''Leo'' (also marketed as ''Leo: Bloody Sweet'') is a 2023 Indian
Tamil-language
action thriller film directed by
Lokesh Kanagaraj. Produced by
Seven Screen Studio, it is the third instalment in the
Lokesh Cinematic Universe. Partially inspired by the film
''A History of Violence'', the film stars
Vijay in the titular role, alongside
Sanjay Dutt,
Arjun,
Trisha,
Gautham Vasudev Menon,
Mysskin,
Madonna Sebastian,
George Maryan,
Mansoor Ali Khan,
Priya Anand and
Mathew Thomas. In the film, Parthi, an outwardly humble man, is pursued by gangsters Antony and Harold Das who suspect him to be Antony's son Leo, previously presumed dead.
The film was officially announced in January 2023 under the tentative title ''Thalapathy 67'', as it is Vijay's 67th film as a lead actor, and the official title was announced a few days later.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
commenced the same month in
Chennai
Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
along with a sporadic schedule in
Kashmir
Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...
, which was again followed by another schedule held at the former location, and
wrapped by mid-July. The film has music composed by
Anirudh Ravichander, cinematography handled by
Manoj Paramahamsa and editing by
Philomin Raj.
''Leo'' was released worldwide on 19 October 2023 in standard and
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...
formats to mixed reviews from critics, with praise for Vijay's performance, technical aspects and action sequences while the writing received criticism. It set several box office records for a Tamil film, emerging as the
second highest-grossing Tamil film of 2023,
the
seventh highest-grossing Indian film of 2023,
third highest-grossing Tamil film of all time, the
highest-grossing Tamil film overseas and the
highest-grossing film in Tamil Nadu.
Plot
Parthiban "Parthi" is a humble wildlife rescuer and café proprietor living with his wife Sathya, son Siddharth "Siddhu" and daughter Mathi "Chintu" in
Theog,
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...
. One day, his
forest ranger friend Joshy Andrews seeks his help in taming a
spotted hyena creating chaos; Parthi tames the hyena with the help of Siddhu and adopts it subsequently, but chooses to avoid media coverage. Meanwhile, a group of merciless burglars headed by Shanmugham threaten the townsfolk and intrude Parthi's café at its closing time. When they intimidate Parthi with the lives of Chintu and his employee Shruthi, he shoots them dead. Parthi is arrested, but is acquitted after it is declared that he committed the murders in self-defense, though he finds himself guilt-ridden.
After surviving an assassination attempt by Shanmugham's brother-in-law, Parthi appeals for a
Tamil-speaking police officer to protect him and his family. Napoleon, who has been promoted due to his heroics in
Tiruchirappalli, is assigned that position. Meanwhile, owing to the incident, Parthi's photographs appear in newspapers nationwide and catch the attention of
Telangana
Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...
-based
drug baron brothers Harold and Antony Das. The latter promptly leaves for Theog, having recognized Parthi to be his thought-to-be-dead son Leo; Parthi, nevertheless, fiercely denies his claims. Disbelieving Parthi, Antony meets Sathya and tells her that Parthi is his son Leo and that the latter was an infamous criminal. Suspicious, both Sathya and Joshy begin investigating about Parthi's past individually. While Sathya meets Parthi's childhood friend, Joshy meets Leo's friend Hridayaraj D'Souza, a soon-to-be-executed convict, who narrates Leo's alleged past.
In 1999, after Harold returns to India upon completing his education in Canada, he begins manufacturing and selling a stimulant drug named ''
Datura
''Datura'' is a genus of nine species of highly poisonous, Vespertine (biology), vespertine-flowering plants belonging to the nightshade family (Solanaceae). They are commonly known as thornapples or jimsonweeds, but are also known as devil's t ...
'', using Antony's failing tobacco factory Das & Co as a
front organization
A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy ...
. Antony's twin children Leo and Elisa assist the brothers in their activities. Antony is also a staunch believer of
occult
The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...
practices and engages in
human sacrifices to succor their business. During a celebration, Antony is told by his astrologer that sacrificing one of his children will grant him enormous success; he chooses Elisa and urges Leo to cooperate but he strongly resists and fights Antony and Harold. In the process, he sets the drugs on fire but fails to protect Elisa from getting killed by Harold. She pleads with him to abandon the business and lead a peaceful life, before dying. Leo is shot by Antony and presumed dead.
