Jana Nayagan Review

When Thalapathy Vijay, decided to do one more film after GOAT and before stepping into politics, there was a lot of hype generated around it. The film was initially supposed to be produced by DVV Entertainment and later shifted to KVN Productions. After considering multiple directors, Vijay selected, H. Vinoth to direct the film. When news broke that the film was a remake of the Telugu film Bhagavanth Kesari, the team denied it, but the confirmation came with the trailer’s release. The film was initially scheduled to release in theatres on 09th January, on the occasion of Pongal 2026, but for obvious reasons, the release was postponed indefinitely. Since January this year, the producer of the film has tried every possible way to get the censor clearance for the film but with no luck. In the meantime, Vijay and his newly formed party, contested in the assembly elections of Tamilnadu and emerged victorious. Thalapathy Vijay is now the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, and what was supposed to be the final film of ‘Thalapathy Vijay’, has become the first film of ‘Chief Minister Vijay’. After going through many hurdles, the film’s producer managed to get the censor clearance earlier this month and released the film in theatres today. Did the film live up to the expectations? Did ‘Thalapathy Vijay’, get the much-deserved victory swan song? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

A good Samaritan and a guardian(Vijay), for a twenty-something girl (Mamitha Baiju), wants to make the girl self-reliant and wishes her to join in indian army. How did he(Vijay) manage to convince the girl to join the indian army? What is his backstory as Thalapathy Vetri Kondan(TVK)? Why did an honest police officer like, TVK, end up becoming a prisoner? Who is Amrish Pujari
Aka John Himlar? How is he related to Thalapathy Vetri Kondan? What are John Himlar’s evil plans? What is OM(Operation Meluga)? How did Thalapathy Vetri Kondan, stop John Himlar, from executing his evil plans? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

‘Thalapathy’ Vijay was at his usual best in the second half of the film. He played to the gallery during the flashback episode, with his mannerisms and electrifying body language. However, during the initial portions of the film, he looked tired and uninterested. Bobby Deol, got a lengthy role. There’s not much to talk about his performance in a poorly written and executed role. Mamitha Baiju in a crucial role did well with her performance. In the role of a girl who suffers from PTSD(Post-traumatic stress disorder), she came up with a noteworthy performance.

Pooja Hegde got more of a supporting role than the female lead role. She looked good and made her presence felt but there’s not much she can do in a limited role to make the proceedings interesting. Prakash Raj did similar roles in quite a few films in the past. He did well as usual but there’s nothing in his performance in the film which we did not see in the past. The film had a lot of notable actors in crucial roles. All of them made their presence felt but that is about it.

Technicalities:

Tamil films usually boast of superior technical output from almost all the technicians. However, Jana Nayagan, is one of those very rare Tamil films where every technician delivered a below-par output. Even Anirudh, who usually comes up with very good songs and a thumping background score for Vijay’s films, came up with below-par music for the film, barring a couple of songs. It felt as if the makers blindly believed that people would watch whatever they made because it is the ‘last film’ of Vijay. The cinematography, the editing, the production design and the VFX department, all of them came up with uninspiring work and gave us a forgettable film. It seems as if the entire film was shot in a hurry.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠TVK’s Flashback Episode
2.⁠ ⁠Good Touch & Bad Touch Sequence

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Antagonist Track
2.⁠ ⁠Poor Action Episodes
3.⁠ ⁠Subpar AI-generated Visuals
4.⁠ ⁠Excessive Political References
5.⁠ ⁠Lack of Emotional Depth
6.⁠ ⁠Bland & Lifeless Screenplay

Analysis:

