V. Bhaskaran

Nikesha Patel

Santhanam

Monica

Suman Talwar

Vincent Asokan

Jayaprakash

Kota Srinivasa Rao

Suresh Krishna

Powerstar Srinivasan

VTV Ganesh

Suman Shetty

Manobala

Swaminathan

Kovai Sarala

Subbaraju

Vasu Vikram

T. P. Gajendran

Vidyasagar

Chithirai Selvan

Ramesh Selvan D S

Mohammed Jaffer

Anthony

S. K. Boopathy

தலைவன்

Blue Ocean Pictures

India

If only Ramesh Selvan had found a better leading man, it would have become a fairly engaging cops-and-terrorist action film. But then, the film isn't titled just Thalaivan; it is Bas In Thalaivan and so we are forced to endure this vanity stab of a debutant with a prominent cheek and jowl, perpetual blood-shot eyes and a beer belly. All these physical disadvantages could have been brushed aside if there was some bit of acting but all we get is a single expression for all the scenes, be it a romantic one or an emotional moment or even a lighthearted scene. To be fair, even the heroine is impassive; as for her lip sync, she could very well be speaking Latin!

If you can force yourself to ignore its leads, the film turns from being borderline terrible to a borderline watchable fare. The plot revolves around a terrorist, Daniel, who is one of the masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. His one-time mentor and rival Anwar Khan, who he fails to kill during a coup, strikes a deal with the cops and soon, Danny's men are being 'encountered'. Even as the DGP Sundarapandian boasts about making the city crime-free, there comes a mysterious challenger — the titular Thalaivan — who commits crimes under the cops' noses. Who is this man and what is his end goal?

This is a fairly interesting storyline for commercial film and Ramesh Selvan does know what he needs to keep it moving. There are turncoats, an ingenious plan (to capture Thalaivan), a couple of pleasant cameos (from Kota Srinivasa Rao and Power Star Srinivasan), a passable flashback episode featuring the dependable Jayaprakash and a moderately funny Santhanam comedy track. But the plot points are telegraphed to us a mile earlier so there is no tension in the scenes. So, when we see Bas hesitating to talk about his parents, we sense that we will get a tragic flashback. And when a couple of cops get suspended, we guess that they are corrupt ones, and not surprisingly, we get a scene of them scheming with Danny. This only makes the execution feel lazy and uninspired.

தமிழ்

Thalaivan

Thalaivan

Cast

Reviews