Joshy and Sathya are convinced that Leo and Parthi are not the same. Parthi discerns that Sathya is suspecting his identity and confronts her but they eventually reconcile. Antony informs Parthi that he has kidnapped Siddhu and that he is going to be sacrificed. Parthi and Napoleon give chase to Antony and his men; Parthi successfully subdues them and kills Antony but does not find Siddhu, who is revealed to have been held captive by Harold at Das & Co.
After Harold agrees to return Siddhu in exchange for Antony's corpse, Parthi takes the latter alone to Das & Co but realizes that Harold has double-crossed him by sending henchmen to murder Sathya and Chintu. While Joshy, Napoleon and the hyena protect Sathya and Chintu by killing the henchmen, Parthi defeats Harold and subsequently holds him at gunpoint. An intimidated Harold finally agrees that Parthi is not Leo and assures no harm to him and his family. Parthi laughs out loud and confirms himself to be Leo before shooting Harold dead and rescuing Siddhu. While torching Das & Co, Parthi asserts that he has done no good deed to be remembered as Leo and that one who tries to know his identity must die or should be the one dying, recalling that he told the truth to Antony before his death.
While back in Theog, Parthi receives a phone call. The anonymous caller tells him that he knows identity and contends that destroying his family's factory will not make society drug-free, imploring him to join his mission and correctly surmises that Parthi might have recognised him by now, following which he sighs in exasperation.
Cast
Production
Development
After the success of ''
Master'' in early 2021, it was reported that
Lokesh Kanagaraj visited
Vijay at his residence and narrated a script which impressed him. The project was supposed to be the actor's 66th film as a leading actor; however, that position instead went to ''
Varisu'' (2023). Reports of a potential collaboration between Lokesh and Vijay continued through February 2022. The following March, Lokesh confirmed there were discussions for him to direct Vijay's 67th film. That May, he confirmed the project,
tentatively titled ''Thalapathy 67''. The project was funded by S. S. Lalit Kumar's
Seven Screen Studio, which had distributed and co-produced ''Master''. Vijay's manager, Jagadish Palanisamy, served as a co-producer. The company made a public announcement on 30 January 2023, confirming the project, and the film's official title ''Leo'' was revealed on 3 February 2023.
Lokesh revealed that ''Leo'' was inspired by the 2005 film ''
A History of Violence
''A History of Violence'' is a 2005 action thriller film directed by David Cronenberg and written by Josh Olson. It is an adaptation of the 1997 DC Comics, DC A History of Violence (comics), graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke. The fi ...
'' by
David Cronenberg. According to Lokesh, "It inspired me to write ''Leo''. ''A History of Violence'' left its mark on me and from that this movie was born. ''Leo'' is my tribute".
The film was made on a budget of crore, and Vijay was reported to receive as his remuneration.
However, he reportedly decided to take the
revenue sharing
Revenue sharing is the distribution of revenue, the total amount of income generated by the sales, sale of goods and services among the stakeholder (corporate), stakeholders or Benefactor (law), contributors. It should not be confused with profit ...
model, to benefit the film's production; as per the basis, he would receive as an advance, and a chunk of the profits would be received as the actor's remuneration. Vijay was not in favour of making ''Leo'' a
pan-Indian film, as he wanted to focus on satisfying the Tamil audience. The actor, however, changed his mind after Lalit and Jagadish convinced him. Some changes were also made to the original story to help the film cater to a wider audience. In August 2023, the film was reported to be a part of the
Lokesh Cinematic Universe (LCU), as the makers had signed a
no-objection certificate with
Dream Warrior Pictures and
Raaj Kamal Films International, the producers of the LCU's previous instalments ''
Kaithi
Kaithi (), also called Kayathi (), Kayasthi (), or Kayastani, is a Brahmic script historically used across parts of Northern and Eastern India. It was prevalent in regions corresponding to modern-day Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand. The s ...
'' (2019) and
''Vikram'' (2022) respectively. The film's status in the LCU was not confirmed until its release.
Pre-production
It took Lokesh nearly six months for the writing and pre-production.
Lokesh co-wrote the film's script along with
Rathna Kumar, in his third consecutive collaboration with the director, and Deeraj Vaidy, director of ''
Jil Jung Juk'' (2016). Both of them joined the writing team in mid-August 2022. Lokesh said the film would be completely made in his style, unlike ''Master'' which he considered a 50% Vijay film and 50% his film.
