LEO: Lokesh offers clarifications about various theories related to the film!
Thalapathy Vijay’s LEO has turned out to be a mega blockbuster, with the film grossing over 500 crores in its first ten days. And now, LEO’s director Lokesh Kanagaraj has opened up to the media stating many clarifications about the film and its story-line. Here are excerpts.
About the flashback episode
“Parthiban never told the story of LEO from his perspective. It was told from Hridayaraj’s (Mansoor Ali Khan) POV. In fact, there was a dialogue where Hridayaraj says that the story he was gonna narrate was completely from his perspective. After a discussion with editor Philomin Raj, I removed that dialogue as it’ll feel completely like lies. In fact, I shot 45 minutes for the flashback. Some of it didn’t come in the movie.”
About Gautham Menon’s character
“I had added a lot of details for GVM’s character. In fact, the gun which falters in the first scene works in the climax sequence, which shows that he is an alert cop. There’s also a lot of thinking that goes into decoding the LEO character for him.”
About ‘Parthiban – Leo’ connect
“I keep saying that LEO is a character study. Because there are a lot of levels for Thalapathy Vijay’s character. For example – after the cafe fight sequence where Vijay na cries a lot, he won’t turn around when someone calls him Parthiban. They have to call him twice or thrice to bring his attention. This is because he is no more Parthiban and returns to becoming Leo.”
About Leo’s gunshot scars gone missing
“I left some questions unanswered in the film. For example – Leo’s gunshot scars should be on his bare body, because I’ve shown Vijay na’s body so many times in the film. Leo is someone who has created a history for himself with fake documents, certificates, photos and more. It is not hard for him to hide his scars and wounds. Gautham Menon too has this doubt in the film.”
About the lion reference in the title and hyena connect
“Right from the time that I wrote the story 5 years back, the hyena is a hyena only. It was never a lion. However, LEO’s title refers to the cape lion which is an extinct population of the lions. Leo is about such a line who is said to be extinct, but he hasn’t really gone from the planet. He is still alive.”
About the ‘Alter ego’ reference in the posters and the meaning in the film
“I like the concept of alter ego very much. It is something I saw first in Fight Club, where a difference between who a man is and who he wants to be is shown superbly. If you see an accident on the road, you want to help but how many of you really help? It’s a fight between the brain and muscle. If Shri is me, Sundeep is my alter ego in Maanagaram. If Narain is me, Karthi is my alter ego in Kaithi. Here in Leo, you know who it is.”
About Leo and Amar connection in the LCU
“Leo has done a lot of homework to hide his identity. During this process, there is a connection between Vijay na’s and Fahadh’s character at the Sathyamangalam orphanage. The entire LCU is based on the kids from the orphanage, what happened there and how they come together in different ways to make the drug free society. I will open this story in the upcoming films for sure.”
About the lesser number of LCU connections in the film
“I wanted to focus on the film being a character analysis of Leo. I didn’t want to force any more connections into the film because I didn’t want the audience to move away from the main character. However, in films from now onwards such as Kaithi2, I will have all the characters coming together. Now that I’ve established all the people, it will be event based films like Kaithi or Vikram where a majority happens over one night.”
