Leo: 6 lesser-known facts about the Vijay film

Leo: Bloody Sweet, the third installment of the Lokesh Cinematic Universe (LCU), helmed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, stars Tamil superstar Vijay -: the titular star Leo. The film revolves around Parthiban, a simplistic cafe owner in Kashmir who has dedicated his life to rescuing injured animals. As the film progresses, the mild-mannered protagonist becomes inexplicably caught between the crosshairs of a murderous drug cartel, who claims that he was once a part of their gang. The fast paced masala thriller has introduced a whole new section of movie-goers to the Tamil film industry. On that note, here are some interesting facts about Leo to get you started:

1. Did you know that Leo is an official remake of David Cronenberg’s thriller A History of Violence. The Hollywood film itself is an adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name, which stays largely faithful to the source material. However, the Tamil remake has undergone a few tweaks to make it more accessible to the Indian audience.
2. Leo filmed a significant part of its sequences in Kashmir where the crew was greeted by a minor earthquake as well as extremely unfavourable climatic conditions. An action sequence worth roughly ₹100 million involving a hyena was shot in Kashmir. Additionally, Vijay shot a fight scene wearing a thin shirt performing stunts on ice, despite the temperature being -20 °C. Later, the studio offered a tribute to the crew of Leo for working tirelessly in freezing conditions.
3. Manoj Paramahamsa, the cinematographer of Leo who previously worked with Vijay in Nanban and Beast, purchased a Komodo-X camera to shoot the action sequences in high resolution – making Leo the first Indian film to be shot using this high-variant camera.
4. Leo conquered several milestones during its release. It was the first Tamil film to be released in Bangladesh. It was Vijay’s first film to be released in the IMAX format in the UK. The film also became the first Tamil film to be released in over 999 locations in North America. It was later reported that at least three different versions of the film with distinct scene placements and editing choices exist.
5. There have been speculations regarding resemblences of characters in the LCU to sun signs or animals. According to this, ‘Leo’ represents the lion, ‘Rolex’ symbolises the scorpion, ‘Vikram’ embodies the eagle, and ‘Sandhanam’ takes on the persona of a snake.
6. Leo became the highest-grossing Tamil film and the fourth highest-grossing Indian film of 2023. It also emerged as the highest-grossing Tamil film overseas, the second highest-grossing Tamil film of all time, the fifth highest-grossing South Indian film of all time. Leo is currently the highest-grossing film in the Lokesh Cinematic Universe franchise, the preceding films being Kaithi and Vikram.

Well that's all we got for today's episode, until the next one it's your host Nikhil signing out.

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• Written by Vajra Zayara