The raging controversies of 'Leo' and the politics behind them

The much-awaited Tamil movie starring actor Vijay, affectionately known as Thalapathy, is finally here. But a lot of fuss is being created in the name of the movie, be it the dialogue, dance, trailer, or song. Why, unlike most other films, did the movie face a barrage of criticism at the time of its release? Does Vijay's politics have anything to do with the surrounding controversies, one may wonder.

Curiously enough, ‘Leo’ comes at a time when speculations are rife about the actor’s political debut. To those who ask, ‘Why mix cinema with politics’, the ruling DMK Government in Tamil Nadu itself provides the answer. The authorities had rejected permission for the audio launch of the film just a couple of days before the scheduled event, citing security reasons. Besides, the High Court had turned down a plea by the film’s producer to permit the screening of ‘Leo’ from 4 am on the release day today (October 19). This was after the court directed the government to take a decision on the request put forward by the production banner Seven Screen Studios. However, the government said a strict ‘no’ to 4 am or 7am shows and gave nod only for the 9 am shows. All these have infuriated the fans in no small measure.

The movie trailer was launched before the controversy surrounding the denial of permission for the film’s audio launch has died down. But it then kicked off yet another storm. A section came out claiming that the actor insulted women in one of his dialogues in the movie. The film crew also became very anxious after fans damaged theatre properties during a special screening of the teaser.

For a Lokesh Kanagaraj film, these controversies and situations are quite new. In fact, the filmmaker, who has directed films like 'Kaithi' and 'Vikram' never had to face such hurdles in the past. It will be interesting to see how the movie does in theatres in the coming days. There are speculations that the film will become the first Tamil movie to feature in the Rs 1,000 crore club.

Vijay-Lokesh hit combo; ticket sales soar

Vijay’s ‘Master’ was the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2021. And the audience had to wait for over two-and-a-half years to witness another magic of the Vijay-Lokesh combo, through ‘Leo’. The film is produced by Lalit Kumar under the banner of ‘Seven Screen Studios’. Jagadish Palanisamy is the co-producer. The movie, which was made with a massive budget of Rs 300 crore, raked in Rs 487 crore revenue even before its release, through the sale of satellite, digital and video rights, according to trade analysts. Netflix acquired the OTT rights for an astounding sum of Rs 125 crore.

According to industry tracker Sacnilk, the film picked up Rs 100 crore from India and abroad through bookings in the first week alone. It collected Rs 7.25 crore in Kerala alone. The maximum tickets were sold in the US, where over 70,000 tickets were purchased by movie buffs within days. Nearly 5,000 tickets were booked in France in just two days. In Australia, over 15000 tickets were sold. Sree Gokulam Movies is making the theatrical distribution of the film in Kerala.

Trisha-Vijay combo, plus a star-studded cast

That the movie cast Vijay and Trisha after a gap of 16 years has taken the level of expectations surrounding it sky high. The fans are excited as the star duo, which gave many superhits like Gilli, Tirupachi, Adi, Kuruvi, etc, is now teaming up again for Leo. Alongside, the movie also features an exciting lineup of actors including the likes of Sanjay Dutt, Arjun, Priya Anand, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Mathew Thomas, Mansoor Ali Khan, filmmaker Mysskin, etc.

Anirudh's musical magic

Both ‘Master’ and ‘Vikram’ — the earlier productions by Lokesh, were well supported with the music scores by Anirudh Ravichander. The pattern continues this time as well. The song ‘Nan Ready Than’, sung by Vijay himself, continues to top the hit charts even months after its release. The second song ‘Badaas Ma’ too does not disappoint. The cancellation of its audio launch, which denied the fans a chance to listen to the songs, came as a huge letdown. They, however, are now offsetting that loss by dancing live to these songs inside the theatres.

