Aegan

Aegan
Directed by	Raju Sundaram
Produced by	K. Karunamoorthy C. Arun Pandian
Written by	Farah Khan S. Ramakrishnan
Starring	Ajith Kumar Jayaram Nayantara Navdeep Piaa Bajpai Suman Nassar Suhasini Livingston Sriman Cochin Haneefa
Music by	Yuvan Shankar Raja
Cinematography	Arjun Jena
Editing by	V. T. Vijayan
Distributed by	Ayngaran International
Release date(s)	October 25, 2008 (2008-10-25)[1]
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Aegan (Tamil: ஏகன்) is a 2008 Tamil action and romantic film directed and co-written by Raju Sundaram and produced by Ayngaran International. It stars Ajith Kumar, Nayantara, Suman, Jayaram, Navdeep and Piaa Bajpai.

The film revolves around a dare devil cop who, on behalf of his ailing father and the ambition of a lieutanent general returns to college in Ooty. Whilst protecting the general's daughter, he attempts to reconcile with his stepbrother from his father's marriage. Furthermore, he has to ward off the international criminal John Chinnappa, who is trying to kill the general, an ex-aide of his who has turned police approver. How the cop manages to solve all three problems forms the crux of the story.

The film opened to Indian audiences, on 25 October 2008, coinciding with the Diwali season. The film, upon release became a disaster at the South Indian box office.Ajith proved himself as the next TR with this movie.The film, which featured music from Yuvan Shankar Raja, is remade drawing inspirations from the 1986 Hollywood venture, Back to School as well as the 2004 Bollywood film, Main Hoon Na.

Plot

Aegan's story is based around the mission Shiva (Ajith Kumar), a CBI officer and his efforts to foil the terrorist John Chinnappa (Suman). Major Shiva is simultaneously attempting to mend relations with his father's estranged first wife and his half-brother Narain (Navdeep) complications ensue. Box Office hit

Major John Chinnappa is a scientist who had created tablets via the production of operating on human guinea pigs. Furthermore, his ploys have always been contoversial but unconclusive due to the lack of witnesses. However an ex-gang member, General Ram Prasad (Devan), became a police approver and is on the verge of revealing Chinnappa's ploys to the police, however he is on the run himself to avoid charges. The case falls to Lieutanant Karthikeyan (Nassar), Major Shiva's father, who had ordered his decommission, who assigns his son, Shiva, to go and help solve the mission. Karthik proceeds and tells Shiva to attend college in Tamil Nadu called St. John’s College, Ooty, to protect Ram Prasad's daughter, Pooja (Piaa Bajpai), from meeting with her father. Shiva pleads that he has never seen a civilian college before and doesn't know much about the current generation. The General points out that, by a strange coincidence, Pooja attends school in the same town where Ram Prasad is hiding, so Shiva can protect Pooja and look for Ram Prasad at the same time. Shiva goes undercover as a student returning to college after many years away taking care of the family business to complete his education. He is much older than the other students, who at first make fun of him because of his lack of new-generation styles. He also has to deal with the many goofy teachers as well the idiotic forgetful principal of the college, Albert (Jayaram), as well.

Shiva (Ajith Kumar) and Mallika (Nayantara) discuss the ethics of their love.

He finds Narain who is later revealed to be Shiva's brother. Pooja is Narain's best friend and his secretly jealous that other girls can get his attention but she can't. Shiva saves Pooja from John Chinnapa's men, who kidnap her while Narain and others mistake it to be a prank. He later becomes a sensation among the students and teachers and also befriending Narain and Pooja and falls in love with the chemistry teacher Mallika (Nayantara)after being attracted by her beauty and in a bid to convince other students that he is one among them. During his regular jogging sessions Shiva spots Ram Prasad and chases him till he escapes with the help of an helmet clad bike rider who is later revealed to be Narain. Pooja comes to know that Narain has been helping her father and feels cheated by him. Narain tries to apologize with Pooja many times but she refuses to talk to him. Irked by this Narain drinks and explains his actions when John's men come again to kidnap Pooja. They beat up Narain but Shiva comes to their rescue. Narain and Pooja patch up after the fight sequences. Shiva takes Narain to his home when he comes to know that Narain is his brother and gets to meet his mother. The flashback sequences describe the childhood of Shiva ( he is an orphan ) and explain why Shiva's mother and father live separately. The next day when Pooja introduces Ram Prasad to Shiva, Shiva arrests him much to the disappointment of Pooja and Narain. Then everyone in the college including Mallika comes to know that Shiva is a policeman. Shiva then drives Ram Prasad straight to John Chinnapa's hiding place avoiding the traps that he had set. A fight ensues between Shiva and John Chinnappa's men in which he is finally killed. In the final scenes Mallika is shown with Shiva's parents and brother while he himself has gone to Afghanisthan as part of another mission.

