Iru Mugan

Vikram like Kamal Hassan has always been more inclined to experimenting with roles rather than take up plain every day stuff that every other star is doing. IRU MUGAN is just one of those experiments and yes he has pulled it off with ease.

The movie opens with a 71-year-old creating a havoc in the Indian Embassy in Malaysia with super human strength and finally dropping down dead.

RAW is pulled into the scene and a Rookie Agent Aayushi (Nithya Menon) discovers a "love tattoo" on the dead man. RAW chief Malik (Nasir) remembers that the tattoo is a symbol of a dreaded terrorist Love (Vikram) in whose pursuit RAW lost one of its best agents Meera (Nayantara) when she was shot dead and Meera's Husband Akhilan (Vikram again) another RAW agent had a nervous breakdown and had to be discharged from the unit.

Since Akhilan was the only one alive who has seen Love, Malik recruits him unofficially and sends him to Malaysia to investigate along with Aayushi. Aayushi discovers that the dead man happens to be inhaling a drug called Speed, the same one which Adolf Hitler was rumored to have given his Nazi troops to fight the war with super human strength. The drug was known to increase the Adrenalin rush in the body.

Following some leads Akhilan and Aayushi finally come face to face with Love only to discover that all the while Love had been hiding a secret……..

Vikram is fantastic as LOVE, the body language, the expressions and the one liners all make this character as one of the best villains Indian films have come up with. Vikram as Akhilan is just OK, he does the same thing which is expected of a south Indian Hero, it is LOVE that steals the show here.

Nayantara as Meera is as hot as anyone can get, she has different shades to her role. Like Vikram's LOVE, she too has an evil alter- ego ROSY. She is equally good as the bad girl.

Nithya Menon is just OK as the rookie agent, but its her voice modulation for the character which saves the day for her. She just uses the right tone when interrogating people or when making a point. It shows how important it is for an actor/actress to dub their own lines.

Back ground score by Harris Jayaraj is excellent and the song "HALENA" needs a special mention.

RD Rajashekhar's cinematography captures the well choreographed chase sequences and the flashy sets magnificently. Anand Shankar's screenplay and Direction are top notch and he really proves he has what it takes to come up with an excellent sci- fi/espionage thriller.

If they had edited Thambi Ramaih's character completely, the movie would have been more crisper and tight. The character is down right silly and only helps in slowing the plot.

I would recommend it to anyone who loves flashy thrillers with good action and chase sequences and out of the world plot.

Chiyaan as Akilan: designed like Hollywood intelligent agent As love: simply excellent Nayanthara: Looks pretty, good performance Nithya Menon: small role, but remains in mind, Thambi Ramaiyah: Not well used Songs: Boring background score: climax portion is good, other than that,

Cinematography: The beauty of Malaysia, Kashmir and other places come to the fore with RD Rajasekar's visuals

Screenplay: 1st half just good, 2nd half okay plus: villain role, interval twist, relation of script to history minus: screenplay, songs

Well crafted action sequences, stylishly shot visuals, decent music and neat performances mark Iru Mugan. However, there is something amiss in the film to make you feel that it was such a well made, taut, commercial potboiler.

Iru Mugan starts with a strong opening scene which establishes the main concept dealt in the film but right after the scene, the film feels too draggy till the interval. We are supposed to get along the story but instead, we are watching Vikram and Nithya Menen's action sequences and Thambi Ramaiah's comedy scenes which are making us disconnect from the initial story. It's only after the interval that the film starts to be much more interesting with only Vikram's terrific screen presence. Well, as Akilan the protagonist, Vikram's role doesn't seem to be heroic nor interesting because his backstory is totally wasted by a simple illogic factor. As Love the antagonist, Vikram shines on screen. He shows his versatility as an actor by portraying the role perfectly. His mannerisms, his attitude, and his performance are a delight for the audience. His role adds so much intensity to the film and helps it be engaging further. Except for Vikram, Iru Mugan fails to offer strong characters. On the musical front, Harris Jayaraj made a decent album and a pulsating background score. Visually Iru Mugan looks stylish. There are so many cinematic shots that help the film to be a high-quality venture. Coming back to Anand Shankar, he has done a decent job in this action entertainer and the scientific concept that he deals with in the film adds a certain uniqueness. While handling such a concept, Anand Shankar fails to look up to the logic because we witness so many illogical scenes that unfortunately need scientific researches. There are only a few surprising plot points that create a high peak effect in the film. Overall, Iru Mugan can be watched for Iru Vikram's screen presence.

