Thalaimai Seyalagam - Web Series Review

A sitting Chief Minister, running a party that is 50 years old, has to face trial over a case that is at least 17 years old. His daughter, son in-law and a political advisor are all looking to fill his large shoes, while the main Opposition party is busy trying to bring down the party in power. 

A political drama unveils in Director Vasanthabalan’s political thriller “Thalaimai Seyalagam”.

With a wide ensemble of actors, the Director has taken the liberty to craft a piece of work that is captivating and engaging enough for one to finish the entire web series in one go. 

In deep interior Jharkhand, a woman is punished brutally, to which she takes revenge. The Director skilfully doesn’t reveal who she is until the climax. How I wish he never did, and continued with Season 2 of the web series. 

Cut to Chennai, there is a lot of buzz at the house of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Arunachalam (Kishore). He is about to travel to a small town in Andhra Pradesh where the Hon’ble Judge is said to read his verdict on the case. 

Thankfully, the verdict gets deferred (so we get to watch 7 more episodes of 30-35 mins each!). 

Arunachalam’s daughter Amudhavalli (Remya Nambeesan) and son in-law cum Minister Hariharan (Niroop Nandakumar) vie for the post of Chief Minister, should the former be sent to jail. 

Enter Kotravai (Shriya Reddy), a trusted lieutenant of the Chief Minister who has a strained relationship with her daughter Maya (Sara Black). 

It is not clear whose child she is as Kotravai is shown as a daring single mother and journalist.

Enter Durga, with the backing of armed gunmen all along. She brutally murders one of her colleagues due to a tiff with him. Turns out, he was an undercover cop. 

Enter Manigandan (Bharath) - an upright police officer who gets involved in the entire sequence, thanks to the killing of a fellow-cop. 

Meanwhile, Nawaz Khan (Adithya Menon) is a CBI Officer who reopens the case of a top landlord in Jharkhand who died a natural death, but who’s second in command was brutally murdered by a woman, who is said to have escaped Jharkhand. 

He sets on a trail with assistant Joseph and travels all over the state, to Delhi and eventually to reach Chennai as well.

Is there a connect between Kotravai, Durga and the killings in Jharkhand?  

Why did Durga pressurise Kotravai to help her move a container from the Chennai Port? Who gets killed eventually, Durga or Kottravai, and whose child is Maya? 

That’s what happens all through the seven episodes. 

And finally, does the Chief Minister gets convicted? Or are the people in power try to “bring him down” one way or the other? Watch the series to know the twists & turns. 

Dialogues by SK Jeeva and Bharani Giri are powerful, save for a few overtures about the involvement of the Union Government. Loaded with indirect references, the writers have taken the liberty to almost directly attract the Modi-led Government without assigning names, though the intentions seem mighty clear. 

There are a number of other references, directly and indirectly to various political leaders including the power struggle in undivided Andhra, the chopper crash of a former Chief Minister and so on.

Kishore turned out to be an actor par excellence and I was surprised with his cool and calm demeanour all through the movie, except for when he flares up just twice across the 8 episodes. 

Shriya Reddy, from a playful heroine running around the trees a decade or so ago, to donning such a serious role (she did a fantastic job in Suzhal Web Series as well), has come a very long way and is impressive and inspiring too. 

Aditya Menon has performed his role with elan, while Bharath maintains a certain degree of authority as a police officer. 

Good watch overall. Zee5 App.