Thaai Kizhavi Mini Review: Radikaa mass-y turn powers this entertaining empowerment drama

Thaai Kizhavi Movie Synopsis: Pavunuthaayi (Radikaa Sarathkumar), a matriarch who's a nightmare for her village, is on her deathbed. This prompts celebrations all around, including in her own sons and son-in-law, and prayers for her death. But when they learn that she has gold stashed somewhere, it sets off desperate attempts by her sons to bring her back from the brink of death.Thaai Kizhavi Movie Review: With Thaai Kizhavi, debutant Sivakumar Murugesan spins an entertaining film that's part rural farce and part women empowerment drama. While the film revolves around Pavunuthaayi, it's her sons (Singampuli, Aruldoss and Balasaravanan) and her daughter (Rebecca Raichal) who take it forward. The director clearly delineates the characters of the three brothers — the eldest, Kamal Uppiliyan is a die-hard Kamal fan; the middle one Vijayan is a down-on-luck auto driver while the third one, Suruli (Balasaravanan) is a flower seller. The daughter, Suruli, meanwhile, is separated from her husband 2 Idly (Muthukumar) and lives with her mother. There's another major character — Pennycuick (Munishkanth), a 40-something man, who has not been able to get married, and is close to the family. It is the actions of these characters that drive the story and for the entire first half, we see how the men are — bumbling yet calculated, naive yet not-so-innocent, distant to each other but a cabal as well.The director's rooted storytelling is also filled with situational humour, rural quirkiness (the village drunk who tells the deity Karuppan that he'll become a Sai devotee if his prayer isn't answered is a scream), and superb use of Kamal Haasan songs, spanning eras from MSV to Ilaiyaraaja, AR Rahman and even Shankar Ehsaan Loy. And in Radikaa Sarathkumar, he gets an actress of immense stature to effectively portray the badass-ness of his protagonist, and the veteran turns in a mass-y, whistle-worthy performance that makes us feel her presence in every scene despite the character's minimal screen time and see the steely woman behind the prosthetics. The supporting cast is equally terrific all around, and plays the perfect second fiddle.But it is the manufactured changes of heart that happen in the second half that feels hard to buy. After showing us Pavunuthaayi as a Shylock who wouldn't hesitate to warn a woman that she'll disrobe her if she doesn't pay up, the director wants us to see her as a figure of female empowerment later. And all it takes for her sons to go from letting her die to trying to save her is one scene inside an ambulance talking about the preciousness of life that involves just one of them. It is to Balasaravanan's credit as a performer that he sells us this transformation. At times, you suspend these misgivings only because the message feels relevant. And Nivas Prasanna's score helps as well. But even if you are the type who does not buy into the empowerment aspects of the film, you'll get sold on its humour and its portrayal of a quirky rural place and its people. And that is Thaai Kizhavi's success.