvas which the viewer can relate with touch of horror running in the mind. The movie nicely blends into the bigger universe, and one can hope that there would be much more to come in future. After Jai Bhim, it took a long time to watch another Tamil film even though the first Tamil film review happened here a longer time ago in the form of David, and it is evident that this is movie here is worth the time. The huge collections that it received would feel worth it, as an exit into a world which feels magically terrifying with the spectacle of a view that is not seen so often. The fans would find this as the bliss of their free-time, but one can find no trouble in being assured that the movie is for everyone, despite a little bit of extra violence added here and there. Blood and gore have been on our list for some time too.

Release date: 19th October 2023
Running time: 164 minutes
Directed by: Lokesh Kanagaraj
Starring: Vijay, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Madonna Sebastian, Babu Antony, George Maryan, Mathew Thomas, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Priya Anand, Iyal, Mansoor Ali Khan, Shanthi Master, Janany Kunaseelan, Sandy Master, Madhusudhan Rao, Sachin Mani, Denzil Smith, Santhi Mayadevi, Leela Samson

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

What is the story about? :: Rangarajan (Raja Krishnamoorthy) and Vasantha (Leela Samson) along with the children Ganesh (Arjun Chidambaram) and Sunanda (Namita Krishnamurthy) seems to be living pretty much a good life until Ganesh gets very much afraid of being forcibly married to Mythili (Gayathri), the daughter of Ragunanthan (Delhi Ganesh). He plans with his friend, Michael (Rakesh Ram) to get rid of that problem, and finally decides to tell his parents that he is gay and has a boyfriend named Karthik (Gokul Anand). He hopes to bring Karthik home, and make everyone believe the same, but as he is actually homosexual, hesitates in acting as Ganesh’s boyfriend, but the confusion which this situation was to create had only begun there, with more to follow.

How is it different from what you see all the time? :: Unlike the usual series that we get to see around here, this one is more or less direct, even when it keeps the limits – there is no unnecessary melodrama that comes in here. There are moments when you think that the drama is going to reach another stage, but thankfully, it doesn’t. There are moments when it thinks divergent so well, and we can applaud on its ability to do so, without making things complicated at all. Being simple and powerful is surely not an easy thing to do, but America Mappillai does manage to do so. It also rises above the usual predictability factor to deviate the experience to the new path, the one which is not usually taken. We are no longer slaves to that repeated world of usual serials, as we have programmes like this.

What is so special here? :: The characters are indeed special – with so much of a simple story here, they had to be better, and they really are. They are the ones that keep this story going, and the actors and actresses have done a very good job with their characters. Well, even those who are there for only those smaller roles do nicely. Some moments just go cute even when least expected. Each episode comes in the name of a colour, and the reflection of that particular colour can be seen nicely. With a usual home and its people facing different and rather complicated situations, the series try to do something difficult, but that is achieved without alienating the family audience – there is always that kind of a risk and this one nicely goes past the same without trouble. Maybe this would mean that ZEE can come up with an interesting one in Malayalam too, later.

How things have been getting further divergent :: Nowadays, ZEE is targeting the young population as they are coming up with new and original shows on ZEE5. Well, ZEE Entertainment has been known for its traditional approach, as we know the channel for bringing us all the entertainment in the old fashioned way. Well, now we see that things have changed, with welcome divergence. We also see that ZEE is focusing different language based content too, and it is the privilege that we get here by using the ZEE5 app. The app has a fine collection of television shows, originals and movies in different languages, and it is always fun to get it in the language that we want them to be using. The collection is interesting, and one would need to take a look to know more.

The problem of being in doubt :: As it was with Hamlet and many others, the protagonist is in doubt. Well, you can say that he is in more than just doubt – he doesn’t want to be committed for more than one reason. Along with the same, he is also bothered about what people would think, and still wants to do things according to his desires. It is a certain confusion that most of the people are facing these days, with unnecessary inputs from many relatives causing further trouble. Among these relative concerns, a job and marriage are two of the most significant things that keep ringing into one’s ears. The idea is that not having a job or not being married is just not the right thing, especially if most of the relatives of the same age has already done these. Well, this comparison can cause problems, as it does for our protagonist here too.

Soul exploration :: As the series shows, the idea of being divergent is difficult to accomplish. Whatever be the idea, people usually find it difficult as part of a society. The world has its own written rules, anything that doesn’t match that, is in trouble. It brings that confusion which never really ends, and even with the seemingly happy ending of this series, we can expect that to come back at some point. As we do know, there are no happy endings in real life, and there is certainly no happily ever after. This series makes sure that it gets close enough to that by giving that feeling of all coming together well enough, and satisfies the audience who wishes to have something similar to that. With the short length and good work from the cast, the series makes sure that this gets its point right there, without going away from the core.

How it finishes in the end :: Well, America Mappillai is a series that can’t be ignored. As ZEE5 brings this new kind of entertainment outside the usual and expected path, we are sure to be in need to try the same with premium subscriptions, seeing how it is supposed to work so well to bring all the fun. Praveen Padmanabhan who has directed the episodes seem to have made sure that it will work well with almost all kind of audience. Give it a try and download the ZEE5 app to watch the show as well as others. It can bring more to your world of entertainment, and there is a good chance that the next most interesting series in your own mother tongue will be there. This is the time to spend some time to explore #ZEE5 and #ZEE5Originals with #AmericaMappillaiOnZEE5.

Release date: March 2018 – April 2018
Running time: 10-15 minutes per episode
Directed by: Praveen Padmanabhan
Starring: Raja Krishnamoorthy, Leela Samson, Arjun Chidambaram, Namita Krishnamurthy, Gokul Anand, Rakesh Ram, Gayathri