Cast

• Ajith Kumar as Shiva. Shiva is a short-tempered, daredevil cop who is sent by his foster father, Karthikeyan, to find an approver, Ram Prasad using his daughter, Pooja. Furthermore, during his stay at college, he falls in love with the chemistry teacher, Mallika.
• Jayaram as Albert Aandiyapatham. Albert is college principal of St. John’s College in Ooty. Assisted by his peon, Sathyan, Albert indulges in activities to find out the relationship between Mallika and Shiva. Provides comic relief in the film.
• Nayantara as Mallika. Mallika is a chemistry teacher at the college who falls in love with Shiva, although at first she is irritated by him.
• Suman as John Chinnappa. The character was initially called Joseph Chinnappa, but Ajith demanded the name to be changed, so it does not anger rival actor, Joseph Vijay. Chinnappa is an underworld don who wishes to kill his old best friend and now approver Ram Prasad.
• Navdeep as Narain. Narain is the real son of Karthikeyan. He attends college in Ooty and is wanted by Shiva to reconcile him and his mother with Karthikeyan. He is in love with classmate Pooja Prasad.
• Nassar as Karthikeyan. He is a police man, and a father to Narain. Furthermore he adopts Shiva before Narain's born. Even after Narain was born he cared more for Shiva, which made him and his wife separate.
• Piaa Bajpai as Pooja. Pooja is the daughter of Approver Ram Prasad, who has gone into hiding. Shiva comes to Ooty to find out where Ram Prasad is, through Pooja. She is in love with her collegemate, Narain
• Devan as Ram Prasad. The father of Pooja, who had turned from Chinnappa's best friend to a police-approver. This change had made Chinnappa furious with him, resulting in subsequent attempts to kill him off.
• Cochin Hanifa as Hanifa. Hanifa lives with Shiva during his stay at Ooty, helping him settle in with college life as well as to support Shiva on his mission.

Production

Development

In September 2007, early indications suggested that Ayngaran International were set to make a film starring Ajith Kumar directed by Venkat Prabhu,^[2] however the chance went to first-time director Raju Sundaram, in a project titled Akbar.^[3] Despite denying the title, Ajith confirmed the project and stating that he had put on weight and grew a beard for his participation in the project. Following the success of Billa, Ajith Kumar waited till the birth of his first child, in January 2008, prior to commencing his shoot for the film. The 40-member unit consisting of Ajith, director Raju Sundaram, cameraman Arjunan, action choreographer Stun Shiva and a few stunt men from Chennai flew to Hong Kong on 14 January 2008 and began their first schedule for a 10 day stint.^[4]

The portions in Hong Kong were shot showing Ajith's introduction stunt scene set against the sky-scrapers, Hong Kong airport and the sea with the help of Chinese action choreographers. The crew shot schedules in Theni and Ooty and various other locations in South India during the filming. The film finished its talkie portion in early September 2008, and the song were canned in India as well as parts of Switzerland.^[5][6][7] The film, initially described as a "musical action comedy", was announced as a remake of the Bollywood blockbuster, Main Hoon Na.^[7] The film previously referred to as Akbar, Ramakrishnan and Anthony Gonsalves^[7] was christened as Aegan, a name of Lord Shiva.

