Agilan Movie Review

N. Kalyanakrishnan's action thriller Agilan, often referred to as Agilan: King of the Indian Ocean, was released in 2023 in the Indian Tamil language. Along with Priya Bhavani Shankar and Tanya Ravichandran playing the key parts, Jayam Ravi also plays a father and a son in the movie. Sam C. S. wrote the music for the movie, and Screen Scene Media Entertainment was in charge of production. The movie was originally supposed to hit theatres on September 15, 2022, but the date was changed. It finally opened on March 10, 2023, to mixed reviews from reviewers.

Cast

• Jayam Ravi in a dual role as:
  1. Agilan, a container crane operator at Chennai Port
  2. Nandhan, Agilan's father, a marine engineer
• Priya Bhavani Shankar as Inspector Madhavi
• Tanya Ravichandran as Punitha, Agilan's mother and Nandhan's wife
• Madhusudhan Rao as Jananathan, the union leader
• Hareesh Peradi as Paranthaman
• Tarun Arora as Kapoor
• Chirag Jani as Inspector S. Gokul Mehta
• Harish Uthaman as Nallaperumal, a traffic officer
• Mime Gopi as Manoj Kumar, Tamilannai's captain and Nandhan's friend turned enemy.
• Sai Dheena as Dilli, a gangster
• Sai Tamil as Pashupathy, Paranthaman's henchmen
• I.S. Rajesh as Arasu, Agilan's friend turned enemy
• Sampath Ram as ship worker
• O. A. K. Sundar as Sarangan, an officer
• Aarash Shah as International Don

Plot

At Chennai Port, Agilan operates a cargo crane. He engages in illegal activity for drug smuggler Paranthaman, who works for the deadly kingpin Kapoor. Kapoor deals with the smuggling of both real and phoney currency in containers. Agilan shoots and murders Sarangan, an officer, when he creates trouble with a task involving smuggling fake money containers. Agilan's men then dispose of Sarangan's corpse inside a body bag. Agilan ignores Jananathan's threats to exclude him from the union as the latter becomes upset with his actions. Agilan is instructed to assassinate three "jokers" (temporary labourers) whom Paranthaman hired to kill the union president. They flee to a police station led by SI Madhavi while Agilan and his men attempt to murder them. The three pranksters are arrested by Agilan, who also employs Madhavi, on a non-bailable charge.

Agilan carries out a request from two individuals to open a crate holding Chinese weapons that the police had confiscated. Pasupathy, Paranthaman's goon, steals the containers from him, but he returns them. When Agilan develops misgivings about the guys, he asks SI Madhavi to spy on them. It comes out that NIA Officer Gokul is the employer of the two guys. But Paranthaman and Gokul are cleverly caught in a trap laid by Agilan. So Gokul equips the port with security scanning equipment and monitoring. Kapoor makes a choice to engage in illicit people trafficking. His first task is to traffic George Adams, an Austrian cyberterrorist who has access to private information on influential individuals throughout the globe. After Agilan warns that Kapoor will murder them if they succeed in their people trafficking scheme, the group becomes quiet. Agilan accepts the assignment. Arasu is shamed by Agilan. In order to prevent George Adams from suffocating, Agilan intends to transport him while giving him oxygen. They present him as mannequins to fool others. Agilan completes the trafficking of Adams successfully and ascends to the position of King of the Indian Ocean.

Paranthaman travels the seas after Agilan. He observes Jananathan and Agilan conversing. They joined forces with the Somalian seamen to sail the Tamilannai, a charity ship. Jananathan is apprehended by Arasu at Paranthaman's request. Gokul knocks down Agilan while he looks for Parathaman and his troops. Agilan tells his flashback story.

Past

Agilan was raised by prison staff after being imprisoned as a young child due to a father's betrayal. To feed two million starving Indians who are stuck on a desert island, the collector arranges Tamilannai. Nandhan, Agilan's father, is a marine engineer. He restores the engines of the Tamilannai, but Nandhan finds bundles of cash in a trash can and understands the ship is carrying illicit goods. It comes out that Manoj Kumar, the ship's skipper, and a thug named Dilli collaborate in smuggling 200 kilograms of cocaine. Nandhan's wife, Punitha, instructs him to board the ship so he may slaughter the crew and feed the passengers. After the ship has sailed, Manoj Kumar eventually shoots Nandhan, and Nandhan is killed. The stranded people perished when the crew members tossed Nandhan's corpse and all the supplies overboard. Punitha was detained on the pretense that she gave birth to Agilan while imprisoned.

