Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut is back on the big screens with her latest release Thalkaivi. The film is a biopic on the life of the late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J. Jayalalithaa. While Kangana plays the leading lady, actor Arvind Swami is seen as M.G. Ramachandran. Shot simultaneously in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu, it is directed by A.L. Vijay and is written by K.V. Vijayendra Prasad, Madhan Karky (Tamil), and Rajat Arora (Hindi). Thalaivii hit the theatres on Friday (September 10) and opened to a non-satisfactory business,
According to Box Office India, Thailavii had a low opening day. It earned Rs 1.25 cr on Day 1 of its release. The reports adds that the film picked up in Tamil Nadu and collected in the 80 lakh nett range. The film is expected to work the best in the South since Jayalalithaa was a very popular face there and people used to admire her.
Minting over 85 crores of the film with satellite, digital and music rights, Thalaivii had already recovered a huge amount even before the theatrical release. Revealing details about the digital deal, producer Vishnu Vardhan Induri stated the reason for a theatrical release saying, "₹55crore is a small amount. I had fancy offers which would have seen me sitting on tonnes of money. But my intention was to give this film a theatrical experience. It’s done with so much passion and love, we want people to experience it first in theatre. I don’t want to go in to details, but we have recovered our investments. If the release of the film had been delayed, I would have lost my money - That’s the reason I opted for theatrical release now."
Interestingly, veteran actress Simi Garewal attended a special screening of the film hosted by Kangana Ranaut. After watching the film, she took to her Twitter handle to review the film. The actress stated that although she doesn’t approve of Kangana’s radical comments, she supports her acting talent. Simi also revealed that although Jayalalithaa wanted Aishwarya Rai for her biopic, she would have approved of Kangana’s act.
She wrote, "Altho I do not support #KanganaRanaut's radical comments..I do support her acting talent. In #Thailavii she gives it her heart & soul! Jaya-ji wanted Aishwarya to play her..my hunch is JJ wud hv approved of Kangana's portrayal. As for @thearvindswamy he is MGR reincarnate!!"
