Laabam movie review: Lazy writing, flimsy storytelling fail to convey film's purpose

Laabam begins with an animated prologue — more of a history lesson if you will about British invasion, labour exploitation, famine etc. — that culminates in heartfelt dedication to those who lost their lives to these atrocities. If we had any doubt about the nature of the film after watching the trailer, this prologue sets us right. SP Jananathan’s Laabam is the story of a vagabond farmer, Pakkiri, who returns from a world tour to reignite agriculture. Vijay Sethupathi, as Pakkiri, is effortless. By that I mean, he hardly puts any effort at all. He walks around being himself (a persona we know from his public appearances and as the host of Masterchef Tamil), humble, collaborative, joking casually etc. He’s met with immense love and respect by his friends, played by Kalaiyarasan, Ramesh Thilak, Daniel Annie Pope etc., who are hardly differentiable from one another. The primary antagonist is capitalism, embodied by Jagapathi Babu, who appears to have forgotten why he’s there. It’s understandable because it’s not easy for a human to play a caricature. He lives in a fancy bungalow, indoor swimming pool, endless flow of alcohol, young women who serve his every need, a son who lives abroad etc. He is such a cartoon that he explains his plans through dialogue — “this is my gambit, soon I will play the king’s gambit,” he says to underline an act that is as obvious as water’s wet! His love interest is played by Sai Dhansika, who looks stunning but has nothing to do but give his insulin shots. Her dialogues are badly dubbed, her role itself is rather pointless. I wonder why they needed that character at all. We could say the same about Shruti Hassan’s character, the singer and dancer Clara. She serves a stereotypical role in the film, relegated to ‘safety’ when the blood hits the van. To assign all this to lazy writing might be missing the point because Laabam hides answers to these concerns within. For instance, there is a scene in which Pakkiri presents his plan for community farming to the village. Obviously, there are no takers. His friend suggests that there might be more response if he made a rousing speech. Pakkiri responds with the argument that emotionally rousing speeches are manipulative. I want to appeal to their intelligence, he says. Perhaps screenwriter Aalayamani and writer-director Jananathan did not want to appeal to our emotions. Perhaps, they wanted to appeal to our good sense. Except, he doesn’t give its farmers or the audience any credit for intelligence at all. Scene after scene, the characters explain things to the ‘poor farmers.’ Every five minutes, there is a lesson about something. Karl Marx, communism, capitalism, profit-making, production, telegraph, coded messages etc. At one point, Pakkiri gives a few sugarcane farmers a tour of the factory, explaining processes step by step. They react in awe of his intelligence that he knows alcohol is made from molasses. It’s insulting to suggest that only Pakkiri and his coterie understand the economics of production! The film doesn’t spare the audience either. A random young girl by chance meets Pakkiri and he grabs her slate to give her a lesson on what is profit. At one point, he argues that selling boiled masala corn for Rs 20  when the corn itself is Rs 3 is daylight robbery. The best is reserved for a scene where he reveals the password of the locker to the entire village, using it as an opportunity to give a lesson about number systems (I hope the next president of the farmers union changes the password!)

Laabam is clear of its purpose: Educating people about the evils of profit. In that endeavour, it gladly gives us any storytelling finesse or filmmaking chops.

In Aalayamani’s screenplay, winning union elections, restoring lakes, launching large-scale community farming projects, increasing global cotton prices, selling products online, overcoming police atrocity can all happen within one season. All it takes is for a bearded saviour to show up and take over. If all problems could be solved so easily, why were they suffering all along! As a cinematic endeavour, Laabam is laughable. It is mired by tiresome public speeches, awkward fights, dance numbers and television debates, none of which add any value to the story. It wastes characters, propping them up just for Pakkiri to launch into another monologue. It cheats the audience with false tension and convoluted technology explanations. Even as a political conversation starter, Laabam is flimsy. It presents the capitalist as an evil person to be torn into two pieces. It doesn’t engage in a serious discussion about economic systems. It naively believes that class struggles can unite caste differences. The violence of the climax, and the nonchalant way in which it’s approached, is antithetic to the humanity it espouses. Laabam is a lazy person’s utopia. Despite its best intentions, it makes for a mediocre film. Rating: 2/5