Thalavan (transl. Leader ) is a 2024 Malayalam language crime thriller film directed by Jis Joy. The film features Biju Menon, Asif Ali, Miya George, Anusree, Dileesh Pothan and Kottayam Nazeer in lead roles.^[2][3][4] It was released on 24 May 2024 and received positive reviews from critics and became success at box office.^[5]

Thalavan is about an investigation at a local police station and the hierarchy at that Police force that becomes issue for many and interestingly the makers captioned one of the Posters as, "The ego boundaries are thick and widened at each moment."^[6][4]

• Biju Menon as CI Jayashankar, later DYSP
• Asif Ali as SI Karthik Vasudevan, later CI
• Miya George as Sunitha
• Sujith Shankar as Joshy
• Anusree as Ramya
• Dileesh Pothan as DYSP Udhayabanu
• Joji John as ASI Venu
• Shankar Ramakrishnan as SP Hemanth Ram IPS
• Ranjith as Home Minister T.K.Raghavan
• Kottayam Nazeer as CPO Reghu
• Jaffar Idukki as Allappan
• Tessa Joseph
• Bilas Chandrahasan as Shivadasan
• Anand Bal as Benny
• Renjith Shekhar as Haris

Director Jis Joy, who has previously worked with actor Asif Ali in four films signed the actor again, this time with actor Biju Menon.^[7] Debutants Anand Thevarkatt and Sharath Perumbavoor were given opportunity as screenplay writers.^[6][8] Arun Narayan, who had earlier produced Eesho and Chaaver decided to produce the film with Sijo Sebastian.^[9] Actors Miya George, Dileesh Pothan and Shankar Ramakrishnan were signed for key roles.^[10] Biju Menon was signed as a natural choice for the cop, as he had done many cop roles earlier in his career.^[11] The director, Jis Joy, claimed Thalavan as his most successful film in terms of canvas.^[12]

Thalavan released on 24 May 2024, received generally positive reviews.^[13]Swathi P Ajith of On Manorama gave a positive review praising the film as a well-crafted investigative thriller with strong performances from the leads.^[5] Vivek Santhosh of The New Indian Express also gave a positive review rating the movie 3/5.^[14] Writing for The Hindu, S.R.Praveen praised the film for its intriguing plot but felt it fell short of its potential.^[15] In contrast, Anandu Suresh of The Indian Express gave a negative review.^[16]