THAAI KIZHAVI Review - The boss lady is here to stay!

Ashwin Ram

Writing/ Direction:  A rural movie will anyday carry a big list of artists, the first good impression is how the director has established the supporting roles with such good clarity, highlighting their unique characteristic features. Led by Radikaa Sarathkumar, who is the boss lady of the village. When she falls sick, it impacts everybody around her and the dramatic arcs follow-up. The humour is very lively throughout, the film presents hilarious moments in various forms without restricting to one kind. In addition to the street-smart dialogues, the director’s voice is evident throughout in his style of visual storytelling, Radikaa dressed up as the Gold Goddess is the best example to represent the aspect. Situations take the screenplay forward, still the writing is coherent in most places. Except for some emotional stretches at the end appearing suddenly, speaks sensible content and it did work well, just that the staging could have been better. The commercial meter is intact, the film is sure to tap the women sentiment, the empowering climax monologue is here to stay. But some same side goals might have been avoided, Munishkanth getting married feels cinematically okay, but pulls down the essence of the message conveyed right before that. The Kamal Haasan factor is an added bonus to the already engaging flick, the star’s songs astronomically elevate the film at the interval sequence and during Radikaa’s re-entry.

Performances: Screen time is limited, yet the impact is high as the entire story revolves around Radikaa Sarathkumar. Her makeup is top-notch, she has carried her role with great swag and puts up a believable act too. Superb roles for almost all the supporting artists, especially Singampuli, Aruldoss, Bala Saravanan have truly owned the subject. The rest have great importance in the story, everybody gets to valuably contribute to the flow. Perfect casting overall with natural performances , the body language and dialogue slang of all the actors uplifted the nativity of the storyworld.

Technicalities: Nivas K.Prasanna’s songs fit the shoes well, the tracks might not sound solid just as an audio format, but is way better while watching along with the screenplay. The background score is fine as it is so smooth all over, a little more original music is required to make the experience authentic rather than overloading old songs. Fantastic work by the DOP team, capturing the crowd beautifully, the tight shots for the dramatic stretches add value. Apt edit as well, no hurry yet the film feels racy with not much lags.

Verdict:  A rural drama that gives equal spacing for all the characters involved in the story. Humour is spread across well and makes the flow constantly entertaining. The emotional episodes feel a bit rushed, yet the content lands with a neat intent.

THAAI KIZHAVI - The boss lady is here to stay!

Rating - 3.25/ 5.