A
muhurat puja was held on 5 December 2022 at
AVM Studios in
Chennai
Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
with the film's cast and crew. On 7 December, the team shot the promotional video for the film for nearly three days.
In mid-January 2023,
Manoj Paramahamsa was announced as cinematographer, marking his first collaboration with Lokesh and third with Vijay after ''
Nanban'' (2012) and ''
Beast'' (2022).
Anirudh Ravichander would score the music, in his third consecutive film with the director. Lokesh further retained most of his norm technicians including editor
Philomin Raj, stunt choreography duo
Anbariv, dance choreographer
Dinesh Kumar and art director N. Sathees Kumar.
Praveen Raja would style the costumes for Vijay, along with his regular costume designers Pallavi Singh and
Eka Lakhani. Ramkumar Balasubramanian was appointed as
executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...
of the film by the production house.
Casting
Vijay would sport a grey-shaded hairstyle for his character, which was finalised after 30 different looks.
Trisha was cast as the female lead, pairing opposite Vijay for the fifth time after ''
Ghilli'' (2004), ''
Thirupaachi'' (2005), ''
Aathi'' (2006) and ''
Kuruvi'' (2008).
Sanjay Dutt was confirmed to play one of the main antagonists, in his Tamil film debut and second South Indian film after ''
KGF: Chapter 2'' (2022). Dutt agreed to be a part of the project, after being impressed by the one-line narrated for the film.
Priya Anand also joined the film in an important role, while
Arjun was also cast in an important role. He called it a "different" and "fresh" one that would justify his title "Action King". Lokesh initially wanted
Prithviraj Sukumaran to play this role as he was impressed with the actor's performance in ''
Mumbai Police
The Greater Mumbai Police (Marathi language, Marathi: बृहन्मुंबई पोलीस, IAST: ''Brihanmumbaī Pulīs'', formerly ''Bombay City Police'') is the Police, police department of the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a cit ...
'', ''
Ayyappanum Koshiyum'' and ''
Lucifer'', but he declined due to scheduling conflicts.
Madonna Sebastian,
Mysskin, Sandy Master,
Gautham Vasudev Menon, and
Mansoor Ali Khan would play prominent roles.
Mathew Thomas, would also make his Tamil debut with the film. All of their inclusion was confirmed by the production house in late-January 2023.
Manobala and
Janany Kunaseelan were present at the film's preliminary shooting, confirming their presence in the film;
the latter would make her acting debut in a feature with this film.
George Maryan was also featured in the muhurat puja, thereby confirming his inclusion.
Abhirami Venkatachalam and
Babu Antony were also confirmed after participating in the film's
Jammu and Kashmir schedule. Manobala died on 3 May 2023 without having shot any scenes. George Maryan reprises his role from ''Kaithi'', while
Maya S. Krishnan and
Kamal Haasan
Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...
briefly reprise their roles from ''Vikram'', the latter has a voice only role.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
began with the first schedule on 2 January 2023 at EVP Film City in Chennai. Minor portions of the film were held at
Kodaikanal in the last week of January and Mysskin shot for some of his portions there as he could not allocate dates to travel to
Jammu and Kashmir, where the subsequent schedule would take place. The second schedule commenced in Kashmir on 1 February. During this schedule, footage of Vijay was leaked and went viral, prompting the film's official technology security partner to warn people against sharing leaked content or they would be deleted. Furthermore, most of the cast and crew members were prohibited from using mobile phones on the sets, to prevent leakage of stills and videos from the shoot. On 27 February, Mysskin tweeted that he had completed filming his portions for the film, which included an intense stunt sequence. In early March, Menon announced that he had completed filming for the film.
Manoj Paramahamsa brought an
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...
-certified RED
V-Raptor 8K camera to shoot significant portions, a first for a Tamil film. On 11 March, Dutt started filming for his portions in the Kashmir schedule,
and completed them within six days. Filming was halted on 21 March due to a minor earthquake in the location, but resumed soon after. Vijay shot a fight scene with only a simple, thin shirt and had to roll on ice, despite the temperature being . A sequence involving him shirtless was also filmed. The Kashmir schedule ended on 23 March.
The studio shared a
behind-the-scenes video of the Jammu and Kashmir schedule that day as a tribute to the crew of ''Leo'', who worked behind-the-scenes in . The director thanked every person from the crew for making the Jammu and Kashmir schedule happen.