Casting

Following the announcement of the project, tentiatively titled as Akbar, Shriya Saran was rumoured to be the heroine, following her successful role in Sivaji: The Boss. However due to differences, Saran was ousted from the project due to her limited callsheets, as she had to fly to and from America where she was then shooting for her Hollywood film, The Other End of the Line. However other indications claimed that Saran was ousted from the project due to her involvement in Indiralohathil Na Azhagappan, in which she appeared in an item number; which Ajith Kumar was unhappy with due to previous feuds with the lead, Vadivelu of that film.^[8] Reports indicated that Parvati Melton had replaced Saran, but later denied it signalling that she was not approached.^[3] Suhani Kalita was announced as the second heroine of the project, but was later removed due to unknown reasons.^[9] Several Bollywood heroines including Deepika Padukone,^[10] Bipasha Basu,^[11] Katrina Kaif, Ayesha Takia^[1], Ileana D'Cruz^[12], Tanushree Dutta^[13] and Sneha Ullal^[1] were linked to the role, as well as reports that Shriya Saran would reprise the role after making up with Ajith.^[1] The role eventually was given to Katrina Kaif, who was set to make her debut in Tamil films with Aegan,^[14] however she later opted out due to callsheet clashes.^[15] It was announced that Nayantara would play the role of the heroine in the film, following her role opposite Ajith in Billa.^[16] In February 2008, it was confirmed that Navdeep would play a role in the film as well as Suman, who will appear in a villainous role. Malayalam actor, Jayaram will also play a role in the film, which will be co-produced by actor, Arun Pandian.^[6]

Nassar and Suhasini Ratnam were selected to play the roles of the parents of Ajith,^[17] whilst Raju Sundaram's elder brother, Prabhu Deva was given a chance to make a cameo appearance in the film as a dancer, but politely refused.^[18] Supporting actors Livingston, Sathyan and Sriman also play roles in Aegan, as does model Piaa Bajpai, who appears as the ladylove to Navdeep.^[19][20] Yuvan Shankar Raja was signed on as the music composer whilst Arjun Jena, was given the opportunity to be the cinematographer for the project^[17] and Milan, who did the art direction for Billa, renews his association with Ajith in the film.^[21]

Release

Reception

The film was an averege flik.It grossed around $5-6 million.

Reviews

Primarily, most reviews judged the film as an "entertainer for Diwali", however the film in total was labelled as "average".^[22] Sify.com claim that "the trouble with the film is that it looks like an amateurish attempt by debutant director Raju Sundaram" dismissing the climax as "a colossal embarrassment", but adding that "no film is perfect". Ajith Kumar was praised for being "at his best but look[ed] plump and stiff in some scenes where he need to be relaxed and natural", drawing comparisons with a similar feedback from his previous venture, Billa.^[22] Nayantara is said to "look perfect as Mallika, a role that fits her like a glove" with her make-up and costumes "rocking". The reviewer goes on to add that "Piaa Bajpai is promising, Jayaram as Principal and Haneefa have been wasted and do little in the way of bringing smiles to the audiences faces. Comedy is schoolboyish and ajith misplaced and mistimed attempts at humour are uncalled for. Suman with a weird wig is a horrendous mistake. The review also singles out the performance of rookie cinematographer, Arjun Jena, whose work is labelled as "eye-catching".^[22]

Similarly Rediff.com labelled the film as "watchable in parts", giving it negative feedback in comparison with Main Hoon Na.^[23] It like Sify, claims that "Aegan loses its spontaneity and meanders between humour and seriousness" in the second half. The reviewer praises Ajith claiming he looks as though he "really did enjoy himself on screen, after a really long time". The reviewer adds that "Nayantara's outfits get smaller and smaller, while the actress herself has nothing more to do than dance in transparent saris and high-heels.^[23] Sometimes she looks amused, at others, irritated and bored", comparing her unchallenging roles to previous roles in Sathyam and Kuselan. It criticizes Piaa Bajpai claiming she "hams it to glory", and "makes you want to watch Amrita Rao's naivety in the original", however, it praises Navdeep citing he is "far more natural, but you pity the fact that his role is so small". Rediff also criticize Suman and Sriman labelling their portrayals as "pathetic". In reference to minor characters, Cochin Hanifa is praised while Suhasini Mani Ratnam's role is said to be "terribly dealt with, robbing her part of any sympathy".^[23]

Soundtrack

The film's score and soundtrack were composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The soundtrack managed to pull crowd on its first week of run. But the music didn't make its way the Sun Music, a division of Sun TV. The soundtrack album released worldwide on 9 October 2008.^[24]

References

On first week of release this movie collected 12 crores.Again Ultimate Star Ajith proves the KING OF OPENING

External links

• Aegan at the Internet Movie Database