Forget about the fancy 100-crore spectacle for now. The real story of this year's Pongal celebrations was a ₹10 crore "country comedy" that quietly pushed past the ₹40 crore mark while all the big name stars were too busy getting involved in expensive court battles. Thalaivar Thambi Thalaimaiyil (TTT) was that sleeper hit that came out of left field, and if you missed it at the cinemas you can now catch it on Netflix - and you can stream it from February 12th.
Egos, Weddings and the funeral Down The Street
It's a classic recipe for complete rural bedlam. Director Nithish Sahadev (who showed with his Malayalam hit Falimi that he's got a feel for how families can turn into complete chaos) brings that same frenetic energy to his first outing in Tamil.
And the plot? - Well, it's basically all about one massive game of chicken, a wedding and a funeral going on at the same time on the same street. Jiiva is Jeevaratnam, the local panchayat president, who finds himself stuck in the middle trying to stave off two stubborn old men (Ilavarasu and Thambi Ramaiah) from killing each other with their "good-manners are important" nonsense. It's grounded in reality, petty in a way that makes you go " been there, done that," and it's also really funny because who hasn't seen some ego clash in real life.
Back To Where It All Began - The Relatable Jiiva
Don't get me wrong, Jiiva spent a bit of time wandering off into the "one-man-experiment" wilderness a while back. But in TTT he falls back into the kind of character that people actually miss - the guy from Siva Manasula Sakthi who's charming but also a bit of a mess, and totally relatable in every way.
He's not trying to be some mass-hero type hero here - he's the straight man, the anchor that holds the whole village together against a backdrop of all these zany individuals. The bits where he reacts to Thambi Ramaiah - who treats his dad's funeral like some kind of competitive event in order to ruin his neighbour's wedding - that's where the movie really finds its heart. It's a really understated kind of performance - letting the absurdity of the situation do the heavy lifting.
Why it is a must watch
This one breezes through in under two hours with a score by Vishnu Vijay that's fresh and lively and just doesn't overstay its welcome. And it paid off because it was a "clean" comedy that didn't feel like one of those 'lecture' type films or some half baked generic action template.In a month where all we're really getting are delayed thrillers or some big heavy dramas, this one is the perfect palate cleanser. Its low stakes, high reward type storytelling that reminds us why we go to the cinema in the first place: to laugh at how stupid people can be.