‘Jana Nayagan’ Review: Thalapathy Vijay Bows Out With A Bloated Political Spectacle

The trouble with remaking films is that you either lose the essence of what made the original worth revisiting or you get overindulgent and teeter on the precipice of overindulgence and eventually keel over. A partial remake of Nandamuri Balakrishna’s “Bhagavanth Kesari,” Thalapathy Vijay’s swansong does all of the above and then some.

Prison inmate Thalapathy Vetri Kondan (Vijay) doesn’t suffer fools and when you’re first introduced to his character, it’s almost as if he’s the one running the place. Srikanth (Gautam Vasudev Menon) is almost too happy to let him bend rules after learning about his story, letting his daughter Viji ‘mother’ him with her kindness and even grants him a furlough to meet his dying mother.

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Eventually, on being freed, Thalapathy seeks out Srikanth and helps raise Viji, quickly becoming a de facto single parent after Srikanth passes away in a road accident. But not before he exacts a promise that his daughter will join the army/military and be self-reliant. What draws out Thalapathy’s protective side is the fact that Viji suffers panic attacks and is triggered by everything that reminds her of her mother’s traumatic passing.

The years pass. Viji (Mamitha Baiju), now a young college-going girl, is besotted by Kartik and is still being egged on by her guardian. Thalapathy, to join the army/become self-reliant. She has no interest in it and would rather do what she likes. 

Through flashbacks, we’re told why people don’t cross Thalapathy, why he commands respect in his community despite his past incarceration. His eventual meeting with Kayal (Pooja Hegde), helps bring some semblance of normalcy to Viji’s life but not before she gets kidnapped again, this time by Thalapathy’s arch-nemesis.

Elsewhere, a villain origin story plays out with DCP Amrish Poojari (Bobby Deol) letting a public insult push him to the dark side and ally with the person who insulted him: power-mad political kingmaker Roja Rangaswamy (Prakash Raj). 

Eventually, paths clash and free-for-all beheadings and stabbings and shootouts ensue. It all careens down to a last-man/woman left standing scenario that also involves something that feels left over from a rejected “Terminator” reboot script.

The only reason anyone will watch “Jana Nayagan” is to see off Thalapathy VIjay, now Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister,” in a political film that closely mirrors the issues he holds close to his heart. And Vijay is essentially the same character as most of his previous films, be it “Theri,” “Leo” or “Master”: a protective, no-rules-apply, gracefully aging character who’s as much a hit with the ladies as he is with his enemies and almost always has a dark past. There’s plenty of violence, trauma, drama and emotions. It’s less of a formula and more of a template at this point, with the idea probably being: ‘If it ain’t broke, why fix it?’

Of the female actors, Mamitha Baiju (as Viji) gets to do slightly more than Pooja Hegde’s Kaya, who despite being a journalist is reduced to playing Vijay’s second-in-command. Priyamani has precious little to do as the collector (later, TN's Chief Secretary) who is harboring a dark secret of her own, playing second fiddle to Bobby Deol's character. And that horrible wig in the second half is not really earning her any brownie points. Revathi has a blink-and-miss role as Thalapathy’s mother. Raichal Rabecca as a grieving mother who loses everything, makes the most of the screentime she has been given.

Of the supporting cast, Prakash Raj repeats the comedic villain arc that he’s come to be known for. Bobby repeats the good-guy-gone-bad shtick and it’s not sticking. 

H. Vinoth’s clearly in the passenger seat, despite being the film’s director. Much of what made “Bhagavanth Kesari” strike a chord is either stretched or frayed to align with Vijay’s past style of films. While Thalapathy comes off as something of a social activist and former lawmaker, it doesn’t justify how much bloodletting and lawbreaking happens in the name of upholding justice. If the ends justify the means, it would be a dystopic world indeed where the only way to fight violence is by turning violent yourself. 

Have to ask why a good-looking film (thanks to DoP Sathyan Sooryan) is the only thing salvaging a film that wants to be everything, do everything everywhere all at once. Throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. The VFX that comes together in the final battle scene in the climax is second to none, but getting there at the end of two and a half hours is too big an ask. When it comes to Anirudh’s score, it’s rather middling and bar a couple of songs, nothing really has staying power.

From the first frame to the last, Vijay’s political ambitions are in plain sight. He’s been building up to this moment and as his last film, it serves that purpose. It showcases his massy charisma, but in the rather convoluted, over-explained lens of modern Tamil filmmaking. It makes all the right noises, but you have to sift through the annoying din to get there.