Laabam

Laabam is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language action drama film directed and co-written by S. P. Jananathan. It stars Vijay Sethupathi and Shruti Haasan, with Jagapathi Babu, Dhansika, and Kalaiyarasan in pivotal roles.
Filming for Laabam took place between April 2019 and December 2020. Ramji was hired as cinematographer, while D. Imman is the music composer. The film was released theatrically on 9 September 2021. It was Jananathan's final film as he died six months before its release.

Plot

Pakkiri returns to his native place after an exile and straight away takes on the greedy village head Vanagamudi. With the support of the locals, he becomes the president of the village and decides to give agriculture a new touch with his techniques. The rest of the story is about how Pakkiri manages the local goons with the help of Clara and comes out victorious.

Cast

Production

The film is directed by S. P. Jananathan, who made a comeback into direction after Purampokku Engira Podhuvudamai,. Principal photography for Laabam commenced on 22 April 2019. Vijay Sethupathi, the lead actor, also produced the film. Shruti Haasan was cast as the lead actress as Jananathan wanted a "fresh casting". Filming wrapped in December 2020. Jananathan died on 14 March 2021 during the post-production stage, making Laabam his final film as director.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by D. Imman. The audio rights were acquired by Lahari Music and T-Series.

Critical reception

M Suganth of The Times of India wrote, "The film's narrative is quite fractured. Rather than moving from one incident to the other, here, it moves from one issue to the other at a rapid pace giving us a false sense of momentum." Srinivasa Ramanujam of The Hindu called it "more a visual representation of a protagonist in a television programme than a film".

Home media

The film began streaming on Netflix from October 2021.