Laabam

Laabam
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	S. P. Jananathan
Screenplay by	Aalayamani
Story by	S. P. Jananathan
Dialogues by	S. P. Jananathan
Produced by	P. Arumuga Kumar Vijay Sethupathi
Starring	Vijay Sethupathi Shruti Haasan Jagapathi Babu 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

Laabam (transl. Profit) is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language action drama film^[1] 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 a cinematographer, while D. Imman is the music composer. The film was released theatrically on 9 September 2021.^[2] It was Jananathan's final film as he died six months before its release.^[3]

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

• Vijay Sethupathi as Pakkiri Samy
• Shruti Haasan as Clara
• Jagapathi Babu as Vanangamudi
• 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
• Sanika Raghawa as Clara's friend
• Nikitha Murali as Meenakshi
• Nagendra Prasad in the song "Yaamili Yaamiliyaa"

Production

The film is directed by S. P. Jananathan, who made a comeback into direction after Purampokku Engira Podhuvudamai, (2015). Principal photography for Laabam commenced on 22 April 2019.^[4][5] Vijay Sethupathi, the lead actor, also produced the film. Shruti Haasan was cast as the lead actress as Jananathan wanted a "fresh casting".^[6] Filming wrapped in December 2020.^[7] Jananathan died on 14 March 2021 during the post-production stage, making Laabam his final film as director.^[3]

Soundtrack

Laabam
Soundtrack album to Laabam by D. Imman
Released	2021
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. The audio rights were acquired by Lahari Music and T-Series.^[8]

All lyrics are written by Yugabharathi.

Track listing

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

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 began streaming on Netflix from October 2021.^[11]

References

1. "Laabam". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 8 September 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
2. "'Laabam' to get a solo release on September 9". Sify. 26 August 2021. Archived from the original on 26 August 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
3. "National Award winning director SP Jananathan passes away in Chennai". The News Minute. 14 March 2021. Archived from the original on 14 March 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
4. "Vijay Sethupathi and Shruti Haasan come together for Laabam". The Times of India. 22 April 2019. Archived from the original on 15 May 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
5. "Vijay Sethupathi and Shruti Haasan film titled 'Laabam'". The News Minute. 22 April 2019. Archived from the original on 25 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
6. CR, Sharanya (23 April 2019). "Vijay Sethupathi turns social activist for Laabam". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
7. "Vijay Sethupathi wraps up his portions for Laabam". The Times of India. 2 December 2020. Archived from the original on 28 October 2025. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
8. "Laabam". Gaana. Archived from the original on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
9. Suganth, M (9 September 2021). "Laabam Movie Review: Laabam has good intentions but messy storytelling". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
10. Ramanujam, Srinivasa (9 September 2021). "'Laabam' movie review: Vijay Sethupathi is the 'Master' now, delivering a social studies lecture". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
11. Menon, Thinkal (15 September 2021). "SP Jhananathan's Vijay Sethupathi-starrer Laabam to release on Netflix in October". OTTPlay. Archived from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2025.

External links

• Laabam at IMDb 
• Laabam at Rotten Tomatoes