Leela (2016 film)

Leela
Official poster
Malayalam: ലീല
Directed by	Ranjith
Produced by	Ranjith
Written by	Unni R
Starring	Biju Menon Vijayaraghavan Suresh Krishna Indrans Sudheer Karamana Parvathy Nambiar Jagadish Priyanka
Music by	Bijibal
Cinematography	Prashanth Ravindran
Edited by	Manoj Kannoth
Production company	Capitol Theater
Release date	22 April 2016
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Leela is a 2016 Indian Malayalam-language satirical film directed and produced by Ranjith. The film is an adaptation of a short story by the same name by Malayalam screenwriter Unni R. which was published in Mathrubhumi weekly.^[1] Biju Menon does the lead role, while Vijayaraghavan, Suresh Krishna, Indrans, Sudheer Karamana, Parvathy Nambiar, Jagadish, and Priyanka does the supporting roles.

The movie was released on 22 April 2016. It is the first Malayalam film in history to make its international premiere online on the same day of its theatrical release.^[2][3]

Plot

The film is a comedy based tragic drama set in central Kerala, the film follows the protagonist Kuttiyappan (Played By Biju Menon) who is on a delirious mission. He is assisted by his trusted aide (played by Vijayaraghavan), Kuttiyappan travels in search of a women who can fulfill his desires. He suffers from ED so he is in search of an elephant, a prime tusker for being a part of his sexual fantasy. The journey explores characters Kuttiyappan meets and events in these intersections. Kuttiyappan finds his requirements. He feels pity for a woman he chooses and decides to marry her. But unfortunately the elephant he bought for the time kills that woman. The story cuts through open spaces of abuse and ego's as a knife through butter in a divergent manner.

Cast

Release

The film was released throughout India on 22 April 2016.^[4] It was also available to watch online through Reelax, an online streaming website, thus becoming the first film in the history of Malayalam cinema to be released online on the day of its theatrical release.^[2][5]

Online piracy issue

On 26 April 2016, four days after the film released in theatres and online, it was shared publicly on peer-to-peer (torrent) file-sharing websites. According to Malayala Manorama, the film was also shared across various social media profiles and was consequently downloaded 'thousands of times since its upload.'^[6] Commenting on the issue, the scriptwriter of the film, Unni R, said, "We don't know who all are behind uploading the pirated version of the movie on internet. But they will be arrested soon."^[7]

Subsequently, the film's director, Ranjith, took to his social media account to request call for action against the culprits. "We have come to the notice that the print of the movie 'Leela' is being shared in couple of Facebook pages and sites. We strongly condemn this act. We have already reported this to the Police authorities and would like to inform that strong action will be taken against the culprits [sic]," he said in his Facebook post.^[8][9][10]

References

External links

Leela on IMDb