Ever since Lokesh Kanagaraj announced his next film Leo starring Vijay, fans have been speculating whether it would be a part of the ‘Lokesh Cinematic Universe’ (LCU). In what is likely a first in Kollywood, Lokesh Kanagaraj has created a ‘universe’ with plot lines and characters overlapping in some of his movies. Vikram, which came out in 2022, was one of the first movies that was part of the LCU. Before Vikram released, Lokesh urged the audience to watch Kaithi (2019). While no such announcement has come from the filmmaker yet, here is a quick recap of characters and plot lines that might feature in Leo, if it is a part of the LCU.
Kaithi
Kaithi follows the story of Dilli (played by Karthi), a convict released from prison and waiting to meet his daughter Amudha (played by Monica). However, Dilli gets embroiled in a rescue operation of police officers whose drinks were spiked by drug kingpins at a party, to avenge a drug bust. The smugglers and the drugs were locked up in a police station while the drug lords Anbu (played by Arjun Das) and his brother Adaikalam (played by Harish Uthaman) plan to break them out.
Meanwhile, Bejoy (played by Narain), one of the police officers, convinces Dilli to take the unconscious police officers to a hospital in a truck owned by Kamatchi (played by Dheena), who catered the party where the police officers were drugged. Some students who were detained in the same police station for drunk driving manage to keep things under check when Anbu breaks in. It is then revealed that Adaikalam is also one among the detained smugglers.
Anbu kills one of the students detained upon instructions from Adaikalam before Bejoy, Dilli, and Kamatchi make it to the station. Angered by this, one of the constables, Napoleon (played by George Maryan) bludgeons Anbu with a fire extinguisher, after which Adaikalam vows to kill all of them.
At this point, Dilli, Bejoy, and Kamatchi find their way into the Commissioner's office and are involved in a bloody face-off with the drug kingpins and their henchmen. The confiscated drugs are destroyed and Adaikalam’s men are killed. The drugged police officers are saved, Adaikalam goes to jail, and Dilli is reunited with his daughter, with whom he moves to his native village. In the epilogue, when Adaikalam is in jail, it is hinted that Dilli is not a random person who foiled their plans but is connected to whatever happened.
Vikram
While fans believed that the open-ended statement from Adaikalam was a hint for a sequel (which Lokesh did announce later), a cinematic universe was probably not on their minds when the filmmaker announced Vikram in 2021.
The storyline in the Kamal Haasan-starrer begins three months after Bejoy busted Adaikalam and his gang. A black ops team headed by Amar (played by Fahadh Faasil) is recruited by senior police officer Jose (played by Chemban Vinod Jose) to look into the murders being committed by a group of masked vigilantes. One of the people who were killed by this group include Stephen Raj (played by Hareesh Peradi), who was a zonal head in the Narcotics Division and was a mole in the force for Adaikalam and Anbu. Even before the death of Stephen Raj, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Prabhanjan (played by Kalidas Jayaram), who helped bust Adaikalam’s gang, was murdered by similar vigilantes. Another victim of the group was Karnan (played by Kamal Haasan), who was the foster father of Prabhanjan.
As Amar and his team begin investigations, they learn that Karnan was addicted to drugs and alcohol, visited sex workers frequently, but was extremely protective of his foster grandson Vikram Jr. Soon enough, Amar learns that Karnan was putting on an act of being an addict to find out who killed Prabhanjan. While investigating Karnan, Amar is led to Sandhanam (played by Vijay Sethupathi), a drug kingpin whose two containers of narcotics have gone missing. These narcotics were supposed to be delivered to Sandhanam’s menacing boss ‘Rolex’ (played by Surya whose identity is not revealed till the climax).
Connecting the dots, Amar discovers that a contractor named Rudra Pradhap (played by Aruldoss) and a Public Works Department officer Veerapandian will handover the missing narcotics to Sandhanam during the former’s daughter’s wedding. Veerapandian is murdered before the wedding but Amar manages to capture one of the vigilantes, who turns out to be an exhausted, dishevelled Bejoy. The former police officer reveals that his wife and child were murdered by Adaikalam after the drug bust and the subsequent face-off.
Fearing that the vigilantes might kill Rudra Pradhap next, Amar and his team go to the wedding. Sandhanam’s men are also present. However, they are unable to foil the vigilante group’s plans and Rudra Pradhap is murdered. After the murder, it is revealed that Karnan (whose real name is Vikram) faked his death and has been spearheading the vigilante group. Prabhanjan was murdered by Sandhanam, but it was staged as though the murder was committed by a vigilante group. Vikram followed the same modus operandi.
Amar discovers that Jose is a mole for Sandhanam and orchestrates a blast to destroy the drug lord's narcotics lab. To avenge the destruction, Sandhanam’s men kill Amar’s wife Gayathri (played by Gayathrie Shankar). Traumatised by this, Amar joins the vigilantes. Meanwhile, Sandhanam’s men also try to kill Vikram’s daughter-in-law and grandson but they are saved. After a bloody fight involving big guns and tanks, Sandhanam and his men are killed and the drug containers are destroyed.
In the epilogue, Rolex holds a meeting and demands that Adaikalam, Anbu and his other henchmen find the people who foiled the earlier drug bust and destroyed Sandhanam’s containers. The audience gets a glimpse of Dilli in Uttar Pradesh with Amudha and Kamatchi, Vikram’s family in the USA, and Vikram attending Rolex’s meeting in secret.