5 reasons to watch Thalaivi

Ever since its announcement, the buzz has only grown stronger around Thalaivi. Given that the film is a biopic of former movie star and Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, whose roller coaster life is the stuff of legends, the project has invoked curiosity from Day 1. And with Kanagana Ranaut playing the lead role, the public's interest has only gotten bigger. We list out five reasons that make Thalaivi worth a visit to the theatres.

When it was announced that Kangana would be acting in a biopic of Jayalalithaa, there were more nays than ayes. And the first look of the actress, with terrible prosthetic makeup, only made everyone think of this project as a bad decision. But gradually, stills of Kangana from the film began to turn people's opinion, and even if she doesn't look like Jayalalithaa, the actress seems to be capturing the late screen icon and leader's personality in these pictures. And given how extraordinary a performer she is, it is never a good decision to write Kangana off. The foremost reason to watch Thalaivi would be too see what this talented actress has done with this once-in-a-lifetime role.

It is hard to capture a towering personality like MGR through a performance. While Mohanlal managed to give us the essence of the matinee idol and politician in Iruvar, Arvind Swami's stills from this film have an eerie likeliness to MGR that is hard to ignore. Will the Thani Oruvan actor be able to convincingly portray the legend who still lives in the hearts of many Tamilians? We will know once we watch the film.

One of the biggest reasons to be excited about Thalaivi is the fact that it is written by Vijayendra Prasad, the writer of blockbusters like the Baahubali movies, Mersal, Bhajrangi Bhaijaan and Manikarnika. The veteran is known for his superb plotting, and especially with building a mythology around characters. Given that this film involves larger-than-life figures like Jayalalithaa and MGR, it will be interesting to see how Vijayendra Prasad has manged to stay close to facts while enhancing the heroic qualities of his protagonists.

Given that this is a period film, the makers are said to have gone to great lengths to ensure that the film is authentic to its setting. With the story happening during the golden years of Tamil cinema and politics, the recreation of the same is something that we are looking forward to.

While Vijay's films are hit or miss ventures, the director has proved that he is an able hand when it comes to dealing with period subjects, as can be seen from his biggest hit Madrassapattinam. The fact that he also comes up with slick films makes him a craftsman who is hard to brush aside. Kangana has openly praised the filmmaker for the way in which he worked on this film, so that makes us eager to see what Vijay has done with this politically charged material.