Kuttiyappan is rich and eccentric. The film begins with him riding a horse to go home after drinking so that cops cannot breathalyse him. His elderly woman caretaker has to climb a ladder every day to deliver his bed coffee through a window. He prays to Gandhi and observes Marilyn Monroe's death anniversary by wearing black. He buys a girl for sex, but makes her cry by pretending to be the corpse of her father. He felicitates retired sex-workers by taking them out in a procession. Dark humour like these is strewn all over this complex, rather difficult to understand film.
There are other quirky men in the film. There is Pillechan, who plays Sancho Panza to Kuttiyappan's Don Quixote, as they go in search of a tusker. There is a very efficient pimp, who is always dressed in white. The men are almost always boozing. The film reeks of liquor. The "Leela" of the film appears only in the second half and utters just a single word. There are other women in the film, who are gladly willing to be prostitutes.
The film delivers a visual overload and there are plenty of symbols: of Christianity, sexuality, communism etc. There is an angel and of course, the most important symbol of all – the elephant. Making sense of what the elephant stands for is central to the understanding of this film.
Leela is a dark and depressing film, but paradoxically shot against the lush backdrop of Kottayam. It demands application of your gray cells to make sense of it. I got the feeling that the director and writer are deliberately challenging the viewers. Even the title "Leela" is a pun. I was able to work out what the elephant represents. It is something that you need to do it yourself.
