Jana Nayagan - Dreary denouement

Actor turned Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Joseph Vijay has had a career spanning five decades. With each decade, the Tamil industry has watched the star grow into the political figurehead he is today. Starting as a child actor in films directed by his father SA Chandrasekar in the 1980s, Vijay pivoted to romantic lead hero roles in the 1990s and early 2000s. The early noughties and 2010s saw another pivot as the actor took on masala action films with overt political themes. Finally, the 2020s have seen a celebration of the actor’s career and his entry into politics, having garnered a huge following through his films. ‘Jana Nayagan’ was announced as Vijay’s last film before completely focussing on politics and, personally, I hope this promise is upheld; watching the film is a truly mind-numbing experience. 

The film follows the plot of 2023’s Nandamuri Balakrishna starrer ‘Bhagavanth Kesari’ with sprinklings of Vijay’s late stage vague politics and pandering to his voter bases. The terribly named Thalapathy Vetri Kondan (Vijay) is an ex-police officer who is wrongfully jailed. He becomes the custodian of Viji (Mamitha Baiju) who suffers from panic attacks and aids her in achieving her parents’ dream of joining the army. This story is interlinked with a plot against India by John Himmler (Bobby Deol) who plans to puppeteer the population and gain control of the country. Somewhere in the middle, there is a scene teaching good touch/bad touch, which sticks out like a sore thumb. The film somehow concludes in a huge android skirmish reminiscent of the climax of 2010’s ‘Enthiran’, an unwise development which strays from the original plot with awfully rendered CGI humanoids and canines. 

The story is straightforward and simple, made convoluted with forced tangents Vijay uses to attack his political opponents. The worst aspect of the screenplay’s structure is the Nizhalgal Ravi frame narrative that is used for most of the film; random interjections from Ravi are completely out-of-place and remind us that this entire strange story is being told to a village who are being threatened to abstain from the general election. The dialogue maintains the original film’s Telugu sensibilities, and many of the lines included to build hype for the protagonist sound like they have been dubbed from another language.

Despite the cast being stacked with strong actors, there are next to no standout performances. Vijay has never been a good performer, coasting through his career off of his own brand of charisma, and we are reminded of this during a scene near the end of the second act where he is expected to cry tears of happiness overhearing Viji speaking about him. Pooja Hegde is given a role similar to the one portrayed by Keerthy Suresh in 2018’s ‘Sarkar’, which is mainly to hang about in the background. Mamitha Baiju does her best with the little she is given, on par with her Telugu counterpart Sreeleela. Bobby Deol’s Himmler walks around the film with a fixed facial expression. TVK’s mother is played by Revathi, one of the greatest actors in the Tamil industry, and she is barely given two lines. The antagonists Prakash Raj and Vettai Muthukumar do a decent job with the slim roles they each have. Teejay Arunasalam also appears in the film as Viji’s lover. 

Technically, the film is also a mess; there is no aesthetic consistency and a distinct lack of visual style. There seems to have been quite a few instances of AI usage in the film, especially during montage sequences, which speaks for itself. The sound mixing is not well done, with many instances of badly recorded background noises. Anirudh Ravichander’s soundtrack is lacklustre as usual, except for the great track ‘Oru Pere Varalaaru’ with its thumping drums and fantastic electric guitar work. However, the song’s visualisation does not do the track justice. There is also the track ‘Thalapathy Kacheri’, which ends with a medley of Vijay’s iconic tracks from throughout his career. 

Overall, ‘Jana Nayagan’ is little more than Vijay’s most blatant attempt at propaganda. Visually placing himself beside his predecessor MG Ramachandran, Vijay uses this film to burn certain images and thoughts into the minds of its viewers. MGR used the power of cinema to gain political power – many actors have since attempted to replicate this phenomenon, and Vijay has now been successful. Having built a career on the safest bets, Vijay is now reaping the benefits of being box-office savvy and garnering a crazed following. As a film, however, ‘Jana Nayagan’ is a dull mess. To see Vijay at his best, I would recommend 2004’s ‘Ghilli’, 2007’s ‘Pokkiri’ and 2014’s ‘Kaththi’.

Gopis rating: 1.5 stars

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Official trailer for film below.