Thalaivii hit theatres, Kangana Ranaut fans are giving it mixed reviews
Kangana Ranaut’s much-awaited film Thalaivii finally got a theatrical release today. A day before, team Thalaivii organized a press conference in the capital and briefed everyone about the film.
Who was Thalaivii?
Thalaivii is based on the life journey of the late actress and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nādu J. Jayalalithaa. Jayalalithaa is fondly monikered as Amma. Although she acted in films during her school days, she got recognition for her roles for the films released in the 1960s. She appeared in almost 140 films in several languages primarily in Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu.
In 1962, Jaya shared the stage with Salma Baig popularly known as Baby Naaz
Breaking the shackles, she was the first actress to wear a skirt in Tamil cinema. Despite having a sound career in the film industry, Jayalalithaa decided to quit the entertainment industry. In 1982, she joined AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), a regional political party of Tamil Nadu. In her first speech as a politician, she mentioned then Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran mentored her in politics.
Humiliation faced by Jayalathitha
On 24 December 1987, Maruthur Gopala Ramachandran died due to a long battle with multiple diseases. After his demise, Jaya was humiliated during MGR’s funeral procession and was pushed from the van carrying MGR’s body. This also left the AIADMK party split into two. And one faction was led by Jayalathitha and the other by MGR’s wife Janaki Ramachandran.
With this incident, the film also highlighted a 25th March 1989 horrific incident where the first woman opposition leader J. Jayalathitaa was assaulted in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. Her saree was allegedly pulled by the opposition leader.
Jaya left the assembly with a torn saree and swore that she will only return to the assembly only as a Chief Minister.
On 25 June 1991, Jayalalithaa took her vows as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu with the largest number of women members.
Kangana as Thailaivii
While talking to the media, Kangana revealed that she had to gain a lot of weight, almost 20 kg for the role. It was very difficult for her to perform dance numbers with that amount of weight as her cholesterol level increased abruptly.
Ranaut said, “This film is one of my finest works and my parents already congratulated me and expect to receive the 5th national award for the same.”
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Many people are also expecting that Kangana is hinting towards joining politics soon. Responding to these rumours, Kangana clarified that she is an actress and quite happy with her acting career.
“Without people’s support, nobody can win even a panchayat chunav. If people choose me as a politician, then definitely, I will love to live up to people’s expectations”, said Ranaut.
Jayalalithaa was a popular name in South India. And when this film was announced, people trolled the makers of Thalaivii for casting a north Indian girl for the main role. But still, makers stick to their choice and the onus to justify the legacy of character was on Kangana.
She said that this fear also scared her but now, critics are lauding her for the same.
Film producer Vishnuvardhan Induri was also present at the press conference and said, “This film is based on a book on J. Jayalalithaa. So, it is 100% real and based on real events.”
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When a question was asked about the struggles of a woman associated with working in a male-dominated society, Kangana said, “As a woman working in a man’s world, I feel that women are underestimated. Whenever it comes to leading, women are on obvious choices.”
“When I was working as a director, I faced a lot of bullying and was banned by the media industry. Many multiplexes refused to put my films in theatres. Because of my political opinion, my house was demolished.”, added by the Thalaivii lead actress.