Synopsis – The film is all about how the undercover agent Akhilan defeat a pharmaceutical mad-scientist named... "Love" who is ready to market his dangerous drug in and around the world. The drug which can transform an ordinary man to supermen for 5 minutes. (The director should be inspired from Hollywood film called "Limitless" & many more - No offence though)

Iru mugan started with an amazing top view of Malaysia, however simply failed to become an impressive thriller. Anand Shanker's first film "Arima Nambi" was quite impressive as it was a well- cooked light meal to digest for. When it boils down to Iru Mughan, it's just a high calorie junk food which just fills the stomach without supplying any minerals. The director cum writer Anand Shankar have had an excellent plot in hand, however the dragging script formation & laziness in showing the perfection in tailoring the scenes (Except Action) are clearly visible. The forced comic scenes by a Tamil Cop in Malaysia sits uneasily with the seriousness of Hero's mission. Why suddenly a flash back scene & a song while chasing the truck to locate the main villain? The script is however flavored with twist and turns which was highly predictable for me. Anand should come up with challenging / engaging thriller if in case he gets date from an acclaimed actor.

Without Chiyan Vikram & Nayanthara the movie could have been a crap, Anand should be thankful for their honest performance. Hats off to Vikram for his classic performance as both Akilan & Love. Nayanthara was looking beautiful in all frames irrespective of quality of the movie. Thampi Ramayah's performance was decent, however exaggerated comic element was irrelevant for such a film. Nithya Menen becoming quite Typo character as she continues to do supporting actor along with the lead heroin. The rest of the cast were decent enough to play their own roles.

When it comes to the technical side, Ace Cinematographer R D Rajashekar really deserves appreciation for brilliant delivery of frames and some moving close up shots. The top view of Malaysia, Kashmir & songs were excellently captured. However, bit disappointed with Bhuvan's editing department as I guess the songs were misplaced and the flashback scene didn't sink well with the story narration. And it affected the film's flaw drastically. The choreography team did well & innovative in all songs except "Helena". Hariss Jayraj strikes with his impact-full BGM & songs right from the opening credits.

Bottom Line –

The only reward if you spend time & money in theatre by watching Iru Mughan would be the music by Haris Jayraj & tremendous performance by Chiyan Vikram.

When a project has Chiyaan Vikram in its cast list, the perception around it takes on a different color. And director Anand Shankar's second directorial Iru Mugan is no exception either. To top it, we have two Vikrams who are vying for our attention in the aptly titled film.

A trailer is something that gives the audience a sneak peek of what to expect and also kindle the curiosity levels to make them buy the tickets and go to the theatre. Going by that, the trailer gave an inkling of how Iru Mugan is going to be.

Director Anand Shankar has attempted to give an action oriented espionage thriller with some scientific innovations thrown in. There are high flung chemical formulae mouthed by the characters with references to Hitler too. Looks like the team had done their research on it fine.

Well crafted action sequences, stylishly shot visuals, decent music and neat performances mark Iru Mugan. However, there is something amiss in the film to make you feel that it was such a well made, taut, commercial potboiler.

What can one say about Vikram? He gives his life and soul to any character that he essays and in Iru Mugan too, it is his show all the way. As the RAW officer Akilan, he brings out the ruthlessness and sharpness of an intelligence officer and as Love, he rocks it big time. He blends in the masculinity and also the effeminate nature of the character pretty well. It sure is a tightrope walking and kudos to the director for not making a mockery of such characters. But, why is this character this way? Was it just to bring in quirkiness?

Nayanthara and Nithya Menen have their roles clearly etched out to bring in the color to the proceedings. Interesting job descriptions such as ethical hacker and RAW case officer sound cool. Out of the supporting characters, Thambi Ramaiah has more screen time and the role is like any other one that he has been portraying in many of his films. It is a little unconvincing to see cop characters continuing to be projected outright silly on screen.

The beauty of Malaysia, Kashmir and other places come to the fore with RD Rajasekar's visuals. Bhuvan Srinivasan's edits appear decent. Under Harris Jayaraj's musical Halena song stays on. Although the songs are richly choreographed and shot, they are all unnecessary protractions especially when the proceedings are at a different gear. Costumes of Nayanthara are outright chic and uber cool.

In an investigative action thriller such as this, scenes must proceed at a rapid pace. But there are moments when we leave the happenings on screen and wander around. The team should have focused more on the story and screenplay, which could have resulted in a better product. The intended twists are well guessable by the current audience. There are a few logical questions which look unanswered in the story.

To sum it all, Iru Mugan has its pluses in the form of technical prowess and performances but the core story and the treatment let it down.

Verdict: Vikram in full form, technically strong too. But script and logic could have been handled better