Leela, the title of the movie and name of one of its central characters obviously has a special scent of carnality around it. However the movie is not completely about what its title suggests. Besides it is also about the present society's hypocrisy, lifestyle and unhealthy trends toward cultural degradation.
Our central character Kuttiyappan himself becomes a satire on the modern society. The queerness with his behavior, place of living and mannerisms tell us a lot about the present society.
Leela will be Ranjith's first movie to use extensive symbolism. (Also because it is based on a literary piece) We know that cellphone is no more a material. It has become something on which people have invested a huge bundle of their secrets, cares and worries. So this gadget is a unique thing of this century. People find it really hard to separate themselves from it. Whenever it beeps, vibrates or rings they jump on it. Almost always people are busy with this gadget that it has become another organ of human body. Kuttiyappan mocks this that he fixes his cellphone near to his hand. Kuttiyappan's mentioning of Dinkan with other Gods is a perfect mockery on the educated boastful atheists. Dinkan, an abandoned character from a children's comic is now adopted by young atheists as their symbol. However the philosophy of atheism which had always gone to criticize organized religions became part of yet another religion through the adoption of Dinkan as their symbol.
Sex has become a ritual. Something that has lost its meaning because of the importance given to body over heart or love. That is the reason why Kuttiyappan is asking the girl to light a lamp before starting what the girl thought for which she came there. The first thing he asks to this girl is to imagine that he 'is her father'. This alludes to the present situation where women feel no security at their own families. He also asks her to cry over his death. Later he comes to know about the poor conditions of the girl. It brings him to some of the fundamental questions regarding morality and survival.
His search for elephant is his search for women who have fallen preys to men's sexual fantasies, who have become yet another product that has huge selling value. Marlin Manroe, the most celebrated Hollywood actress is their representative for men's voyeuristic fantasies. On his search for elephants Kuttiyappan meets an environmental activist who rubs some intoxicant in his hand. What could be his worries? About trees being cut down, deforestation and climate change? A cigarette lamp hangs in front of Kuttiyappan's jeep's mirror suggesting the society's addiction to smoking and drugs.
When somebody is dead Kuttiyappan goes to attend his funeral. Later he tells us that it was not from drinking alcohol that the person died but from excessive consuming of unhygienic food. This can also extend to fast and junk food culture.
Every society has a tendency to forget its past. This easy oblivion is that society's clever escape from its fake moral consciousness. This is what Kuttiyappan wants to mock through the old women whom he takes to roundabouts.
Finally he decides to do something against at least a single injustice. Kuttiyappan derives his inspiration from none other than Mahatma Gandhi under whose statue we read: 'first they mock you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win'. Not so late Kuttiyappan's dead aunt, a woman who might have gone through the oppressive rule of the patriarchy comes in the guise of an angel (an ugly looking angel). She represents a past generation of women who went through the same kind of sexual and domestic torture as that is presently experienced by their later generation
The determined Kuttiyappan pauses his symbolic fight with the society for some time and decides to do some act that will wash out sins of his and that of the entire patriarchy he represents. Hence next we meet Kuttiyappan in a government hospital. The untidy atmosphere of the place tell us a lot about our health systems. Pilla (an aged householder) follows Kuttiyappan hoping that he will get a chance to have a sexual relationship outside marriage. He also hopes that he will get a young girl to satiate his sexual desires. Dasappappi follows Kuttiyappan in the hope of arranging somebody for Kuttiyappan and if possible, to find somebody new to his dirty business
An old woman Kuttiyappan meets on his way to find an elephant sings a children's song about an elephant; another allusion to objectification of women.
It is very interesting to note that Leela's character does not utter a single word in the movie. She has been silenced from the very moment she was misused. The fact that she is silent throughout the movie tells us a lot about the intensity of her suffering. After hearing Leela's suffering we notice Pillechan becoming more and more worried about his daughter who is of Leela's age. He is now far from his fantasies of enjoying a young body. Pillechan who represents old men having their sexual fantasies about young girls is touched by his conscience for the first time after hearing Leela's story.
Injustices done to women by men go beyond all limits and transcend little foils from the part of women. Thus, Leela, representative of phallocentric cruelty, gives her consent to the animal (to whom she is objectified) to take her life realizing that a woman is never safe in the hands of men. The final image of Leela is of her dead body carried in Kuttiyappan's aunt's lap which cannot help but recall us of Pietà, the famous sculpture by Michelangelo depicting the Virgin Mary supporting the body of the dead Christ. This movie is a noticeable attempt that will help viewers watch and appreciate films of literary merit.
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