Five Tamil films when Thalapathy Vijay subtly hinted his interest in politics

Thalapathy Vijay, who had organised an Iftar party in view of ongoing Ramadan, has been in the news for a while now, for political reasons. Even as the actor is set to bid adieu to his illustrious film career to concentrate on politics, his final film Jana Nayagan has all eyes set on it. Directed by H Vinoth, the posters released, also show Vijay’s political intentions to mimic MG Ramachandran, the former chief minister who once was a superstar. On that note, here are five Tamil films, which hinted Vijay’s political entry, most of which are available on OTTplay Premium at discounted prices. 

Five Tamil films when Thalapathy Vijay subtly hinted his interest in politics

Sarkar – SunNXT/ OTTplay Premium

Sarkar, the 2018 Tamil political action film starring Vijay in the lead role, is helmed by filmmaker AR Murugadoss. Besides Vijay, the film also stars Keerthy Suresh, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Yogi Babu, Tulasi, Radha Ravi, and Pala Karuppiah, among others. Sarkar is about an NRI businessman who returns to India only to realize that his vote has already been cast by someone else, as he begins to understand the depths of electoral fraud. He soon contests an election to rectify the system. A film which is considered as Vijay's most straightforward politics-speaking feature, the actor had advised his fans to vote. On the controversial side, the film also rubbed the wrong side of then chief minister J Jayalalithaa for referring her in certain portions and had trouble during release.

Thalaivaa – Aha/ OTTplay Premium

Thalaivaa is a 2013 Tamil action thriller featuring AL Vijay as the director. The film's cast includes Vijay, Amala Paul, Sathyaraj, Santhanam, Abhimanyu Singh, Ragini Nandwani, Nassar and Rajeev Pillai. Even as the film revolves around an Australia-based dancer taking charge of his father's position as crime boss in Mumbai, Thalaivaa had many political undertones in the film. This film too faced delays at the time of release from Jayalalithaa's government. The film also had the tagline 'Time to lead' which foreshadowed Vijay's interest in starting his own party.

Kaththi – ZEE5/ OTTplay Premium

Kaththi is directed by filmmaker AR Murugadoss. The action thriller features Vijay in dual roles, one as an activist and the other as a petty criminal. After a chain of events leads to the criminal taking the place of the activist, he comes to know the plight of farmers and begins to head a protest for them. The film also features Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Sathish, Sudip Mukherjee, Rama, and Jeeva Ravi, among others. Even as Vijay comes in dual roles, it always showed him as a saviour of the oppressed. With the community of farmers against multinational corporations as the theme of the film, Vijay positioned himself as a leader leading up to the revolt.

Also read: Thalapathy Vijay’s best action films to binge-watch on OTT this weekend - Kaththi, Theri and more 

Mersal - ZEE5/ OTTplay Premium

Mersal, the 2017 Tamil film starring Vijay in the lead role, is directed by filmmaker Atlee and has music scored by AR Rahman. The film stars Vijay in triple roles, a father and his two sons. It revolves around twins who are separated at birth, who go on to become a magician and a doctor. Apart from Vijay, Mersal also stars SJ Suryah, Kajal Aggarwal, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Nithya Menen, Sathyaraj, Vadivelu, Hareesh Peradi, Kovai Sarala and Sathyan, among others. Right from using former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and actor MGR's song Unnai Arindhal to Vijay's triple roles that sets out to curb corrupt practises and keep the identity of Tamilian intact, Mersal had foreshadowed Vijay's political entry. In fact, the film also had references to GST, a topic of national issue.

Bigil – Prime Video

Bigil is a sports action drama directed by Atlee and released in 2019. It features Vijay in dual roles as son and father, alongside actors Nayanthara, Jackie Shroff, Vivek, Kathir, Daniel Balaji, Anandaraj, Yogi Babu, I. M. Vijayan, Arjan Bajwa, Indhuja Ravichandran, Reba Monica John, Amritha Aiyer, and Varsha Bollamma. It is yet another film, in which Vijay mimics MGR, and reiterates how much he wants to take up politics, even as he plays a gangster father.