Currently, Agilan tells Gokul that Jananathan taught him how to build and run Tamilannai and that the African people are the proper leaders for the ship. When the populace discovers Jananathan hanging dead, Paranthaman tells them that Agilan was responsible for his murder; however, Madhavi presents the three clowns. Realizing that Paranthaman murdered Jananathan, the populace quickly surrounds Paranthaman, as he flees and kills him.

Kapoor and Nallaperumal collaborate to halt Tamilannai's sailing. Agilan fights them off and defeats Pasupathy after Kapoor employs the dangerous Eastern Sea Pirates. Germany demands Adams' surrender, which prompts Gokul to detain Kapoor. Agilan beats up Nallaperumal's men after they beat up Gokul, try to place illicit items in Tamilannai's containers, and trash food. Agilan is shot by Nallaperumal, who then pushes him into the water. The committee is informed by Nallaperumal that Tamilannai is a fraudulent charity. But surprisingly, the illegal goods are not there. Agilan and Madhavi come. The sailors from Africa swapped the containers, it turned out. Gokul endures and reveals Nallaperumal's character. A ship's rope ultimately causes Nallaperumal to pass away. Agilan is detained by the police, and Tamilannai sails, fulfilling his mother's wish.

Review

Mankatha changed how protagonists were portrayed in contemporary Tamil films when released in 2011. There has always been a draw to the villains and anti-heroes, and Tamil film, which was greatly inspired by the Dravidian Movement, tended to feature heroes who upheld moral and ethical standards (such as MG Ramachandran and his altruistic characters). A moral compass is immaterial for a director as long as the picture is entertaining, as seen by Mankatha's popularity, in which Ajith portrayed a cunning anti-hero who betrays everyone, including the lady he loves. This resulted in a large number of films that praised the less moral aspects of heroes and villains. However, only a few directors had the guts, like Venkat Prabhu, to go all out and make a monster the protagonist, which is precisely why films like Thunivu were only mediocre. In these movies, heroes are shown to be morally bankrupt and imperfect, only to be saved by flashbacks that explain their acts. Jayam Ravi's Agilan is the most recent to follow this tedious pattern.

We rarely get to other places in Kollywood, but Jayam Ravi's Agilan, which is set at the Chennai port, does a good job of capturing the daily life there. It stands out because of the realistic setting and the addition of flashy features characteristic of commercial entertainment.

However, the movie's second half needs to meet the high standards established in the first. The first part of the movie introduces us to the cargo activities at Chennai's port and the organization overseeing illicit maritime trade. After pulling off a risky transaction for the legendary kingpin Kapoor, Agilan, portrayed by Jayam Ravi, a merciless crane operator, climbs to the position of "King of the Indian Ocean." But will it be enough for Agilan, or does he have other goals?

With intriguing passages in the opening setup, director Kalyana Krishnan effectively depicts life at the dock. Unfortunately, as Agilan's personal history and objectives are revealed, everything begins to crumble. The film's tension, which was originally extremely strong, is diminished by the predictable moments that occur afterward. The timing of the story events in the movie's second half could be better. To maintain the audience's interest, Agilan, for example, might have played the villain for longer. The political undertone in the movie emphasizes his motivation to utilize ships for charitable causes to address the problem of global hunger, but it needs to be more powerful. The film's flow is ruined by the early disclosure of the background.

The language is sharp and captivating, and Priya Bhavani Shankar's portrayal of the officer who aids Agilan in pursuing his goals gives a convincing performance. She doesn't have a lot of room to perform, yet her presence is still felt. Tanya Hope and Harish Uttaman, among the other actors, also gave their all.

With much effort put into his body language and line delivery, Jayam Ravi's performance shines out as he single-handedly propels the movie. He enhances the typical storyline with his presence as a tough crane operator. Despite having the typical commercial clich�s we've seen before, Agilan's setting adds a little bit of intrigue. Although the movie is enjoyable, the second half falls short of what the audience was hoping for.