Thaai Kizhavi movie review: Radikaa Sarathkumar-Sivakumar Murugesan’s fiercely feminist, rural drama roars with humour and heart

Thaai Kizhavi movie review: Blending riotous humour with rooted feminism, Radikaa Sarathkumar commands the screen in Sivakumar Murugesan’s debut that celebrates women, cinema and Kamal Haasan fandom

Thaai Kizhavi movie review

Thaai Kizhavi movie plot:

Pavunthaayi (Radikaa Sarathkumar) is an ageing woman who resides in a Madurai village and lives by lending money to the residents. A commanding matriarch, she is lives with her daughter Suruli (Raichal Rabecca), as her three sons leave her to fend for herself. But when Pavunthaayi is on her deathbed, the sons come to know that she has hid jewels worth lakhs somewhere and try their best to get her recovered for their selfish motives.

Thaai Kizhavi movie review:

Would a film that keeps making you laugh for every split second suddenly strike you with a powerful feminist message and still not come across preachy and injective tonal shift? Can a film thrive on evoking the nostalgia factor of yesteryear songs and yet make you appreciate for its inventiveness and presence of mind? Does a film that has an aging matriarch threatening to disrobe a lady who owes her money make her sit atop a group of cheerful women and hail as a feminist icon? Thaai Kizhavi is exactly that, and much more delightful choices of filmmaking, acting, and writing. It makes the Radikaa Sarathkumar-starrer a tale of powerful cinematic creation while introducing a new-age powerful voice of debutant Sivakumar Murugesan.

Also read: The sons in Thaai Kizhavi: Bala Saravanan, Munishkanth, Muthukumaran say ‘It’s a relevant film that every woman will adore and aspire | EXCLUSIVE

Somewhere in the rural part of Madurai, it is only Pavunthaayi’s house that is named after a woman, herself in this case. There is a flashy and colourful introduction song that she gets, as she even gets called ‘ottathula P. T. ushava pinnukku thalliruva, kuthu vitta mike tysonum mayangi poyiruvaan’ (she would surpass PT Usha in running and Mike Tyson would faint at one punch of hers) in Sivakarthikeyan’s voice. But that is not all Thaai Kizhavi is about. Her first son Uppiliyaan (Singampuli) is a Kamal Haasan fanatic who leaves no opportunity wasted to play a situational song from his idol’s movie, second is Vijayan (Aruldoss) an equal dimwit and third Selvam (Bala Saravanan) who has his own love-hate relationship with garland making. Throw in a 40s something man Pennycuick (Munishkanth) who is in search of a bride, a quiet, calm and simple Suruli who resides with her mother Pavunthaayi, her husband 2 Rooba Idly (Muthukumaran) who chased her to get the remaining dowry, a couple of English speaking doctors, a south-east Asian medical chief who gets the right Tamil accent, a local drunkard who must make sure the lamp lit under Lord Karuppan’s feet never extinguishes, and more, Thaai Kizhavi brings all these one-off characters into a seamless narration. And what really comes off impressive is how despite the barrage of songs from the past, the aplenty Kamal Hassan references, and even how a Suriya song can be connected to the ‘Ulaganayagan’, the writing only justifies and further elevates the story to the next stage, while making you laugh until stomach aches.

But beyond all this, Thaai Kizhavi is a film that is fiercely feminist. No, it does not want to utter about how Pavunthaayi takes care all by herself, and hence the narrative is automatically women-empowering and female centric. Nor does it want to inject a thought-provoking monologue at the end to uphold motherhood and sanctity of thaai vazhi samugam (matriarchy). But in its natural evolution and organic process that leads up to this, and Sivakumar makes a striking visual of how the grandmothers of her village come together to welcome Pavunthaayi at one crucial point. It doesn’t want to glorify or preach the materialistic standards that money can give, instead talk about the respect and command it gives for a woman, more importantly careful to point out how only a person with certainty about his next meal would talk down about the importance of financial security. When Thaai Kizhavi normalises divorce and remarriage, and finding life partners even late in life, the film shows a finesse in deft writing, a progressive voice that knows how to talk.

Also read: Actor Raichal Rabecca: My role Suruli can be called as Thaai Kizhavi version 2.0 | EXCLUSIVE

All this said, it is quite hard to point out flaws in Thaai Kizhavi, which knows the exact rhythm it wants to take. The one-liners are punchy, the songs are played to explain the complicated situations in simpleton’s language, and more so, the emotions hit the right chord at right times. When Selvam gets hit the harsh reality of what it is to witness a death, especially when there are still means to save them; or when Pennycuick explains the simple joys of life that he wants to get by being married that makes the married men think about the joys they had dismissed so far; Thaai Kizhavi is a film that speaks volumes without brandishing any as life lessons.

What is undeniable factor is how Thaai Kizhavi is a cinematic, befitting tribute to Kamal Haasan that even without the latter’s physical presence, things move around him. There is a character named Kamal Haasan who wants a Neymar haircut as he roots for her cousin sister, a Vijay fan. A vehicle that plays Kamal Haasan song every time it is driven gets a Kushi song played. There is a reason, a cross-over scene that substantiates it, and throw in some Virumandi, Thenali and Vishwaroopam songs, there you have Thaai Kizhavi which honours and acknowledges the legendary star in its own way; one where it doesn’t want to sacrifice its narrative for fan-baiting. There are factual mentions like how Silk Smitha or Shoba died young but Pavunthaayi is continuing to live, that Suriya and Karthi can be referred merely as sons of Sivakumar, how a Ramki fan is lost amid Rajini-Kamal fan debate, making Thaai Kizhavi write its own little love letter to the niche fandoms.

Thaai Kizhavi is all things beautiful, progressive and cinematic masterpiece, that is wrapped with some nostalgia, emotions, and aplenty humour. Each choice comes across detailed, valuable and extremely customised to the story, that hardly does any second of the film feels like a repeat or unnecessary.

Thaai Kizhavi movie verdict:

Thaai Kizhavi is a fiercely feminist film that celebrates sisterhood, independence, cinema and humour in its own righteous and healthy way. Director Sivakumar Murugesan, actor Radikaa Sarathkumar and producer Sivakarthikeyan may be the faces in the frontline of Thaai Kizhavi, but the ensemble cast, the technical brilliance, and deft writing from the director, come off as the strong backbone of the film. More so, Sivakumar is a voice to look out for, as we raise cheers to Tamil cinema that brings a tale of a woman who can make humour and educate you.

Thaai Kizhavi FAQs

Q. What is Thaai Kizhavi release date?

A. Thaai Kizhavi will release in theatres on February 27, 2026.

Q. What is Thaai Kizhavi OTT partner?

A. JioHotstar has bagged the OTT rights of Thaai Kizhavi and will be available on OTTplay Premium as well.

Q. What does Thaai Kizhavi mean?

A. The title refers to a funny way of addressing an old woman.

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