Laabam Review
Star Cast : Vijay Sethupathi, Shruti Haasan, Jagapathi Babu
Director : SP Jhananathan
Late director SP Jhananathan’s Laabam is a film that talks about the importance of community farming and how farmers can create their own self-sufficient economy. It comes at a time when the farmer’s agitation is going on.
Pakkiri aka Pakkirisamy(Vijay Sethupathi) returns to his hometown Peruvayal after educating himself by visiting several countries across the globe. Along with his young bunch of friends, he comes to power in the local farmers union; they propose the community farming technique to improve the livelihood of the farmers.
He is also well connected with other farmer's unions in India and creates a revolution in the farming industry. But the greedy industrialist Vanangamudi (Jagapathi Babu) and his associates act as a huge hurdle for Pakkirisamy and his ambitious schemes.
As usual, Vijay Sethupathi has delivered an effortless performance while Shruti Hassan only comes in a few scenes. The bearded look in the intro scene doesn’t suit Sethupathi and there is no continuity in his looks.
Jagapathi Babu plays a typical villain while there is nothing much to talk about the other actors. The film is more like a knowledge transfer session that Jhananathan has conveyed so many facts about community farming, economy, capitalism, and communism. The treatment is as old as the hills within the typical hero versus villain angle.
Technically, Ramji’s visuals and Imman’s music are adequate. We wish the film had a crisper run time and was a bit more engaging.
Overall, Laabam has a lot of new things but the packaging is not polished and the treatment is outdated. If you are fine with just the message and facts in a film, this could be your cup of tea!
