Aegan

<p>The film’s story is based around Shiva, a CB-CID officer, and his efforts to foil terrorist John Chinnappa. Shiva is simultaneously attempting to mend relations with his father’s estranged first wife and his half-brother Narain. However, complications ensue. Major John Chinnappa is a scientist who had created tablets by operating on human guinea pigs. His ploys have always been controversial but inconclusive due to the lack of witnesses. However, an ex-gang member, General Ram Prasad, became a police approver and is on the verge of revealing John’s ploys to the police. However, he is on the run to avoid charges. The case falls to Commissioner Karthikeyan, Shiva’s father, who assigns his son to go and help solve the mission. Karthik tells Shiva to attend college in Tamil Nadu (St. John’s College, Ooty) to protect Ram Prasad’s daughter Pooja from meeting with her father. Shiva pleads that he has never undertaken this type of a mission before and does not 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. 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 from taking care of the family business. 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 as Albert Aadiyapatham, the idiotic and forgetful college principal. Soon, Shiva finds Narain, who is later revealed to be his brother. Pooja is Narain’s best friend, and she is secretly jealous that other girls can get his attention but she cannot. Shiva saves Pooja from John’s men, who kidnap her, while Narain and others think that it is a prank. He later becomes a sensation among the students and teachers. He befriends Narain and Pooja and falls in love with the chemistry teacher Mallika after being attracted by her beauty and in a bid to convince other students that he is one of them. During his regular jogging sessions, Shiva spots Ram Prasad and chases him until he escapes with the help of an helmet-clad bike rider, who is later revealed to be Narain. Pooja discovers that Narain has been helping her father and feels cheated by him. Narain tries to apologize to 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. Shiva takes Narain to his home, where he learns that Narain is his brother and meets his mother Kasthuri. The flashback sequences describe Shiva’s orphaned childhood and explain why his 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, learns that Shiva is a policeman. Shiva then drives Ram Prasad straight to John’s hiding place, avoiding the traps that he had set. A fight ensues between Shiva and John’s men in which John is finally killed. In the final scenes, Mallika is shown with Shiva’s parents and brother, while Shiva has gone to Afghanistan as part of another mission. In September 2007, early indications suggested that were set to make a film starring and directed by , however the chance went to first-time director , in a project titled . 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 , Ajith Kumar waited until the birth of his first child, in January 2008, before commencing his shoot for the film. The 40-member unit consisting of Ajith, director Raju Sundaram, cinematographer , action choreographer , and a few stuntmen from Chennai flew to on 14 January 2008 and began their first schedule for a 10-day stint. The portions in Hong Kong were shot showing Ajith’s introduction stunt scene set against the skyscrapers, , and the sea with the help of Chinese action choreographers. The crew shot schedules in and and other locations in during the filming. The film finished its talkie portion in early September 2008, and the songs were canned in India as well as parts of . The film, initially described as a “musical action comedy”. The film previously referred to as , and was christened as , a name of . Following the announcement of the project, tentatively titled as , was rumoured to be the heroine, following her successful role in . However, due to differences, Saran was ousted from the project due to her limited call sheets, as she had to fly to and from where she was then shooting for her Hollywood film, . However other indications claimed that Saran was ousted from the project due to her involvement in , in which she appeared in an , which was unhappy with due to previous feuds with the lead, of that film. Reports indicated that had replaced Saran but later denied it signalling that she was not approached. was announced as the second heroine of the project but was later removed for unknown reasons. Several heroines including , , , , , and were linked to the role, as well as reports that would reprise the role after making up with Ajith. The role eventually was given to , who was set to make her debut in with , however she later opted out due to callsheet clashes. It was announced that would play the role of the heroine in the film, following her role opposite Ajith in . In February 2008, it was confirmed that would appear in a villainous role, and actor will also play a role in the film. was cast as Ajith’s brother in the film, and got the role ahead of actors including and who had also auditioned. and were selected to play the roles of the parents of , whilst ‘s younger brother, was given a chance to make a cameo appearance in the film as a dancer but politely refused. Supporting actors , and also play roles in , as does model , who appears as the ladylove to Navdeep. and shot for the film for one day as comedians portraying spies, but following changes to the script, their roles were removed. was signed on as the music composer whilst was the cinematographer for the project and Milan, who did the art direction for , renews his association with Ajith in the film. The soundtrack of was composed by as was the film score. It was noticeably, the third time Yuvan was scoring music for an film, after (2001) and (2007), the songs of which had been very popular and went on to become chartbusters. The soundtrack released on 9 October 2008, at a private ceremony at the Studios by composer Yuvan Shankar Raja as the lead cast and the director were away shooting the video for the song in . The album features 6 tracks overall, including one of the songs (“Hey Salaa”) repeated at the end. .com claimed that “the trouble with the film is that it looks like an amateurish attempt by debutant director Raju Sundaram” dismissing the as “a colossal embarrassment”, but adding that “no film is perfect”. 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, . was said to “look perfect as Mallika, a role that fits her like a glove” with her make-up and costumes “rocking”. The reviewer added that ” is promising, Jayaram as Principal and Haneefa have been wasted and do little in the way of bringing smiles to the faces of the audience”. The review also singles out the performance of rookie cinematographer, , whose work is labelled as “eye-catching”. Similarly .com labelled the film as “watchable in parts”, giving it negative feedback in comparison with . 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. Sometimes she looks amused, at others, irritated and bored”, comparing her unchallenging roles to previous roles in and . It criticizes Piaa Bajpai claiming she “hams it to glory”, and “makes you want to watch ‘s naivety in the original”, however, it praises citing he is “far more natural, but you pity the fact that his role is so small”. Rediff also criticized and Sriman labelling their portrayals as “pathetic”. In reference to minor characters, is praised while ‘s role is said to be “terribly dealt with, robbing her part of any sympathy”.</p>