With the release of Vijay's Jana Nayagan pushed due to the censor certificate row, many films have moved their release window for Pongal to capitalise on the holiday season. One such film is Jiiva's Thalaivar Thambi Thalaimaiyil, which was initially slated for January 30 but was later advanced to January 15.
On Sunday, the film's press meet happened in Chennai, where Jiiva was asked about censorship issues that have delayed Jana Nayagan. Jiiva then candidly said that he was more experienced in this case, recalling the film Gypsy and the problems that film faced with the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC).
"I am the brand ambassador for the censor board. I acted in a film titled Gypsy, which had 48 cuts. I am more experienced in this regard. With all the cuts, the film screened even in black-and-white. Just when we finally got clearance from the censor board after all the cuts, the COVID pandemic started. We only faced issues during that film's release," he explained.
A romantic road film, Gypsy (2020) is helmed by Raju Murugan and also stars Natasha Singh, Lal Jose, and Sunny Wayne, who all made their Tamil debut with it. The film revolves around a wandering musician and a girl from an orthodox Muslim household who end up getting married, but the survival of their relationship becomes a big question following a communal riot in India.
Thalaivar Thambi Thalaimaiyil, which marks Jiiva's 45th, is helmed by director Nithish Sahadev of Falimy fame. Apart from Jiiva, the film also has Prathana Nathan, Thambi Ramaiah, Subramani, Jenson Dhivakar, Ilavarasu, Jaiwanth, Savithri, Sasti Pranesh, Subash Kannan, Rajesh Pandian, Manimegalai, Sarjin Kumar, Mohan, Amith Mohan, Sharath, Anuraj OB, Surjith Gopinath and Shajeer P Basheer, among others.
On the technical team, the film has music by Vishnu Vijay, cinematography by Bablu Aju and editing by Arjune Babu. Besides directing, Nithish has also written the story along with Sanjo Joseph and Anuraj OB. Thalaivar Thambi Thalaimaiyil is produced by Kannan Ravi and co-produced by Deepak Ravi.
Releasing alongside this film is Karthi's Vaa Vaathiyaar, Richard Rishi's Draupathi 2, and Santhanam's Server Sundaram.