Thalaivan Thalaivii Movie Review: Family Trauma Finds Laughs & Frustrations In This Loud Drama

Thalaivan Thalaivii Movie Synopsis: When lovers finally get married, they look forward to a happily ever after. But they end up wanting a divorce – how and why?!!Thalaivan Thalaivii Movie Review: People yell at the top of their lungs, a child toys with a real gun, others roll on the ground clutching a sickle, and in one corner, a woman is singing a lullaby while another gulps water, exhausted from all the arguments. This is essentially how Thalaivan Thalaivi plays for the most part - loud & chaotic. Yet this doesn't stem from a means of flawed writing, but carefully curated mayhem that mirrors all of our collective family traumas. How often do you laugh through a family fight where everyone’s just shouting? Now, double the level of arguments and exaggerate the emotions and drag it out – Thalaivan Thalaivi is centred around one such long sequence. So yes, you might sigh. You might even get annoyed. In one sequence, when Vijay Sethupathi’s Aagasam raises his voice midway through the argument, his wife Perarasi (a brilliant Nithya Menen) closes her ears, while still paying attention to his words. And you might also want to join her; that’s how loud, grating, and real the arguments get. In Pandiraj’s previous family dramas, like Kadaikutty Singam or Namma Veetu Pillai, the hero often remained flawless, selfless, and even egoless. Even while the films center majorly on family sentiments, you could easily point out the villains, the selfish relatives, and others — some of whom were also just caricatures. But here, the director plays it differently. Right from Aagasam and Perarasi, every single person in Thalaivan Thalaivi is flawed. They are selfish and scared. But their selfishness isn’t shown to be random; rather, it’s born of past pain. So, you have a world full of characters you care for even after seeing them for who they are. It does sometimes get very real, flashing glimpses of many arguments and ugly, embarrassing fights. Yet that’s what makes Thalaivan Thalaivi a film close to reality. Yet every time things get heavy, Yogi Babu pops up with a laugh-out-loud line or a dry quip, often echoing our mind voice, making us chuckle mid-chaos.That said, there’s a lot of action for a family drama, and you wish the film had avoided a few of those. In addition, there are moments where everyone turns violent – spouses slap each other, or siblings hire goons, and the fight becomes really dramatic. You can't help but ask: was that really necessary? Santhosh Narayanan’s songs, although nailed with perfection, often serve only as a draggy distraction to the film. That said, Pandiraj has assembled a pitch-perfect cast. With Deepa Shankar, Nithya Menen, and Vijay Sethupathi on board, Pandiraj crafts a post-marriage romcom that’s equal parts frustrating, funny, and emotionally packed. Deepa Venkat is exceptional as Pottu, Aagasam’s mother – a tricky grey character, cunning yet caring. Even when she shows her weakest, most selfish acts, Deepa Venkat makes you empathise with her actions, and that's a big win! Last time, when Vijay Sethupathi and Nithya Menen came together for a film in 19(1)(a), we saw them share silences and find meaning in calmness. Completely contradicting that performance, the duo goes all out, providing a hyper performance, aptly for a script that exaggerates everything a little too much.The film’s world is densely populated — every passerby, every side character has a role to play. And the one to receive the most love would be the “parottas” – yes, this film is a foodie heaven. If early love dates of Aagasam and Perarasi started with different varieties of parottas, every fight scene has a parallel sequence of them together, making fiery “kothu parotta”, exchanging sharp glances, and when in distress, Aagasam often turns to parotta therapy (we feel you, Aagasam!). Amidst all the noise and gags, though, Thalaivan Thalaivi finds moments of quiet, moving emotions. In one scene, Aagasam, tired of all the fights, breaks down in front of his father. In another, a mother posts a WhatsApp status of her child, hoping her estranged husband sees it. When someone sees the family fight for a whole day, they say, “Inum ivanga mudikalaya,” and you feel that too. However, Thalaivan Thalaivi becomes one of the very few Tamil films that dig into the life after marriage, something after the beginning of the seemingly “Happily ever after,” and Pandiraj has crafted a fun, frustrating family padam. Written By: Harshini SV