Overview
A filmmaker's obsession with a gangster leads to unexpected chaos and dark comedy.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- irreverent
- witty
- menacing
- movie night
- Tamil cinema marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film’s inventive genre blending, cast performances, and self-aware filmmaking, while some found its extended finale and explanatory passages uneven.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Karthik studies Sethu to create a gangster screenplay, turning the production of the film itself into the central narrative engine.
The film presents a ruthless gangster world but repeatedly transforms its violence, mythology, and conventions into darkly comic material.
Karthik pursues his first directing opportunity while negotiating producer demands, criminal danger, and the realities of making a marketable film.
Sethu’s feared identity is examined, reshaped, and recast as Karthik converts the gangster’s life into cinematic material.
Films like Jigarthanda, and why
Sivaji: The Boss
self-reflexive filmmaking, gangster comedy, tonal reversals, and a director protagonist
Pulp Fiction
violent criminal milieu reshaped through irreverent comedy and genre subversion
Get Shorty
meta-cinematic ambition, eccentric criminals, and darkly comic crime storytelling
The Player
film-within-a-film construction, aspiring artists, and comic manipulation of genre conventions
Movie Details
- Director
- Karthik Subbaraj
- Release Date
- 2014-08-01
- Runtime
- 170 min
- Rating
- 7.6 / 10 (73)
Cast
- Siddharth
- Bobby Simha
- Karunakaran
- Lakshmi Menon
- Ramachandran Durairaj
- Kaalaiyan
- Guru Somasundaram
- Sangili Murugan
- Aadukalam Naren
- Ambika
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Jigarthanda about?
- An aspiring director infiltrates a feared gangster’s world and discovers that real crime can be stranger, funnier, and more cinematic than fiction.
- What is Jigarthanda like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Jigarthanda as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Jigarthanda violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Jigarthanda as graphic.
- What did critics think of Jigarthanda?
- Critics broadly praised the film’s inventive genre blending, cast performances, and self-aware filmmaking, while some found its extended finale and explanatory passages uneven.
- Which films are like Jigarthanda?
- Films with a similar feel include Sivaji: The Boss, Pulp Fiction, Get Shorty, and The Player.
- How long is Jigarthanda?
- Jigarthanda runs 170 minutes.
- Where can I watch Jigarthanda?
- In United States, Jigarthanda is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube.
