‘Jana Nayagan’ movie review: ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay bids adieu to cinema with an overstuffed crowd-pleaser

Filled with meta-political references, hat-tips to MGR, and fan service, filmmaker H Vinoth’s Jana Nayagan celebrates the masala cinema that boosted Vijay as the hero of the masses. The film is a remake of Nandamuri Balakrishna’s 2023 film Bhagavanth Kesari, which told the story of a former cop raising a young girl and making her strong enough to join the Indian Army. Stepping into the theatre, it becomes evident what Vijay might have seen in the template of Bhagavanth Kesari: a father-and-daughter arc that speaks of women empowerment, hidden identity and family sentiment. With suitable action pay-offs and a strong political core, this has been designed to be the story of a saviour of democracy. 

Vijay in a still from ‘Jana Nayagan’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Cleverer than this is Vijay’s decision to rope in director H Vinoth; a fan of commercial cinema with acute political takes, Vinoth sees the many strengths of the story and screenplay of Bhagavanth Kesari and re-engineers it into a good-natured movie clearly crafted to bolster Vijay’s image as a political leader. Hence, it pivots on themes of women empowerment and the fight against fear, both present in the source material. On one hand, we follow the story of Viji (Mamitha Baiju), a young woman who suffers from trauma-induced phobias that cripple her with fear; she can’t even handle the noise of a plate falling to the ground. After the untimely death of her father, Inspector Srikanth (Gautham Menon), a cop-turned-convict named Thalapathy Vetri Kondan (the name tells us enough), vows to realise her father’s dream to mould her into an Indian Army Officer.

Another arc begins simultaneously when we are introduced to Bobby Deol’s antagonist, the menacing John Himmler, a threat that finds itself at Thalapathy’s doorstep. This too is in the original material, as Arjun Rampal’s villain desired to become India’s top businessman by procuring a project involving major national seaports. Except, this is the space that director Vinoth adds his own layer — here, John threatens to destroy India’s democracy by instilling religious hatred. This layer explores the angle of standing up against political fear and bigotry, and while this arc makes Jana Nayagan uniquely its own, it also ends up becoming its biggest challenge.

Right from the first act, the screenplay impatiently brushes through several events at breakneck speed, thus losing much of the necessary emotional heft needed to anchor this story. In Bhagavanth Kesari, the first act where the child with a fear phobia gets adopted by the protagonist moves swiftly. In Jana Nayagan, this happens at an even brisker pace, everything transpiring in less than a few minutes. Thankfully, Anirudh Ravichander’s ‘Kanne Maniye’ provides emotional gravitas to the found father-daughter relationship, while ‘Thalapathy Katcheri’ becomes one of the most emotional crowd-pleasers.

Now, while a lion’s share of ideas from Bhagavanth Kesari seems to be retained, a few weak tropes recur in the remake. Instead of bettering the template, the director sticks to recreating most of it, while also writing a lengthy third act surrounding John Himmler, which balloons the film to a whopping 183 minutes.

From an awkwardly placed good-touch-bad-touch advert to a superfluous romance with Pooja Hegde’s journalist character, many ideas don’t feel earned in the narrative (the silver lining is how Pooja ends up finding her role in the plot, which Kajal Aggarwal’s character could have only dreamt of in the original). You also certainly don’t expect Vinoth, a writer known for his dialogues, to retain much of the original’s dialogue, which catered to a different masala cinema sensibility.

The overstuffed narrative keeps shuttling from one idea to the next; on one hand, Deol’s John suffers from a split personality, while Thalapathy solves a million problems that come his way, be it villains lusting after his daughter, a misogynistic businessman with a marriage prospect, or a woman protesting under a Kannagi statue. Everything under the sun can find a place in the world of Jana Nayagan.

When the screenplay eventually reaches the third act that Vinoth seems so eager about, Jana Nayagan truly shows what it’s all about. It starts getting apparent which political enemy Vijay is battling. Though admittedly the star deserves praise for the film’s social message, despite his character’s didactic approach to all challenges. If AR Murugadoss’ Madharaasi warned of a future where gun culture enters Tamil Nadu, director Vinoth paints a future where RC robots are used in political warfare. While the larger message — about how political enemies use India’s diversity against its own interest — is welcome, it is placed in an already jam-packed narrative. And with a real-life political leader positioned at its centre, it risks coming across as advertorial. A blatant fourth-wall-break is all that remained unchecked.

All that said, in his last feature film appearance, Vijay looks his best and carries the scenes with his undeniably gripping screen presence. From his signature chin swipe to his signature tongue-swirl, the film features many Vijay-esque moments that are sure to appease his ardent fans. Fan service is abundant in Jana Nayagan, from unique callbacks to past hits to a mind-numbing conversation with an AI-powered MGR; there’s enough and more to fuel social media chatter for a few weeks.

Towards the end of the long film, I realise that there were two ‘Jana Nayagans’ in theatre today.

One is a film that should have powered an actor-turned-politician’s political dreams (that he got to sit in the hot chair before the film’s release is a twist of fate).

But there is another ‘Jana Nayagan’ that can be found in theatres today — one that millions of fans have grown up watching. You will find it in the eyes of ardent cinema fans, for they see before them a young boy with eyes full of dreams who debuted in 1992 with Naalaya Theerpu. Thousands of young, ordinary boys saw in him a man who defied his naysayers and gave them a language to love, celebrate and express themselves. He danced like a charm, pulled off comedy and drama with ease, and built an identity that was uniquely his. 

And regardless of how his farewell film fares, the story of how C Joseph Vijay became Ilayathalapathy, and eventually, Thalapathy, is a blockbuster for the ages.

Jana Nayagan is currently running in theatres