An underlying message about women’s empowerment, a tribal man defying all the odds and becoming a circle inspector, a sensible episode about ‘good touch and bad touch’, clean humour, a well-designed pre-interval action episode and an entertaining protagonist characterisation in the flashback, Telugu film, Bhagavanth Kesari, has almost everything that is needed for a successful film. It is one of those rare commercial films which is clean, sensible and yet entertaining. Vijay’s decision to buy the remake rights of Bhagavanth Kesari and make it in Tamil as his last film before stepping into politics, is indeed a good idea. All H. Vinoth, the director, needed to do was to translate it as it is. Since it is the last film of Vijay and it was scheduled to release during Pongal season, even a scene-to-scene copy of Bhagavanth Kesari, would have become a blockbuster in Tamil. But, for obvious reasons, Vijay, H. Vinoth and team, decided to take the core plot and a few scenes from the original and blend them with a few subplots to suit the political ambitions of Vijay(remember, this film was supposed to release before the Tamilnadu assembly elections but not after Vijay the chief minister of Tamilnadu). Unfortunately, everything H. Vinoth and team added to the core plot of the original, misfired big time. The prolonged and senseless antagonist track, laugh-worthy action episodes and a lot of political references, made it a tedious film.

After a brief politically motivated opening sequence on Nizhalgal Ravi and a few villagers, just like Bhagavanth Kesari, we get to see the protagonist in Jana Nayagan as a prisoner and an action episode on him in the prison. And then, we get to see a lengthy introduction sequence of the antagonist(Bobby Deol). This entire track was designed by H. Vinoth and while watching it on screen, you seriously start to wonder if the same H. Vinoth is the one who wrote and directed, Theeran(Khakee in Telugu), in 2017? The civil war in Africa, Pakistan’s terrorist attacks on India, drones firing bullets, robots fighting with humans and fighting among themselves, laughable AI-generated visuals, a confrontation sequence between the antagonist and his alter ego in the flashback, H. Vinoth used all of the above-mentioned things and came up with a cringe fest of a film that tests your patience at most parts. The twenty-odd-minute action episode with drones, robots, missiles and whatnot, makes you feel like watching a video of a game on YouTube which is developed using AI prompts. The idea to come up with a brand new track for the protagonist and mix it with the core point of Bhagavanth Kesari, went wrong in every possible way. Usually, we get to see very entertaining action episodes in Vijay’s movies but in Jana Nayagan, all we get to see are lifeless, pointless, mindless and imagination-less action episodes with below-par AI-generated visuals.

The only part which managed to engage the audience to an extent in the film is the flashback episode, where we get to see Vijay as Thalapathy Vetri Kondan(TVK), an honest police officer. Vijay’s confrontation sequence with Prakash Raj, his body language, his dialogue delivery and his mannerisms, during this part are sure to make his fans go into a frenzy in the theatres and are sure to be liked by the masses. The most crucial, good touch and bad touch, sequence also came out well. Vijay’s performance in this sequence is sure to be liked by the family audience, especially the women’s audience. There were quite a few political references and dialogues in the film. If you are a supporter of Vijay and his political party, you are sure to like those references and dialogues very much. A couple of songs scored by Anirudh, helped to elevate the protagonist’s character to the next level.

Overall, Jana Nayagan might have succeeded if the team had stayed true to its original version, but the decision to use only the core plot and develop a new screenplay along with a few subplots backfired. Even if you are a die-hard fan of Thalapathy Vijay, it is very difficult to sit through the film. Especially, every time the antagonist character and his track appear on screen, the film makes you restless and tests your patience endlessly. When your stars are aligned, everything falls into place perfectly and nothing can go wrong. The aforementioned sentence suits Vijay perfectly. Whoever created hurdles and prevented the film from being released in theatres in January or before the Tamilnadu elections, did a favour to Vijay indirectly. It was indeed a blessing in disguise. The film’s release might have caused a minor setback for Vijay and his political party had it come out before the elections. It’s sad to see an actor who entertained audiences of all ages for three decades signing off his acting career with a subpar film like, Jana Nayagan. The ‘Thalapathy Vijay’ deserves a better send-off.

Bottomline: ‘Thalapathy Vijay’ deserves a better send-off!

Rating – 1.75/5