Bogan

Lakshman who has raised to fame by his debut directorial Romeo Juliet has produced another intelligent drama. This time he has hooked up the Thani Oruvan duo and the duo has rocked once again.

The plot of Bogan is intelligent and well-crafted one. The importance given to the antagonist was excellent. Aravind Swamy who has threatened Kollywood as Sidharth Abimanyu (Thani Oruvan) has delivered another energetic performance. As Aditya he has hypnotized everyone on screen and off screen. He is natural as a baddie (No offense).

Jayam Ravi as Vikram is as impressive as Aravind Samy. The police officer in Ravi is always a treat to watch and he doesn't disappoint. Be it a straight forward police officer or the baddie (Baddie? Have to watch the film :P) Ravi scores distinction.

Hansika Motwani has little to offer in terms of screen presence but she manages to plant herself in the audience's mind. All the other characters have done their part well. But it is all the way Jayam Ravi and Aravind Swamy's show.

Bogan Lakshman has done a great screenplay. The first half was entertaining and tops in the interval block. The second half is on and on a cat and mouse game between the positive and negative. The thrill in the second half never leaves till the climax.

The biggest positive of the movie is the way the negative role was portrayed. There are scenes were the baddie over shadows the hero which brings whistle in the theaters (Especially for Aravind Swamy). The errors that Jeyam Ravi makes as a cop was a reality touch.

Soundarajan's hard work behind the camera is evident throughout the movie. D.Imman's background was brilliant and boosts the screenplay, but he fails to score in songs (Except Damaal Dumeel). Every department has given it's best to make the movie a hit.

The length of the movie might play boring game on few. Otherwise it's a great show by Ravi and Aravind.

Arvind Swamy's terrific makeover as a baddie was a much-talked about subject post the release of 'Thani Oruvan' in 2015. While its no surprise that he carries over a bit of his suave 'Siddharth Abhimanyu' mannerisms to the antagonist Adithya in 'Bogan', it is by all means this film's unique selling proposition. Swamy shadows Ravi (who does try his best to emulate the former) by a pretty big margin; the reason being that the sincere conviction put across by Ravi looks palpable while Swamy's baddie act is unrefined and much more relaxed.

The film opens with playboy Adithya in bed with a multitude of beauties, orating his ideals in life and we get a feeling of de ja vu. The viewer is "educated" about the fact that the crux of the film revolves around the fantasy element of body-swapping. Soonafter, the scenario cuts to Ravi's and Hansika's flimsily written romance. The less said about how things play out in these insipid 30-40 minutes, the better. One starts to wonder where Swamy's character has vanished in the meantime. Thankfully, it doesn't take too long for Swamy's Adithya to show up again and get his fate intertwined with Ravi's Asst. Commissioner Vikram (a do- gooder cop who devotes sufficient time towards his lady-love, and is easily affected by family sentiments unlike the no-nonsense, steadfast officer in 'Thani Oruvan').

It is safe to say that 'Bogan' works fine in bits and pieces than as a coherent whole..like the hilarious scene between Vikram and Adithya in the car (clearly indicates the hero-villain chemistry between both the actors), the terrific interval block, and few scenes where Ravi imitates Swamy's body-language and demeanor (a la John Woo's 1997 actioner Face Off) and their engrossing cat-and- mouse confrontations. There are drawbacks aplenty as well..no effective story build-up with regards to how the body-swapping skill is initially acquired (other than a three minute explanation by Nasser whose character is underdeveloped), underwhelming song compositions by D. Imman (the theme music is catchy however!), bland romance portions (in the first half!) that do nothing but stretch the run-time and the uninteresting climax sequence (which even hints at a sequel).

I'd still say 'Bogan' is fairly engaging with all its flaws and worth a watch for Arvind Swamy's (and to an extent Ravi's) performance(s) ..only this time, less classy (and more trashy!) than 'Thani Oruvan'. For writer/director Lakshman, 'Bogan' is indeed a big improvement over his previous venture..the awful 'Romeo Juliet'.

Bogan (2017): After having a major breakthrough success with Thani Oruvan, Aravind Swamy's stardom rose to heights and became most anticipated antagonist of Kollywood. Bogan has the same combo of Jeyam Ravi and Aravind Swamy as hero and villain and trailer looked promising.So how is it?

