Earlier, Kangana had taken to her Instagram stories, and had hailed it as one of the ‘best films of her career’ so far.

‘THALAIVII’ ON NETFLIX TOMORROW… #Thalaivii [#Hindi version] – starring #KanganaRanaut and #ArvindSwami – streams on #Netflix tomorrow onwards. pic.twitter.com/8UIUoy9ll6

— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) September 24, 2021

While Thalaivii opened with warm reviews by film critics, it suffered losses as theatres in Mumbai and Kerala are still shut, and the footfall of moviegoers is still low in other parts of the country. Multiplex chains PVR Cinemas and INOX Leisure Ltd refused to screen the Hindi version of the film saying that the window to its Netflix premiere was too narrow.

The film was earlier scheduled to release in April, but was postponed, owing to the second wave of Covid-19 that hit India. Now, as the film is streaming on Netflix, many will be finally able to catch Thalaivii for the first time.

In her review, The Indian Express film critic Shubhra Gupta wrote, “Kangana inhabits this very complex character like skin in Thalaivii, right from the time Jaya is a budding actress, coat-trailing the mighty MGR (Arvind Swamy), to her meteoric rise in the film industry, and her transition, reluctant at first, and then getting steadier and surer, into an ambitious, give-no-quarters politician.”

“Without getting into whether the events as shown in the film were faithful to the happenings in real life, the film manages to give us a snapshot view of the Tamil Nadu politics of the era (MGR was chief minister from 1977-87; his mad popularity as a movie idol buoying his ascent in politics, a very Tamil-and-Telugu phenomenon). MGR never hid the fact that Jayalalitha was his protege, and their closeness was always a sore point amongst his partymen: in the film, it is epitomised by MGR loyalist RMV (Raj Arjun) who becomes almost comically one-note in the way he keeps glaring at the woman who takes away his beloved leader’s attention from where it needs to be,” Gupta added.