Thalaivan Thalaivii movie review: Vijay Sethupathi, Nithya Menen film is a scream-a-thon filled with characters who desperately need therapy

Indian Express

7 days ago

Thalaivan Thalaivii movie review: Sometimes I wonder if we, as a society, have made even the slightest progress in our mindset and way of thinking as human beings. Although one can point to changes, I wonder if these developments or transformations are now entrenched in us, with their roots firmly fixed in our conscience, or is it all just a pretence? It might be a stupid thought from my end. But after watching a film like Maaman (2025) come out in the mainstream recently, I honestly wonder if what's been portrayed in it is still the norm or if that movie is just an exceptional case. Even if we assume that the latter is the reality, then we are still forced to endure two Maamans for every Paranthu Po (2025) that are served; and the second Maaman is called Thalaivan Thalaivii, directed by Pandiraaj.
Although not as frustrating as the Soori-Aishwarya Lekshmi starrer, Thalaivan Thalaivii treads similar terrains where a husband and wife — who clearly need therapy to fix their toxic traits — are caught between their egoistic families that have no sense of boundaries.
Agasaveeran (Vijay Sethupathi) and Arasi (Nithya Menen) fall for each other almost at once, but not in a typical 'love at first sight' moment that we have seen in Gautham Vasudev Menon movies. There are no slow-motion shots, nor is there a heartwarming background score. They meet each other during a 'traditional' matchmaking meeting, but instantly develop a likeness towards each other. She's an MBA graduate, and he's a Class 10 dropout. But a renowned 'parotta master' with his own hotel, Agasaveeran finds his way to Arasi's heart through her stomach soon. And it takes him no time to win over her parents as well, but her brother Porchelvan (RK Suresh) remains too cold towards his brother-in-law-to-be, as they have a history that they aren't ready to reveal to anyone. It's only after Agasaveeran and Arasi (whom he now endearingly calls Perarasi) that she and her folks get to know that Agasaveeran and family are known troublemakers in their locality and even rowdies to an extent. Since Porchelvan and their father Arasaangam (Chemban Vinod Jose) are also reformed rowdies, they object to the marriage. But Perarasi decides to go with her 'lover'.
Albeit everything is lovey-dovey at first, issues start cropping up in their marriage owing to their egos, to which both families rub salt as well, making matters worse. Arasi leaving her in-laws' place and going back to her home becomes a routine, and so does Agasaveeran going and bringing her back. This continues even after they have a child together. But one day, things spiral out of control, and she leaves 'forever' with their daughter. Three months later, both families find themselves in the same place, and tensions rise as they attempt to find a permanent solution to everything.
Although Thalaivan Thalaivii opens in a jovial manner, with a few laughs mostly offered by Yogi Babu, and then cuts to Agasaveeran and Perarasi's initial days together where 'love' is flying in the air and all are trying to be extra nice to each other, once the story settles in, the movie becomes a scream-a-thon where almost all characters are simply yelling at each other. Agasaveeran is yelling at Perarasi and vice versa, both in scenes set in the present day and flashbacks; his mother, Pottu (Deepa Shankar), is constantly shouting at them, and she gets it back as well; his sister Ragavarthini (Roshini Haripriyan) and Arasi's mother, Aavarnam (Janaki Suresh), also follow suit. After a point, Thalaivan Thalaivii is just a headache-inducing experience for which Pandiraaj offers medicine as well once in a while by making Yogi Babu's Chithirai Kumar deliver soft one-liners that somehow manage to calm us a bit.
As if at the initial stages itself, the writer-director had decided to do away with subtlety altogether, every scene is crammed with dialogues that don't, in any way, improve the experience. While the initial conversations between various characters are endearing, once the screaming begins, Thalaivan Thalaivii quickly becomes a high-decibel drama, quite literally. It even reaches such levels that the viewers too want to shout at the top of their lungs to make those on screen pipe down and go their separate ways instead of forcing themselves to stay in such toxic environments only to contribute to noise pollution.
Even as time passes by, we are stuck in these dialogue-driven scenes that highlight Pandiraj's wafer-thin writing as the story never actually evolves. From the middle of the hotel, the hall in the house and the bedrooms to the streets, all that Pandiraj offers his characters are dialogues to scream instead of worthwhile things to do. Making matters worse is the writer-director's frequent attempts to give a mass appeal to Agasaveeran, totally out of tune with the movie's overall tone. Thus, what could have been an engaging absurd comedy is wasted by subpar writing.
Although we hear various characters saying at different junctures that what's going on between Agasaveeran and Arasi is condemnable and that the families are adding fuel to the fire, Thalaivan Thalaivii as a whole bats for such toxic relationships by pretending that 'kalyana vaalkkayile ithellam satharanamappa (such things are normal in marital lives).' In fact, instead of merely showing that relationships like these also exist around us and how families sometimes make matters worse, the movie is a blatant attempt to glorify all things problematic by presenting/pretending that there's love at the bottom of it all.
But is there love? Even among Agasaveeran and Arasi, is it love that they have for each other or is it their masochistic tendencies at play here? Do they genuinely want to be with each other, or are they still in the relationship because of their anxious attachment issues? Despite making it very clear throughout that they aren't good for each other, Thalaivan Thalaivii simply forces Agasaveeran and Arasi to end up together, pretending as if going separate ways or even finding a solution is impossible.
Even though much of the screentime is occupied by them, even Agasaveeran and Arasi aren't properly stretched out characters and come across as quite superficial. While the movie taps into the age-old patriarchal notion of 'women are their own worst enemies' by making Pottu, Aavarnam and Ragavarthini mere instigators of marital discord in the Agasaveeran-Arasi equation, the men are relegated to the background as mute spectators to all happening around them. Although Arasaangam and Porchelvan get some worthwhile moments, they don't contribute much to anything unfolding.
What makes Thalaivan Thalaivii tolerable amidst all these is the spectacular on-screen chemistry between Vijay Sethupathi and Nithya Menen that never fades even once. Both in their romantic moments and during fights, they appear connected at emotional cores, although the characters themselves don't seem so. It's astonishing that Nithya Menen manages to create such amazing rapport on screen almost effortlessly, whoever the person acting opposite her is. Be it Dulquer Salman in OK Kanmani (2015), 'Thalapathy' Vijay in Mersal (2017), Dhanush in Thiruchitrambalam (2022) or Vijay Sethupathi here, Nithya has consistently demonstrated her mastery in this.
Among other actors, Chemban Vinod Jose impresses as Arasaangam, delivering a top-notch portrayal. It was also nice to see Yogi Babu not being used as the butt of tasteless jokes. Deepa Shankar's performance also deserves commendation.
While Santhosh Narayanan impresses at times with his scores, his overall musical contributions here are at best serviceable. The same can be said about M Sukumar's cinematography.
Thalaivan Thalaivii movie cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Nithya Menen, Yogi Babu
Thalaivan Thalaivii movie director: Pandiraaj
Thalaivan Thalaivii movie rating: 1.5 stars
Anandu Suresh is a Senior sub-editor at Indian Express Online. He specialises in Malayalam cinema, but doesn't limit himself to it and explores various aspects of the art form. He also pens a column titled Cinema Anatomy, where he delves extensively into the diverse layers and dimensions of cinema, aiming to uncover deeper meanings and foster continuous discourse. Anandu previously worked with The New Indian Express' news desk in Hyderabad, Telangana. You can follow him on Twitter @anandu_suresh_ and write (or send movie recommendations) to him at [e-mail]. ... Read More