Plot: The plot revolves around Aditya (Arvind Swami), who has stumbled onto the secret of body swapping (a power that once belonged to the saint, Bogar). He uses it to get rich quick. His modus operandi involves swapping his body for a patsy and robbing a jewellery shop or a bank, all the while ensuring that the video evidence is against his victim. But Vikram (Jayam Ravi), an assistant commissioner, is on to him after Aditya uses his trick on the cop's father (Aadukalam Naren). Vikram manages to nab Aditya, but to get his revenge, the latter switches his body with former's. And now, Vikram has to save himself and stop Aditya before he can wreck more damage.

Plus Points:

1)Aravind Swamy and Jeyam Ravi: Just Like Thani Oruvan, Bogan is a celebration of the antagonist, and once again, Arvind Swami rocks in the role of a charismatic villain.Unlike Thani Oruvan, Arvind's character does more to the B and C centers, which is why his sly character and eccentric body language are more enjoyable.Jeyam Ravi scores once again with his performance as cop.Though he was overshadowed by Swamy,he made his presence felt.

2)Pre-Interval: The scene where Ravi befriends Swamy and smokes weed with him in his car is awesome.Their cray antics in that scene and those dance moves are hilarious.This scene is the highlight of the movie.Aravind Swamy and Jeyam Ravi sparked the screen.

Minus Points:

1)Predictable Screenplay: Bogan's plot is fantasized Indian version of Face/off.If handled well this movie could have been more better but Lakshman wrote a predictable screenplay with no surprises.Except the Pre-interval scene,most of the scenes looks tedious.Romantic track between Jeyam Ravi and Hansika is boring and takes most of time in 1st half.

2)Music: D.Imman gave some decent BGM but his songs are pathetic.

So,Bogan makes a one time watch only because of Aravind Swamy and Jeyam Ravi.

My rating 6.25/10

May be I am a little late for this but felt I had to do this. The movie did have some story to it but the way it was executed is nothing less than terrible. I have given two stars for the movie just for Aravind Swamy. Honestly, I had expected more from him, he too was not as good as he was in Thani Oruvan.I have no words for Jayam Ravi & Hansika's acting abilities. This is the only movie I was constantly forwarding while watching (Couldn't watch in the theater, doubt if it was even released here).

After a year of release, I finally managed to catch this movie, just for Jayam Ravi and Aravind Swamy.

Bogan is a movie which mainly revolves around 2 people - ACP Vikram (Jayam Ravi), a honest police officer and Aditya/Bogan (Aravind Swamy), a womaniser and Hedonist. Aditya uses a special technique to loot money and become a millionaire and Vikram takes it upon himself to find this criminal and solve the case. This leads to the usual Hero Vs Villain face off and what transpires in the end forms the story of Bogan.

The story sounds pretty routine, being a good Vs bad story and the director has looked to make a typical commercial movie - with into song and fight, romance portions, 2 love songs, a second half fully focused on the hero Vs villain duel. But what works for Bogan is the interesting subject that forms the base of the story. Especially, the second half is made watchable just because of this theme.

Jayam Ravi and Aravind Swamy have given great performances and this is a major plus for the movie as the movie revolved around them. Their roles are challenging in the way that they would have to perform as more than one character and both of them have come up trumps on that. Hansika is the usual commercial heroine who doesn't have any role in the movie, except for the few minutes in the climax.

The first half an hour doesn't move too much, with the songs and unnecessary romance portions. But post senthoora song, the movie picks up big time and the way director Lakshman has built up the premise till the interval is brilliant. Post interval, it does maintain a decent pace but not as much as the end of the first half and the climax is questionable to say the least. But with the recent trend of Tamil cinema, that was expected.

Another positive for the movie is Imman's BGM. The songs are okayish but the BGM is racy and classy. The score for Aravind Swamy is magnificent. The Senthoora BGM during the romance scenes is also worth a listen. But a slight problem arises when the same music is repeated till the end.

With a subject/theme that is new to Tamil cinema, the fact that the director chose to restrict himself to the commercial genre is slightly baffling to me. The movie has its own share of logical flaws too.

On the whole, Bogan is a normal commercial movie that has its own share of drawbacks. But what makes it worth watching once is the new subject (to Tamil cinema atleast) and the performances of the lead cast.