Designed to be an element in Vijay’s campaign in the recent Tamil Nadu Assembly election, delayed by the censor board, widely available on pirate sites for months and now finally out in cinemas after the superstar became the state’s chief minister: the story behind Jana Nayagan is infinitely more interesting than anything that takes place in the movie.

H Vinoth’s action drama is such a barely disguised extended poll propaganda video and so reliant on Vijay’s proven ability to command the screen that the director doesn’t even try to deliver a basic viewing experience. For a movie touted to be Vijay’s final offering now that he has a state to run, Jana Nayagan (The People’s Hero) is astonishingly lazy.

The film’s plot is derived from the Telugu movie Bhagavanth Kesari (2023) and padded with speeches about women’s empowerment, corruption, communal harmony and “dirty politics”. Vijay plays Vetri, a cop with his own private code when it comes to dealing with villains. Vetri’s vigilante ways land him in prison, where he befriends the jailor Srikanth (Gautham Menon) and Srikanth’s cloyingly cute daughter Viji (Lithanya).

Vetri adopts Viji after Srikanth’s death and vows to help her fulfil her dream of joining the Indian Army. But as a teenager, Viji (Mamitha Baiju) begins to have other plans. Also, a strange medical ailment that the film calls “fear phobia”, the result of a childhood trauma, keeps giving Viji panic attacks. Instead of getting Viji a good therapist, Vetri insists that she train hard.

Meanwhile, a super-baddie who calls himself John Himmler (Bobby Deol) has paired up with the politician Roja Rangaswamy (Prakash Raj) to wage war on Tamil Nadu via drones, robot soldiers and deadly teddy bears. Himmler has successfully sowed seeds of chaos across the entire African continent, and is all set to launch “Operation M-M” in India until he runs into Vetri.

Bobby Deol in Jana Nayagan (2026). Courtesy KVN Productions.

Pooja Hegde pops up as Kayal, who claims to be a journalist but then exclusively works towards Vetri’s mission, making her one of the most dedicated private journalists in the history of cinema. In return, Kayal gets a platonic vibe from Vetri and the honour of basking in his presence.

Jana Nayagan proceeds for 183 minutes like a greatest hits list of scenes from Vijay’s older politically tinted films, among them Mersal (2017) and Sarkar (2018). Vijay has been working on converting his mass appeal into actual political power for years. So it’s bizarre that his allegedly last outing as a fictional hero should be so dull, so amateurish and so tacky (several scenes appear to have freely used AI software).

In between gory action scenes and nifty footwork (no other state in India or any country in the world for that matter has a political leader who can dance like Vijay), the movie star bangs on about how Tamil Nadu desperately needs somebody to save it from graft, divisive politicians and the “big, big, big shots” who are collaborating with India’s enemies to cling to power.

A line of dialogue declares that Tamil Nadu is struggling without a leader to give it hope. The next shot is of Vetri walking through a door in a pool of light.

The message is clear but the medium is hollowed out in the bargain.

Jana Nayagan (2026).