3 min readHyderabadFeb 25, 2026 12:55 PM IST
Veteran actress Radikaa Sarathkumar made a candid admission at the trailer launch of her upcoming Tamil film Thaai Kizhavi on February 24 in Chennai, saying the mass appeal of her character reminded her of only one person — Rajinikanth.
“Honestly, while watching, I felt this was a film Superstar Rajinikanth should have played. Since he wouldn’t take on this particular role, they transformed the character into a female lead and cast me. If you look at the mass appeal she carries, you would only think about a Rajinikanth in the role,” she said at the event, where the film’s trailer was also unveiled.
The comparison is hard to dismiss once you see the character. Radikaa plays Pavunu Thaayi, a fiercely independent, intimidating village moneylender known for being tough, ruthless, and blunt. She rules her community through fear and financial control, answers to no one, and refuses to hand over her ancestral property even as her own family turns against her. It is the kind of role built entirely around dominance and screen authority, qualities Tamil cinema has long associated with its biggest male stars, Rajinikanth chief among them.
Radikaa also admitted she had her own doubts before signing the film. “I was initially hesitant about working on it. It was only Sarathkumar who convinced me to take on the role,” she said, crediting her husband for pushing her forward. Given how the film has been received so far, it appears he was right.
She added that she recently watched the finished film alongside Kamal Haasan. “I laughed and enjoyed it from start to finish,” she said. Haasan, who has long been a guiding influence on Radikaa’s approach to acting, has spoken publicly about her talent on more than one occasion.
Becoming Pavunu Thaayi was not a simple task. The production employed extensive prosthetic makeup daily, including custom-designed ears suited for heavy traditional earrings and detailed wrinkle effects, to make the 63-year-old actress unrecognisable on screen. By her own account, she sat in the makeup chair for four and a half hours every single day of the shoot.
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Thaai Kizhavi is produced by Sivakarthikeyan Productions, directed by debutant Sivakumar Murugesan, with music by Nivas K Prasanna. The film releases on February 27, across India, Sri Lanka, and France.
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