The team shot at
Dal Lake,
Hazratbal Shrine,
Sonamarg,
Pahalgam and
Srinagar
Srinagar (; ) is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary ...
in this schedule.
The third schedule was intended to begin on 29 March at Chennai, but commenced on 5 April. A set was erected for this schedule which led to the postponement. Vijay, along with Dutt, Trisha, Arjun and Priya Anand joined the concurrent schedule, which was reported to go on for 17 days. Some action scenes were shot with a Mocobot camera. Trisha, Dutt and Arjun would begin filming from May. Lokesh also planned to shoot the introductory song sequence featuring at least 2000 background artists. The song was shot in early June in Chennai with 500 background artists. The makers spent for shooting the song for 7 days. Paramahamsa purchased a Komodo-X camera to shoot the action sequences in high resolution, thus becoming the first Indian film to be shot using this camera. In late-June, production moved to
Talakona. The final schedule was shot in
Hyderabad
Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
and the climax portion in
Ramoji Film City. Vijay had completed shooting for his portions by 10 July. Principal photography
wrapped by 14 July, with filming having lasted 125 working days. A month later, the team returned to Jammu and Kashmir for patchwork filming.
Post-production

In February 2023, ''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'' reported that the film would be having an "extended post-production time" due to Lokesh not wanting to compromise on the
CGI. Monesh H. and
V. Srinivas Mohan are the
visual effects supervisors, along with the
Moving Picture Company, Al Zhara VFX and SkyHigh VFX, the film's principal visual effects studios. The film's
digital intermediate and
colour grading works began in late August 2023.
Chinmayi dubbed for Trisha for the Tamil, Telugu and Kannada versions of the film. The hyena featured in the film was created through visual effects, and the action sequence featuring the hyena cost .
Music
The soundtrack is composed by Anirudh Ravichander, in his fourth collaboration with Vijay after ''
Kaththi'' (2014), ''
Master'' (2021), and ''
Beast'' (2022); and third collaboration with Lokesh after ''Master'' and
''Vikram''.
The music rights were purchased by
Sony Music India for . The audio launch was to be held on 30 September 2023 at the
Nehru Stadium, but was later cancelled on 27 September 2023 due to incessant requests for passes in addition to safety constraints. "
Naa Ready" emerged
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
's most-streamed Tamil track of 2023, as per
Spotify Wrapped 2023.
Marketing
On 16 September 2023, at the
11th South Indian International Movie Awards, Lokesh announced that updates for the film would be released the following day.
The film's teaser trailer was released on 3 February 2023, revealing the film's title. The first look poster was released on 22 June, and became the most liked first look for an Indian movie in 24 hours on
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
. The Telugu poster which released on 17 September, became the fastest poster of an Indian film to reach 1 million likes on
Instagram
Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
in 32 minutes. The film's trailer, gained 1 million likes in 21 minutes, 2 million likes in 7 hours, and over 3.7 million likes in 24 hours, becoming the fastest film trailer to achieve the feat.
On 20 September, the packaged drinking water company
Bisleri partnered with the filmmakers to release limited-edition water bottles featuring the film's coin logo. These limited-edition bottles were made available in 500ml, 1-litre, and 2-litre SKUs to consumers across Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Release
Theatrical
''Leo'' was theatrically released on 19 October 2023 in standard and
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...
formats.
Apart from its original Tamil language, it was also released in the Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi languages. The Telugu version's release was initially stalled due to a dispute over the title "Leo", which Naga Vamsi of Sithara Entertainments claimed to have already registered; however, the issue was later resolved amicably.
In the United Kingdom, as with the rest of the world, the film was initially released on the same day; however, in a version which was classified 15 by the
British Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non-governmental organization, non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited ...
(BBFC) for strong bloody violence, gore, threat, and sexual threat, following 2 minutes and 40 seconds of cuts.
The Hindi-language version of the film, which was also released at this same point in time, was released uncut with an 18 classification by the BBFC for strong bloody
violence, with the original Tamil-language version of the film subsequently getting the same classification and reasoning on 30 October 2023, and being released four days later on 3 November 2023, with the marketing for this version of the film clearly denoting its uncut status.
