The film stars Samuthirakani himself, with Vikranth, Sunaina, Arthana Binu, Gouri Nair, and Namo Narayana amongst others in pivotal roles.

Despite Pandiyanar being an MLA and minister for only three years, Narayanan has amassed a huge fortune and industrial empire by hook and crook.

Vishnu realizes that Narayanan used Pandiyanar's name to earn huge amounts of money and buy so many properties by corruption.

Narayanan is goaded to escape from the hospital, through the info that the State govt is planning his suicide to repair damage, and he is chased by the Police.

In May 2016, Samuthirakani revealed that he was set to work with Jayam Ravi for the second time after Nimirndhu Nil on a project titled Thondan, using a script that he had initially written for Sasikumar.

Vikranth revealed that he would star in the project alongside commitments to work in Suseenthiran's ventures Vennila Kabaddi Kuzhu 2 and Nenjil Thunivirundhal.

Samuthirakani stated the film would be about "simple men, their lives, problems and pain" and "these are people who provide a service to the society; they might earn a less salaries, but they definitely get more satisfaction out of life".

[4] He added that the film would tackle several social issues in India including demonetisation, corruption in politics, the farmers' plight, jallikattu and the harassment of women.

The film had a theatrical release across Tamil Nadu on 26 May 2017, alongside Radha Mohan's Brindavanam, and earned mixed to negative reviews.

[10] India Today's review stated that "Thondan is Samuthirakani's TED Talk in Tamil that runs for more than two hours", adding that it is "an uninteresting social commentary".

[11] On a positive note, film critic Santhosh Mathevan wrote, "Kani documents a lot of true events, and he also comes out with some real time and cinematic references in his screenplay."

[13] A critic from The New Indian Express wrote the film was "a basket of moral lectures", concluding "Thondan is what you feared would happen once Appa (2016) did as well as it did".

[14] Baradwaj Rangan rated the film 1 out of 5 and wrote, "As expected, actor and director Samuthirakani, delivers yet another sermon disguised as a movie".