Kalaga Thalaivan Movie Review: Magizh Thirumeni spoils his few good ideas by spoon-feeding them

Kalaga Thalaivan movie review: Yet another generic story about a protagonist taking on a corporate monster, the film is bearable thanks to its well-though out action sequences.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Udhayanidhi Stalin in Kalaga Thalaivan trailer

Kalaga Thalaivan’s director Magizh Thirumeni wants his film to be perceived as intelligent, but he doesn’t hold the audience in the same regard. He conveniently forgets the dictum, ‘Show, not tell’, as he offers us an exposition-rich feature where everything is shown and explained, and then underlined. It’s not as if the story is complex, and warrants explanation. Kalaga Thalaivan is a generic story of a hero trying to take down a ‘corporate monster’. Yes, there are some interesting ideas, but the screenplay and dialogues hit you on the head with them till you can take no more. Instead of a film taking you on a journey, Kalaga Thalaivan has the director snatch you by the hand and walk you through a maze that he has created. Along the way, he marvels at his creation as you look on.

His tour starts right from the introduction scene of Thirumaaran (Udhayanidhi Stalin). A middle-aged employee at a corporate office is tasked with something that he is clueless about. His boss breathes down his neck –literally–asking him to do the job under his supervision. He looks helpless and anxious. The moment his manager walks away to take a call, the poor employee lets out a sigh, “Aandava (Dear lord!)” Suddenly, his computer starts to work automatically and does the work swiftly. Though we get that the hero is remotely helping him out, Maghizh shoots the scene at an excruciatingly slow pace so that everything is spelled out. That doesn’t end there. Later, the employee meets Thiru and spells out to us that he used TeamViewer to help him out. He makes such a big scene out of a TeamViewer; imagine how the rest of the film about corporate espionage would have panned out.

Thirumaaran is depicted as indulging in corporate espionage as he sells secrets of his employer, a heavy-vehicle manufacturer. When it is revealed that the company’s vehicles don’t pass the emission test, the corporate villain hires a team of nameless sophisticated hitmen to find and terminate the rat. Thus begins the cat-and-mouse game between the formidable hitman Arjun (Arav) and Thriumaran, which is the only rewarding portion of Kalaga Thalaivan. There are two brilliant stretches in the film. One comes just before the interval and the second one is the climax. It feels like the whole film was written around them or just for them. If only the director had put the same amount of writing and effort into the rest of the film, Kalaga Thalaivan would have been a far more engrossing affair.

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As far as the rest of the film goes, it shuffles between sequences of torture porn and a sheepish romance between Thiru and Mythili (Nidhhi Agerwal). On one end, Arjun keeps coming up with creative methods of torture to make his suspects spill the beans. On the other hand, you get some uncreative courtship of the lead. However, both end up being irksome and seem like fillers before the end credits can roll. What ends up making the film passable are the innovative ideas (though sporadic) and a well-cast villain (Arav is brilliant). Despite playing a formulaic role, Arav’s character works mainly due to his physical demeanor. I wish the film was only about his hunt for the protagonist. Clearly, that seems to be the strong zone of the director. But in an attempt to create what is generally called the “emotional core”, he ends up delivering a formulaic backstory that ends up being counterproductive.

Kalaga Thalaivan rating: 2.5 / 5

Kalaga Thalaivan director: Magizh Thirumeni

Kalaga Thalaivan cast: Udhayanidhi Stalin, Arav, Kalaiyarasan, Nidhhi Agerwal

Kirubhakar Purushothaman

Kirubhakar Purushothaman is a Principal Correspondent with Indian Express and is based out of Chennai. He has been writing about Tamil cinema and a bit about OTT content for the past eight years across top media houses. Like many, he is also an engineer-turned-journalist from Tamil Nadu, who chose the profession just because he wanted to make cinema a part of his professional life. ... Read More

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ED arrests Biswal Tradelink’s MD in fake bank guarantee case, to confront him with Anil Ambani

46 min ago

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Partha Sarathi Biswal, managing director of Biswal Tradelink Private Limited (BTPL), in connection with an alleged fake bank guarantee case. “A probe has revealed that BTPL fraudulently arranged and submitted fake bank guarantees of Rs 68.2 crore along with forged State Bank of India (SBI) endorsements and fabricated confirmations for a Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) tender. For providing this bank guarantee, BTPL received Rs 5.40 crore from Reliance Power Limited,” an official said. Seven days after searching multiple locations in Mumbai linked to Anil Ambani, the ED has summoned the industrialist on August 5 to join the investigation into a money laundering case linked to a multi-crore bank loan fraud involving companies of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The ED has also issued a lookout circular (LOC) to prevent him from travelling abroad. BTPL was one of the companies where the ED recently conducted searches. Biswal's arrest was made on August 1 and he was produced before a Delhi Court, which sent him to their custody till August 6. "We are planning to confront him with Anil Ambani during questioning and will try to verify some facts," an official said. The ED has initiated its investigation against BTPL based on an FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Delhi Police, against the firm, its directors and others, for allegedly providing a fake bank guarantee which was submitted to SECI. “During the investigation, the ED has collected several pieces of evidence and they confirmed the use of fake documents in the name of certain banks and fake email IDs in the name of SBI. Probe has also revealed that BTPL, a small company incorporated in 2019, maintained multiple undisclosed bank accounts and carried out transactions disproportionate to its declared turnover. Many violations of the Companies Act are found, and no statutory records are found at registered addresses, such as books of accounts, shareholders’ registers, etc,” the official said. The probe also revealed that dummy directors were used solely to sign documents, and found at least seven undisclosed bank accounts of the company. “Proceeds of crime, of crores of rupees, have been traced to these accounts,” the official added. A spokesperson for Reliance Power said the ED case related to a bank guarantee. “The company and its subsidiaries acted bona fide and have been a victim of fraud, forgery and a conspiracy. The company has made due disclosure on this to the stock exchanges on November 7, 2024. A criminal complaint in this regard has already been lodged with the Economic Offence Wing of Delhi Police against the third party on October 16, 2024. The due process of law will follow," said the spokesperson.

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