‘Jana Nayagan’: Why ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay’s ruse to remix ‘Bhagavanth Kesari’ might be a winner?

This festive week for Tamil cinema has been nothing short of a masala fest — but not the usual kind. The scheduled releases of two tentpole films were marked with controversies and last-minute twists, with the silver lining being the coming together of the film industry in support of one of its most loyal sons. What should have been a celebratory moment for actor-politician ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay — the release of his farewell film Jana Nayagan — has snowballed into a definitive moment, in both his acting and political career. The film, which was set to release on January 9, was postponed due to delays in the issuance of the censor certificate. As per the latest update, the Chief Justice’s Bench of the Madras High Court has stayed the single judge’s ruling in favour of Jana Nayagan, with further hearing adjourned to January 21. KVN Productions, the banner backing the film, is expected to appeal to the Supreme Court of India in the upcoming days.

According to reports, the CBFC wasn’t happy with some political references in the film. Some reports speculated the presence of politically sharp dialogues that might offend some religions — everything remains hearsay at the moment.

But if we were to set aside all that’s been going on and choose to look at the film with a closer lens, what fascinating is the popular belief that Jana Nayagan is a remake of Telugu superstar Nandamuri Balakrishna’s 2023 action entertainer Bhagavanth Kesari. Even if the said reports were to be taken with a pinch of salt, the trailer of Jana Nayagan has only fuelled these speculations. Frankly, from whatever we know about the film, it’s safe to assume that even if Jana Nayagan weren’t a scene-by-scene remake of Bhagavanth Kesari, one too many uncanny similarities compel one to believe that Kesari (internet is flooded with memes that compare the title to the dessert) must have been a necessary ingredient in director H Vinoth’s recipe for Jana Nayagan.

Many on social media have criticised Vijay for not opting for an original story for his swansong. Some have a contradictory opinion. Salem-based fan Vicky Vijay had told us that he wouldn’t mind it even if the speculations were true. “That only excites me because Bhagavanth Kesari, on paper at least, is a film tailor-made for Vijay. It’s a 10/10 Vijay film,” he said in an earlier chat. So we wonder, what could have made Vijay choose the masala template of the Balakrishna-starrer to support his final film, one that signals his departure from films and entry into full-time politics.

Bhagavanth Kesari, directed by Anil Ravipudi (whose Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu is releasing next week), follows the story of a one-of-a-kind cop-turned-convict, the titular Nelakonda Bhagavanth Kesari (Balakrishna), whose good behaviour and noble heart prompt a jailer named Srikanth to greenlight his release. To show his gratitude, Bhagavanth visits Srikanth and the latter’s child, Viji, with whom he shares a close bond. However, tragedy strikes soon as Srikanth is killed in a nasty road accident. The news shatters Viji’s core as she begins to suffer from severe anxiety. Shaken by the sudden turn of events, Bhagavanth sacrifices the rest of his life as he raises Viji as his daughter, vowing to realise Srikanth’s dream to make her join the Indian Army. Now a young woman, Viji (Sreeleela) spends her time doing what a young woman of her age would do — bunking classes to watch films with her friends, lying to her guardian, and falling in love with a college-mate. She abhors Bhagavanth’s persistent efforts to train her to join the army.

Meanwhile, we also begin to follow the story of Rahul Sanghvi (Arjun Rampal), a notorious businessman with powerful political connections who desires to become India’s top businessman by procuring a project involving crucial seaports of India. Rahul goes to extreme lengths to realise his dream, which is when the most unthinkable happens — he crosses paths with Viji, and therefore, Bhagavanth, who we soon realise shares a shocking history with Rahul. The rest of Bhagavanth Kesari revolves around how the titular hero takes on Rahul and whether Viji becomes the soldier she is envisioned to become.

Everything about this premise reads like a masala film that was made 20 years too late, but Bhagavanth Kesari isn’t about the story — it’s a film that rides high on the trademark ‘Balayya-ism’ that Ravipudi keeps throwing at us at regular intervals. A trademark dialogue goes like this: “Do you know why God put the brain between the ears?” asks Balayya to his enemies as he readies his hand. “So that when something hits the ears, it can easily go into the head,” he answers before slapping them into oblivion. In a crucial moment, a friend lends a hand by bringing him the machine gun to take down his enemies — because “all those who have used this have become famous,” a nod to the many pan-Indian films like KGF, Vikram, and Kaithi, in which the gun was used — however, Balayya is Balayya and so he opts to unleash fury by propelling industrial oxygen cylinders one by one at the enemies (seriously, my throat would have dried up from all the whistling had I seen this spectacle on the big screen).

This is why, while it has serious undertones to it, Bhagavanth Kesari is a ‘Balayya-centric’ masala entertainer at the end of the day, which means that its mass cinema sensibilities are catered to suit those who know how to seek pleasure in Balakrishna’s over-the-top-ness. Hence, a film like Bhagavanth Kesari would, to be blunt, never suit an actor like Vijay, who has made a career out of a more sobering masala cinema prescription.

His style of mass entertainment rides not only on his toned shoulders but also on how inventively the many crowd-pleasing moments are set up and executed. So why has Vijay chosen this as the template for his final film?

The answer, if it is true, must lie in the fact that despite all the chatter on social media, both the production banner KVN Productions and director H Vinoth have refrained from calling it a remake. Coupling this with the sense of a film the promos hint at, it is safe to assume that Vinoth has taken the strong points of the premise of Bhagavanth Kesari and tailored the rest of it to suit what a common audience would expect out of a Vijay film.

Much of the story of Bhagavanth Kesari might get condensed into the first two acts of Jana Nayagan. One can expect Viji’s equivalent character, played here by Mamitha Baiju, to wrap up the pre-intermission sequence with a bang, something that happens in the climax of the original. The second half, if one must speculate, should fully revolve around ‘Thalapathy’ Vettri Kondan’s (Vijay’s character) fight against Bobby Deol’s (who plays Rahul Sanghvi’s equivalent) evil schemes.

Only this can explain the lion’s share of screentime Deol and Vijay get from these portions in the trailer, apart from the presence of evil androids. Perhaps this evil businessman doesn’t need a project controlling the ports of the country; he is an evolved mastermind who wants something more — the project O.M that was hinted at in the trailer.

This would also explain why it makes no sense for the Central Board of Film Certification to see an issue in a Bhagavanth Kesari remake — because the portions in contention would find no twin in the Balakrishna starrer. Further, one can also expect the dialogues in Jana Nayagan to be as politically-inclined as they are in the trailer (after all, none other than ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay has been credited as the dialogue writer of the film). Further, the heightened emotions from an alternate flashback to the protagonist might elevate Vijay as the messiah of the helpless common man, paving the way for an action-heavy experience. Of course, Vijay can rehash some opportunities to appease his fans (like how “I am coming,” a twist to his famous dialogue “I am waiting,” seems to come in the same scene as Balayya’s trademark “I don’t care” in the original)

If speculations are true, then it makes sense as to why Vijay chose to take inspiration from Bhagavath Kesari. It’s a film that: a) deals with family sentiments and action sequences, which have been Vijay’s strengths, b) appeals to the family and women who make up a tremendous share of the vote bank, c) helps Vijay organically weave in meta-political takes, and d) fulfils his fans and the expectations of the market.

There’s no clarity on when Jana Nayagan will see the light of day. However, given what we know, one feels compelled to quote what Vijay’s rival Ajith Kumar told Magizh Thirumeni when their film Vidaamuyarchi couldn’t release on Pongal: “So what if our film doesn’t release on a festival day? The day of our film’s release will become a festive day.”

Published – January 10, 2026 01:18 pm IST