‘Jana Nayagan’ movie review: ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay bids farewell to cinemas with packed crowd

Ideas are bulletproof. Cinema is an idea charged with the power of a thousand dreams. And if the past few months are any indication, one movie star can change the lives of millions and change reality as we see it.

After months of release issues due to censor certificate issues, a court battle and a piracy attack, Jana Nayaganhas finally hit the screens. The film bids farewell to one of Tamil film’s most popular stars, actor-turned-politician ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay, as the star himself announced during his election campaign. The opening card shows the popular move Vijay made in the TN Assembly weeks after becoming Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and the cheers he garnered speaks volumes about what the political operative wants to be. Next, what really sets the tone is the shot of Vijay picking up a fallen elder with a copy of the Indian Constitution.

Filled with meta-political references, hat tips to MGR and fan service, H Vinoth’s Jana Nayagan celebrates the masala cinema that strengthened Vijay as a hero to the masses. The film is a remake of Nandamuri Balakrishna’s 2023 film Bhagavanth Kesari, which told the story of a former police officer who raised a young girl and made her strong enough to join the Indian Army. As we enter the theatre, it’s clear what Vijay could see in Bhagavanth Kesari’s template: a father-daughter arc that speaks to women’s empowerment, hidden identity and family sentiment. With appropriate action rewards and a strong political core, this story was designed to be a savior of democracy story.

Vijay in a still from ‘Jana Nayagan’ | Photo credit: Special arrangement

Smarter than this is Vijay’s decision to rope in director H Vinoth; a fan of commercial cinema with edgy political shots, Vinoth sees the many strengths of Bhagavanth Kesari’s story and screenplay and transforms them into a good-natured film clearly crafted to bolster Vijay’s image as a political leader. Thus, it focuses on the themes of women’s empowerment and the fight against fear, both of which are present in the source material. On the one hand, we follow the story of Viji (Mamitha Baiju), a young woman who suffers from traumatic phobias that paralyze her with fear; he can’t even handle the sound of a plate falling to the floor. After her father’s untimely death, Inspector Srikanth (Gautham Menon), a cop-turned-convict named Thalapathy Vetri Kondan (the name gives us enough clues), vows to fulfill her father’s dream of making her an officer in the Indian Army.

The next arc begins simultaneously as we are introduced to Bobby Deol’s antagonist, the menacing John Himmler, a threat that has landed on Thalapathy’s doorstep. This is also in the original material as the villain Arjuna Rampal wanted to become India’s top businessman by procuring a project involving the nation’s major seaports. Except this is a space where director Vinoth adds his own layer – here John threatens to destroy Indian democracy by inciting religious hatred. This layer explores the angle of confronting political fear and bigotry, and while this arc makes Jana Nayagan uniquely her own, it also becomes her greatest challenge.

Jana Nayagan (Tamil)

Directed by H Vinoth

Starring: Vijay, Mamitha Baiju, Bobby Deol, Pooja Hedge and more

Length: 183 minutes

Plot: A convict takes on the guardianship of his late friend’s daughter while confronting a powerful extremist who threatens the future of Indian democracy.

Right from the first act, the script impatiently flies through several events at breakneck speed, losing much of the necessary emotional weight needed to anchor this story. In Bhagavanth Kesari, the first act where the protagonist adopts a child with a fear phobia, he moves quickly. In Jana Nayagan, it happens at an even more brisk pace, all happening in less than a few minutes. Fortunately, Anirudh Ravichander’s ‘Kanne Maniye’ lends emotional weight to the found father-daughter relationship, while ‘Thalapathy Katcheri’ becomes one of the most emotional of the crowd.

Now, while the lion’s share of Bhagavanth Kesari’s ideas seem to have been retained, a few weak tropes return in the remake. Instead of improving on the template, the director sticks to recreating most of it while writing a lengthy third act around John Himmler that inflates the film to a whopping 183 minutes.

From the awkwardly placed good-touch-bad-touch ad to the redundant romance with Pooja Hegde’s journalist character, many of the ideas aren’t earned in the narrative (the silver lining is how Pooja eventually finds her role in the plot that Kajal Aggarwal’s character could only dream of in the original). Also, you certainly don’t expect Vinoth, a writer known for his dialogues, to retain most of the dialogues of the original, which catered to a different sensibility of masala cinema.

The overstuffed narrative constantly swings from one idea to another; on the one hand, Deol’s John suffers from a split personality, while Thalapathy deals with a million problems that come his way, be it bad guys lusting after his daughter, a misogynistic businessman with a prospect of marriage, or a woman protesting under a Kannagi statue. Everything under the sun has a place in Jana Nayagan’s world.

When the script finally reaches the third act that Vinoth seems so eager for, Jana Nayagan really shows what it’s all about. It becomes clear what kind of political enemy Vijay is fighting. Although the star deserves praise for the film’s social message, despite his character’s didactic approach to all challenges. If AR Murugadoss’s 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 are using India’s diversity against their own interest—is welcome, it is placed in an already crowded narrative. And with a real political leader at its center, it risks coming across as advertorial. A glaring breach of the fourth wall is the only thing left unchecked.

All that said, in his latest feature film, Vijay looks his best and carries the scenes with his undeniably engaging screen presence. From his signature flick of his chin to his signature tongue twister, the film has many Vijay moments that are sure to please his ardent fans. Fan service abounds in Jana Nayagan, from one-of-a-kind callbacks to past hits to a mind-numbing AI-powered conversation with MGR; there’s enough and more to power up your social media chatter for a few weeks.

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

One of them is a film that was meant to fulfill the political dreams of an actor-turned-politician (it’s a twist of fate that he was put on the hot seat before the film’s release).

But there is another ‘Jana Nayagan’ that can be found in theaters today – the one that millions of fans have grown up watching. You can find it in the eyes of ardent cinema fans as they see before them a young boy with dreamy eyes who made his debut in 1992 with Naalaya Theerpa. Thousands of young, ordinary boys saw in him a man who defied his naysayers and gave them a language to love, celebrate and express. He danced like magic, handling comedy and drama with ease and building an identity that was uniquely his own.

And no matter 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

Published – 23 Jul 2026 16:33 IST