Is Jana Nayagan a Tamil remake of Anil Ravipudi's 2023 action-drama Bhagavanth Kesari?
The trailer for Jana Nayagan, released on Saturday, shows that Thalapathy Vijay's last film is likely to be loosely inspired from the 2023 film, because it features many scenes similar to the latter.
In fact, despite their action scenes, both films seem to place the protagonist as an agent of social change by helping the girl in their care become emotionally and physically strong. Both films also do this by intertwining politics and social reform, though Jana Nayagan arguably does it on a grander scale.
Notably, Bhagavanth Kesari describes the struggles of an old-school ex-prisoner who tries to get his dead colleague's daughter to join the Army. However, his social mission to liberate her is also interrupted by a conflict with a ruthless businessman, Rahul Sanghvi, who is after the country's prestigious Project-V.
Specifically, just like Sreeleela in Bhagavanth Kesari, Mamitha Baiju's character in Jana Nayagan also seems hesitant to join the Indian Army. Other scenes also show her being physically trained.
The trailer also features a number of scenes that reference Vijay's entry into politics, as he bids farewell to Kollywood. The video garnered nearly 8,30,000 views within just ten minutes of its release, as the comments flooded with fans of the actor-politician.
The trailer also sees explosions, thrilling fight sequences, and a larger-than-life political plot as Vijay takes on his last antagonist, played by Bobby Deol.
This question has haunted Tamil and Telugu cinephiles since October 2024, when director H. Vinoth announced his next project—Thalapathy Vijay's last film before the superstar entered politics—then titled Thalapathy 69.
In November that year, a report went viral after it claimed that the Vijay-starrer would be a Tamil remake of the 2023 film because of their similar themes.
Netizens had even pointed out similarities in casting choices at the time.
The report had also claimed that KVN Productions, the makers of Jana Nayagan, had even bought the rights to Bhagavanth Kesari, which features Nandamuri Balakrishna, Sreeleela, and Kajal Aggarwal.
However, the makers of Jana Nayagan later declared that the remake claim was false, and that it was an original action film.
A Moneycontrol report also pointed out that KVN Productions had bought the rights to the film for just one specific scene in Bhagavanth Kesari that reportedly had an impact on Vijay—a particular scene on child abuse and consent—for which they allegedly paid Rs 4.5 crore.
The report claimed that Jana Nayagan will not be a remake of Bhagavanth Kesari, but would pay homage to that scene.
More recently, when Vinoth was asked by Ananda Vikatan about the remake claim, he replied very carefully, saying that he could neither say "yes" nor "no", and added that it was a "pure Thalapathy Vijay film".
“Some people might get upset assuming it's a remake. My request to them: Please wait until the film is out. You'll get an idea about the film from promos and songs that'll be released soon," he added, urging fans to only take a stand after watching the entire film.
Also featuring Pooja Hegde, Mamitha Baiju, and Bobby Deol, among others, Jana Nayagan is set to release on January 9.
