Labaam(Netflix)
Starring Vijay Sethupathi , Shruti Haasan , Jagapathi Babu
Directed by S P Jananathan
Rating: *
This is hands-down the worst film on a social issue to come out of Tamil Nadu, or for that matter any state. It is to farmers’ rights what Kamaal R Khan’s Desh Drohi was to anti-terrorism.
Inexcusably inept and clumsy, the question that had me scratching my head was, what is the great Vijay Sethupathi doing in a film so clumsy it gives social propaganda a bad name?
Ostensibly made to highlight the plight of farmers Laabam is cruder than the oil that comes out of the Gulf’s petrol farms. It is stocky and heavyhanded, like an overgreased oily burger that is just not right for your health. Dripping with a righteous indignation Sethupathi one of the best actors in India, is reduced to a series of oafish situations where he must stand up for the rights of farmers in a Tamil village.
The villagers who look like junior artistes from Doordarshan serial, are shown dancing more than farming. When Pakkirri(Sethupathi) arrives in the village with a beard the length of this winding film, with a secret recipe for collective farming, they break into a joyous song and dance. When Pakkirri contests the panchayat election and wins, they break into another song and dance.And when they get their land back from the evil zamindar they sing and dance more.
Makes you wonder . If only the agitating farmers had sung and danced more, our present government would not have been so inconvenienced. I must say the farmers in Laabam have it easy. There is only one evil force they have to reckon with. He is played by the ever-smirking Jagapathi Babu. An intelligent actor he can barely stop himself from collapsing into a heap of laughter as he is put into a bath tub with a moll.
Such cheesy manifestations of villainy went out of vogue with M G Ramachandran. This film seems to exist in a time warp. None more warped than Shruti Haasan who as a local dancer named Clara is the most annoying female protagonist seen in a film about social inequality,or for that matter, about anything.
Clara is a stage performer. But she agrees to dance for the farmers’ cause for free: yes, more singing and dancing!!
Throughout all of this selfimportant tripe Vijay Sethupathi remains stoic to the point of seeming indifferent, if not bored. Nothing seems to make him angry. Not the usurped exploited farmers. Not even the fact that he is made to be part of a film which is as outdated as bellbottoms and Archies’ cards.
Laabam is like a huge over-spicy pizza whose topping is so over-the-top it is unpalatable. Sethupathi must know that being acknowledged as a brilliant actor comes with a responsibility. You can’t be seen in stupid films like Annabella Sethupathi and Laabam.