Note: This is NOT a dubbed film. This is a bilingual shot in 2 languages, Hindi and Tamil & dubbed in Telugu.
What does that mean? It means the talkie portions are show twice in each language. Thalaivii however has portions retained in Tamil (mostly the recreation of MGR/Jayalalitha scenes), but if you've seen Nadigaiyaar Thilagam (Tamil dubbed version of Mahanati (Telugu), it plays exactly the same way where Savitri scenes are recreated from Telugu, despite being dubbed in Tamil.)
Another stroke of genius is the screenplay by Mr. Vijayendra Prasad. This man needs no introduction from penning films for his son, SS Rajamouli (Bahubali series, the upcoming RRR and others) as well as the last decent Salman Khan film I enjoyed, Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Prasad's story of Jaya's rise from Cinema se CM tak (as the film suggests) plants masala-like moments in the screenplay that really illustrates Jaya's change and persona growth.
Right from the 60s era of cinema, note the moments where Jaya says Namaste to everyone besides MJR (Arvind Swami, in what is another master stroke of casting) in the name of respect up until the final scenes of the film. Brilliant book-end! There are other great moments sprinkled throughout the film and I don't want to play spoil sport in this review to list them out.
This is one of the most "pan-india" friendly bio pics I've come across and it's not that easy to transcribe or adapt the culture of Jaya, Tamil cinema and Tamil politics for the Hindi audiences. For many of the Tamilians, the stories seen in the film may be of redundance, but for those unaware of Jaya, this is a great chance to experience that culture without going into "self-indulgence rabbit hole" zone.
This is Kangana's best till date (yes, even better than Manikarnika.) She sinks her teeth into the persona of Jayalalitha and lives through it. Wouldn't be surprised if she garners another National Award win because she deserves it. Next is Arvind Swami, an excellent portrayal of MJR if not better. Nasser (as Karunanaidhi) is simply superb. Credit given due to most of the supporting tamil artists who have given their best in their Hindi lip sync despite being voiced over by a different artist.
I don't understand the low ratings for the film (whether they are attributed to Kangana's politics or the hatred), but I would set that aside and watch off the film. As Vijayendra Prasad said, he couldn't imagine anyone else doing it besides Kangana and I couldn't agree with him more.
