With films like Raam and Katradhu Thamizh, Jeeva was emerging as one of the young actors who didn't shy away from offbeat roles and films. Thenaavattu finds him trying out a masala film. While a young actor starring in a masala film to deliver a commercial hit and show his versatility isn't a big surprise, the quality of the film Jeeva has chosen definitely is. Ridiculously silly and laughably bad, it is easily the worst film in the actor's short career.

Koattai(Jeeva), who makes aruvaals for a living, moves to Chennai on his mother's advice. He joins the gang of Kailasam(Ravi Kale), who he wrongly believes is a woodcutter. He also falls in love with Gayatri(Poonam Bajwa), a music teacher. When Kailasam's son Santosh lays eyes on Gayatri and pursues her, Koattai intervenes and beats him up. That brings Kailasam after him.

Thenaavattu has some of the most ridiculous roles in recent memory and uses some atrocious methods to demonstrate the characteristics of its characters. So we have Jeeva grabbing a crying baby from its parents to stop its crying, Poonam plopping herself down at a busstand to cheer up some blind singers and the villain uttering some inane line while he rapes women with disdain. And when the characters are not completely cinematic and artificial, they are stock characters like the all-powerful rowdy and the corrupt minister who protects him. With characters like these, its no wonder that the movie consistently feels like it is one of those parodies we get on the cable networks rather than a real movie.

With Jeeva joining Ravi Kale's group unwittingly, the story shows some signs of being different. The script gets a few laughs as he is portrayed as being very naieve and trusting and we hope for a storyline that capitalizes on those qualities. But it doesn't take too long for him to turn into a regular Tamil cinema hero as he saves Poonam from the bad guy. Again, it is a little surprising when he gets thrashed and goes on the run instead of going up against the villains but the story comes to a standstill after he runs away.

In Tamil movies, transgenders are usually used rather tastelessly to get a few cheap laughs. Thenaavattu can be appreciated for treating them with more respect as it focuses on their community as a whole and shows them as people with real emotions and feelings as they help Jeeva and Poonam. But that doesn't make it any easier for us to watch completely unnecessary additions like the fashion show they conduct or the song sequence they take part in. And some of the comments of the community's chief sound crude.

Jeeva is a good enough actor to carry off the cliched role and has the necessary facial expressions and body language required off a hero in a movie like this. But like in the case of most of our current generation of actors, his weak voice lets him down. Poonam isn't put into as much trouble as she was in Seval but can't do much saddled with a ridiculous character. Saranya, who seems to have taken over the role of the hero's mom from the Sujatas and Manoramas, is able to convey both affection and courage in the cliched role. Ravi Kale is adequate while the actor playing his son is irritating with his weird accent and mannerisms.