The audio launch was scheduled to be held in Chennai on September 30. The producers, however, soon announced its cancellation, citing security concerns. Producer Jagadish Palanisami pointed to the ruckus created by the fans for purchasing the tickets for the programme too as a reason for its cancellation. The production team, however, had assured that all updates would be promptly communicated to the fans. Amidst the mayhem, the Tamil Nadu Government denied permission to screen the movie in theatres during the early morning hours. The authorities imposed a ban on the early morning screening of movies after a person died while watching an early morning show of the Ajith-starrer ‘Thunivu’. Following this, other big-ticket movies like ‘Varis’ by Vijay and ‘Jailer’ by Rajnikanth too could not be screened during the early morning hours. The ban on screening of ‘Leo’ comes after all these developments. Meanwhile, a court in Hyderabad has imposed a stay on Leo’s screening till October 20 following a dispute regarding the movie’s title. Telugu movie Producer S Nagavashi has already registered the name Leo for his upcoming movie.

Any interplay of politics?

The unprecedented developments surrounding Leo’s release have triggered speculations of an interplay of politics behind those episodes. It is widely pointed out that Vijay has been making use of the audio and trailer launch events of his movie to issue politically-loaded statements. The fans attribute the regulations to the perceived troubles that such statements caused to the government. They also believe that the DMK remains wary of the actor’s words assuming more sharpness ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. A section of reports, meanwhile, also points to the unwillingness of Leo’s producers to cooperate with the Red Giant Movies owned by Udhayanidhi Stalin. Adding to the speculations, posters hailing Vijay as the next Chief Minister began to surface in Madurai. The posters, brought out in the name of Vijay’s fan collective, stated that while you may stop him from entering Nehru Stadium (the venue of the music launch), no one could prevent him from becoming the Chief Minister one day. Such posters had surfaced in the same city a few months ago as well -- during the 49th birthday celebrations of the actor on July 22, 2023.

The ‘dialogue’ controversy

As soon as the trailer of Leo was launched on October 5, it also triggered a controversy over a misogynist remark. It was alleged that one dialogue that Vijay delivers while looking at Trisha amounted to an insult to womanhood. Organizations like Hindu Makkal Iyakkam and the BJP came out in the open, accusing the dialogue of sending out a wrong message to the society. Criticisms were raised against a mainstream actor using such bad words and a complaint seeking to remove the scene was filed with the Chennai city police commissioner. In between, the Central Board of Film Certification came up stating that it had not censored the trailer.

Lokesh, however, soon owned up the complete responsibility for that dialogue. “The expression of anger and emotions in a movie is shown not just through violent scenes but through the words as well. While shooting the scene, Vijay had asked me whether using that word would be appropriate and cause any trouble. I reassured him that his character demanded such usage and that it would not cause him any harm. I’m ready to incur all the accusations and criticisms,” Lokesh said, in an interview. The production team later clarified that the move was based on a directive from the Censor Board and not in response to any of the protests or complaints. At the same time, Nam Tamilar Katchi leader Seeman came up in support of Vijay. “Leo is a Vijay movie. Why should the government stop him from releasing the movie’s songs? You are exerting pressure on him in view of his entry into politics. However hard you try to rein him in, he will emerge above all these one day. You cannot put out the fire that has decided to burn high,” Seeman said. Interestingly, Seeman was also among those who came up earlier seeking to change the movie’s name. While raising the demand, Seeman had claimed that Vijay was duty-bound to protect his mother tongue and hence should not give English names to his movies.

Dancers unpaid!

The song ‘Naa Ready Dhan’, which featured as many as 1300 dancers, was released to coincide with the birthday celebrations of Vijay. There were allegations that most of these dancers were not paid their fees. One of these dancers, Riyas Ahammed, openly protested while a few others approached the office of the Seven Screen Studios and demanded their dues. The producers, however, soon clarified that they had already paid the fee to all the dancers registered with the Dancers Union. R K Selvamany, president of the Film Employees Federation of South India, issued a public statement, which stated that the dancers had been paid a daily salary of Rs 1750. As per the statement, a total of Rs 94, 60,500 was credited to the accounts of as many as 600 dancers. Besides, the production company also sent Rs 10,500 as the salary for six days to the independent artists. Earlier, the song ` Nan ready than’, also raised criticism for promoting narcotic abuse. Following this, the song was re-released by including the statutory warning. For a movie with just three letters as its name, Leo has generated so much controversy. It is, however, yet to be known whether the same has benefited anyone at all. The answer lies in the movie’s collection report. Let’s wait and watch!