''Leo'' was the first film of Vijay to be released in the IMAX format in the UK. It was the first Tamil film to release in
Bangladesh
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
on the same day as its worldwide release, just like in other major countries. ''Leo'' was the first film to be released in over 999 locations and premiered on 18 October 2023. It was reported that at least three versions of the film—distinct in differences in scene placement and editing for Leo's reveal to Antony—exist in theatres.
Distribution
Sree Gokulam Movies acquired the distribution rights of the film in
Kerala
Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...
for .
Sithara Entertainments brought the distribution rights for
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...
and
Telangana
Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...
. Phars Films acquired the overseas distribution rights and will release the film themselves in the Middle East. Ahimsa Entertainment acquired the distribution rights for the UK and 4 Seasons Creations for the rest of Europe, Prathyangira Cinemas and AA Creations for North America,
Malik Streams for Malaysia.
Pre-bookings
Pre-bookings started in the UK on 7 September 2023, six weeks before the film's release. Over 10,000 tickets were sold on the first day of pre-bookings with a collection of . Pre-bookings started in the United States on 27 September 2023, three weeks before the film's release.
After the trailer was released, the premiere bookings for the film in the US crossed over . 32,500 tickets were sold for the film's premiere in the UK for , thus holding the record for the highest Day 1 collection in the UK for a Tamil film. Day 1 bookings in the UK crossed 13 days before the film's release, thus holding the record for the highest Day 1 collection in the UK for an Indian film surpassing
''Pathaan''.
Home media
According to Indian trade sources, ''Leo'' is set to become the first Tamil film to achieve a pre-release recovery of with the sale of satellite, digital, music, and theatrical rights, out of which, has been earned from the film's non-theatrical rights.
The digital streaming rights were acquired by
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
. The film premiered on Netflix on 24 November 2023 in India and on 28 November in the rest of the world in its original Tamil language, as well as in the Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam languages, with the Malayalam-language dub premiering on Netflix when the film released there, as opposed to premiering in theatres. An English-dubbed version of ''Leo'' was released on Netflix on 12 December 2023.
Reception
Critical reception
''Leo'' received mixed reviews from critics who praised Vijay's performance, technical aspects, action sequences while the writing received criticism.
Divya Nair of ''
Rediff
Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...
'' gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Lokesh has cleverly used Vijay's angst and actions to create a picture of dual personality which works perfectly for Leo. The surprise addition in the climax sequence offers some hope and the possibility of a sequel." Janani. K of ''
India Today'' gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "'Leo' is a massy commercial actioner with brilliant stunt pieces that deserve a theatrical watch." Sridevi S of ''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'' gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Though the whole 'LCU' part looks forced, one can say that with ''Leo'', Lokesh has a strongest shot in his arm for the next franchise. Lokesh and Vijay's ''Leo'' is a lot 'bloody' than 'sweet'. ''Leo''
's roar may not be at its peak here, but, hey! it is still a Lion!"
Suhasini Srihari of ''
Deccan Herald
''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...
'' gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Leo sets up as a delight to Thalapathy fans, and Kanagaraj has deliberately played with the conclusion of the movie that leaves the audience in anticipation of a major collaboration in the future." Anandu Suresh of ''
The Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...
'' gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Leo is undoubtedly a feather in Vijay's cap, it is indeed a step back for writer-director Lokesh Kanagaraj." Himesh Mankad of ''
Pinkvilla
Pinkvilla is an Indian entertainment and lifestyle platform. As of June 2022, Pinkvilla has over 50,000,000 visitors on its website and app.
Overview
Pinkvilla covers entertainment and lifestyle stories. Its coverage extends to Hindi cinema, ...
'' rated 2.5/5 stars and wrote "The film works primarily due to the fast-paced narrative, Vijay's powerful performance, and the LCU connection while the issue is in its wafer-thin plot, weak antagonist track, and routine writing". Sonil Dedhia of ''
News18'' rated the film 2.5/5 stars and appreciated Vijay's presence and action sequences but criticised the storyline.
Priyanka Sundar of ''
Firstpost
Firstpost is an Indian news website owned by Network18 Group, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC TV18. It has posted misinformation on multiple occasions.
The Network 18 group was originally owned by Raghav Bahl. In January 2012, the gro ...
'' gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "This is an action film first and foremost, so how were the action sequences? They were definitely not seamless. Take the shot where Leo fights off a large group of people inside the factory. The idea is to give a hawk eye's view of the entire thing." Bhuvanesh Chandar of ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
'' termed it as "Lokesh Kanagaraj's weakest film yet". Ranjani Krishnakumar of ''
Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...
