Laabam

Laabam (transl. Profit) is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language action drama film^[1] written and directed by S. P. Jananathan. It stars Vijay Sethupathi and Jagapathi Babu, with Shruti Haasan, Dhansika, and Kalaiyarasan in pivotal roles.^[2] Ramji was hired as a cinematographer, while D. Imman is the music composer. Principal photography for Laabam commenced on 22 April 2019.^[2] The film was released theatrically on 9 September 2021. It received mixed to negative reviews from critics and audiences and became a box-office bomb.^[3] This would be Jananathan's final film as a director and a posthumous release.^[4]

Laabam
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	S. P. Jananathan
Written by	S. P. Jananathan
Produced by	P. Arumuga Kumar Vijay Sethupathi
Starring	Vijay Sethupathi Jagapathi Babu Shruti Haasan Dhansika
Cinematography	Ramji
Edited by	N. Ganesh Kumar S. P. Ahmed
Music by	D. Imman
Production companies	Vijay Sethupathhi Productions 7Cs Entertainment Pvt Ltd
Release date	9 September 2021 (2021-09-09)
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

Pakkiri returns to his native place after an exile and straight away takes on the 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

• Vijay Sethupathi as Pakkiri Samy
• Jagapathi Babu as Vanangamudi
• Shruti Haasan as Clara
• Dhansika as Vanangamudi's assistant
• Kalaiyarasan as Benny
• Ramesh Thilak as Tesla (Pakkiri's friend)
• Daniel Annie Pope as Pakkiri's friend
• Nitish Veera as Pakkiri's friend
• Jai Varman as Pakkiri's friend
• Prithvi Rajan as Selvaraj
• G. Marimuthu as Paraman
• Vincent Asokan
• Shanmugarajan
• O. A. K. Sundar
• Praveena as Vanangamudi's wife
• KPY Bala as Tabla player
• Nagendra Prasad in the song "Yaamili Yaamiliyaa"

Production

The film is directed by S. P. Jananathan, who made a brief comeback into direction since working for Purampokku Engira Podhuvudamai, which released in 2015. Principal photography for Laabam commenced on 22 April 2019.^[5] Vijay Sethupathi was cast as in a male lead role to play a social activist.^[6] Krithi Shetty was initially considered for the role of Clara, before Shruti Haasan was confirmed to play the role.

Jananathan died on 14 March 2021 during the post-production stage, thus making Laabam his final film as a director.^[4]

Soundtrack

Laabam
Soundtrack album to Laabam by D. Imman
Released	25 September 2021[7]
Recorded	2021
Genre	Film soundtrack
Length	33:30
Language	Tamil
Label	Lahari Music and T-Series
Producer	D. Imman
D. Imman chronology
Teddy (2021) Laabam (2021) Udanpirappe (2021)

The music was composed by D. Imman, collaborating with Vijay Sethupathi for the fourth time (after Rummy, Rekka and Karuppan) and Jananathan for the first and only time. The audio rights were acquired by Lahari Music and T-Series.^[8]

Track list

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Yaazha Yaazha"	Shruti Haasan	03:54
2.	"Yaamili Yaamiliya"	Divya Kumar	04:22
3.	"Clara My Name Is Clara"	Sunidhi Chauhan, Kpy Naveen	04:25
4.	"Seruvom Seruvom"	CLEO VII, Srinisha Jayaseelan	03:31
5.	"Uzhaippom Thozha"	Sreenidhi, Narayanan Ravishankar	05:51
6.	"Daylight Robbery (Theme Music)" (instrumental)	D.Imman	03:07
7.	"Yaazha Yaazha (Karaoke)" (instrumental)	D.Imman	03:54
8.	"Clara My Name Is Clara (Karaoke)" (instrumental)	D.Imman	04:25
Total length:			33:30

All lyrics are written by Yugabharathi

Critical reception

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."^[9] The Hindu called it "more a visual representation of a protagonist in a television programme [..] than a film".^[10]

Home media

The film is available on online streaming platform Netflix.^[11]