Sarathkumar, after several flops, managed to record a moderate hit with Arasu, which had the same storyline of Rajnikanth's Baasha. Ajith, who hasn't had a successful run lately, must have hoped for the same turnaround in his fortunes with Janaa, which also has the same story arc. But the movie parallels Rajni's hit so closely that it feels more like a blatant copy rather than an inspired retelling. That, coupled with a weak screenplay, ensures that this movie is not going to mark the turnaround that Ajith is waiting for.

Janaa(Ajith) is the the voice of the people in his village, standing up against the atrocities committed by Veerapandi(Radharavi). Manimegalai(Sneha), Veerapandi's daughter, who is studying in Bombay, falls for Janaa on her visit to the village. But Veerapandi, unhappy with her choice of the man to wed, packs her off back to Bombay. Over there, she learns of Janaa's past as an all-powerful dada and his enmity with Viswanatha Bhandari(Siddique) that resulted in tragedy and subsequently, his renouncing of violence.

The frequent flashbacks(not surprisingly, shown in negative as in Baasha) and 'Delhi' Ganesh's regular 'no's to Ajith whenever he spontaneously attempts to resort to violence leave us in no doubt that he has a violent past that will be revealed soon. But this buildup fails to flow smoothly and build up energy. Instead we get a bunch of small incidents like the water dispute, that are solved quite unsatisfactorily. Ajith's anger and 'Delhi' Ganesh's 'head-shaking' are quite cinematic and start looking pretty funny after the second time or so. Sneha's encounters with Ajith provide the little relief during these portions.

The culmination of the buildup (i.e. the scene where Ajith finally reveals his true nature) lacks excitement and turns out to be just another ordinary fight sequence. The scene then shifts to Bombay for Ajith's violent past. Here again its the softer moments that are more interesting. Ajith's family is made up of interesting characters who are not overly cinematic and the few conversations between them give us a sense of the affection they share. But realism takes a hit as we see Ajith roam the streets as a dada while one scene reveals that he is also holding an important job in a company! And everyone in Bombay knows and either fears or respects him but his family, which includes a police officer, is unaware of the fact that he is leading a double life!

Ajith once again proves that he is not cut out to be an action hero. Neither his eyes nor his voice convey the anger and aggression that is necessary for him to be believable. He has to understand that simply walking in slow motion with a gang behind him does not make him an action hero. Sneha looks pretty but has precious little to do. Siddique gets a good introduction but does nothing of merit. Karunas has a small part and I guess we can be thankful that he does not have enough screen time to be unfunny. Actors like Raghuvaran and Srividya are wasted in miniscule parts.