'' wrote "Vijay's performance in emotional scenes evokes no reactions even as Lokesh Kanagaraj provides ample electrifying action scenes." Internationally, Simon Abrams of ''
RogerEbert.com'' stated ''Leo'' is a formulaic but satisfying Indian remake of ''A History of Violence''. Peter Debruge of
''Variety'' wrote "While not as consistently entertaining as last year's ''Vikram'', "Leo" packs enough corny-but-satisfying spectacle to have fuelled, joins ''Kaithi'' and ''Vikram'' in potentially setting up an ''
Expendables''-style group effort down the road."
In response to the mixed reviews, particularly criticism of the writing in the post-interval portions, Lokesh said that being beholden to the film's release date meant that he did not have enough time to perfect the screenplay and that he would henceforth not announce release dates for his future projects early in their development.
Box office
''Leo'' grossed worldwide on its opening day, which was the
highest first day gross for a Tamil film, with over from India. The film surpassed
''Jawan'' to become the biggest opening for an Indian film in 2023. The film crossed in two days, earning from India becoming the fastest Tamil film to reach the 200 crore mark.
''Leo'' debuted in third place at the worldwide box office, beating ''
Killers of the Flower Moon'' on its opening weekend. It grossed an estimated worldwide from its opening weekend of four days, becoming the fastest Tamil film to reach the 400 crore mark. It also became the first Tamil film to enter the global weekend chart of
Comscore, emerging as the number one film of the global box-office weekend. Vijay became the first Indian actor to have two films top the Global Weekend charts, the other being ''Master'' (2021).
The film grossed globally in seven days, becoming the highest-grossing Tamil film in its opening week. It became the fastest Tamil film to reach the 500 crore mark in 10 days of its release. On the film's 11th day of release, it crossed the milestone 300 crore mark domestically and reached globally. The film crossed the 600 crore mark at the box office worldwide in the 25 days of its release. On the other hand, ''Box Office India'' stated that the film ended its run with worldwide while, ''Pinkvilla'' reported it to be .
It made from Tamil Nadu becoming the
highest-grossing film in Tamil Nadu.
''Leo'' emerged as the
second highest-grossing Tamil film of 2023 and the
sixth highest-grossing Indian film of 2023. It became the
highest-grossing Tamil film overseas, the
second highest-grossing Tamil film of all time, the
sixth highest-grossing South Indian film of all time and the
16th highest-grossing Indian film of all time. ''Leo'' is the
highest-grossing film in the franchise as of its release.
Controversies
Following the release of the song "Naa Ready",
Pattali Makkal Katchi president and MP
Anbumani Ramadoss asked Vijay to stop promoting smoking scenes in the film. Chennai-based RTI Selvam filed an online complaint against the film with the Chennai Police Commissioner asking for action against Vijay under the
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The complaint stated that through the song, Vijay was glorifying the consumption of drugs. On 26 June 2023, Selvam submitted his complaint in person as well. A ban on the film was also demanded. As a result, the song was censored with less smoking scenes and some lyrics were modified under the suggestion of the
Central Board of Film Certification
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory Motion picture content rating system, film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of ...
(CBFC).
The background dancers, who were a part of the song, claimed that despite repeated requests, the makers are yet to pay them their full remuneration for their work. The production team clarified that the payment was sent to the Tamil Nadu Film, Television Dancers & Dance Directors Union (TANTTNNIS) for the registered members.
After the release of the trailer, the usage of expletives by Vijay was widely criticised. Later, the CBFC sent legal notices to theatres for screening the uncertified trailer. As a result, 43 seconds of the film were cut, with instances of gore and violence either blurred or replaced, although the runtime remained mostly unaffected.
Future
In early August 2023, it was reported that the film would have a sequel, making it Vijay's first time doing one. The production for the sequel was reportedly expected to start in 2025 after Lokesh completes ''
Coolie'', ''
Kaithi 2'' and ''
Vikram 2''. On 28 December, Lokesh commented about ''Leo 2'', and said it would commence soon after ''Coolie'' finishes its production. However, on 2 February 2024, Vijay announced he would be shifting to politics full time after completing only two more films but did not name ''Leo 2'', leading to netizens assuming the project was dropped. That November, Lokesh himself questioned the project's viability.
Notes
References
External links
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