5 REASONS TO WATCH AND 3 REASONS NOT TO WATCH LEELA

DIRECTOR	RANJITH
SCREENPLAY	UNNI R
CAST	BIIJU MENON, VIJAYARAGHAVAN, INDRANS, PARVATHY NAMBIAR, JAGADEESH
PRODUDER	RANJITH
MUSIC	BIJIBAL
CINEMATOGRAPHY	PRASANTH RAVINDRAN
RELEASE DATE	22- 04-2016
LANGUAGE	MALAYALAM

ABOUT LEELA – A nice movie about kuttiyappan, who is a complex character, mostly sleeping around and with weird sexual fantasies, which sure make him an interesting character too. This is about his weirdest fantasy, how he goes about it, how would that fantasy change the person he is (or did it change him?), and what fatal fantasy fate had in store for him. Biju Menon shines as Kuttiyappan, Vijayaraghavan aces as Pillechan, Indrans plays a pimp in style, Jagadeesh does justice to his role as a drunkard and rapist (rapes his daughter) and notably Parvathy Nambiar portrays Leela superbly  with no dialogues at all.

5 REASONS TO WATCH LEELA

1. VIJAYARAGHAVAN

Pillechan is going to stay long in our hearts for sure. Vijayaraghavan shines as Pillechan in one of the best roles in his career. The actor plays the role with ease and does it with such naturality.

2. BLACK COMEDY

There is a lot of it, more in the first half. The serious tone of the storyline is sprinkled with these to tickle your funny bone.

3. BIJU MENON

The most important ingredient these days in Malayalam hits, Biju Menon does not disappoint. His performance in Leela is not something you would like to miss.

4. KUTTIYAPPAN

Well Kuttiyappan is yet another reason why you shouldn’t miss this Ranjith flick. Who is he? Must be the question in your mind at this point of time. He is the protagonist played by Biju Menon. And Leela is quite about this character himself. So that explains why have I put it as a separate reason. Kuttiyappan is maniac, intellectual (at times), funny, cruel, loving, crazy and sexual fantasies are epic! Now that’s a hell of a character.

5. RANJITH AND UNNI R

Ranjith has done a good job converting a short story into a 1 hour 40 minutes movie, 5 years after its publication, adding the right ingredients and not making it obsolete. Addition of Dinkan and Dinkoism was a clever move. Unni R did a wonderful job too converting his short story into a screenplay.

3 REASONS NOT TO WATCH LEELA

             1. AMBIGUITY

Ambiguity prevails throughout the movie. Kuttiyappan stands out as a mystery. Climax would leave you wondering what happened.

             2. LOOSE PLOT

Converting a story into a movie is not the easiest of the jobs after all.

             3.  ‘A BOOK IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN A MOVIE’

Said someone. True most of the times. Here Leela is a short story. And people who had read the story beforehand would have known kuttiyappan well before (little frog hasn’t read the story). A pdf version of the story is available online. Do search ( I am going to search too. Not providing it here, not sure about copyright issues, Well, Homework for you! )

My (amateurish ) rating – 3/5

DISCLAIMER – The little frog is no movie guru or intellectual. The little frog immerses itself deep down in a well all day in its own mediocrity. All that is written is individual opinion and kindly excuse the little frog for the possible mistakes/misinterpretations. IF YOU HAPPEN TO READ THE POST, KINDLY LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS, GOOD OR BAD, DOESN’T MATTER B)