Agaram (film)

Agaram (English: The first letter of the Tamil alphabet) is a 2007 Indian Tamil action film written and directed by T. Nagarajan, who had earlier directed the 1997 film Aravindhan starring Sarath Kumar. It stars Nandha of Mounam Pesiyadhe and Punnagai Poove fame and newcomer Archana in the lead roles, with Biju Menon portraying the role of the antagonist and Vivek, Seetha and Raj Kapoor among others in supporting roles. Despite being announced shortly after Nandha's debut in 2002, the film's release was delayed and eventually released on February 16, 2007, failing at the box office as it was released at the same time as Ameer's award-winning film Paruthiveeran. The film is probably well known for a controversy concerning Kireedam, a high budget film, whose makers demanded to see Agaram before its release, fearing that the story was plagiarised from its script.^[1][2][3]

Plot

Thiru (Nandha) is a young Airtel employee, who has just moved into the family's new house in Tuticorin, with his sister (Varshini), mother (Seetha), and grandmother (Sukumari). Their happiness is tinged with the grief of Thiru's father's recent death, before the construction could be completed.^[4]

Fate decrees that the entire family be placed in jeopardy when Thiru has an argument with Pasupathy, brother of the dreaded don of the waterfront mafia, Varma (Biju Menon), during the local elections.

The enraged don swears to kill Thiru, agreeing to spare his life for just four days until the election ends, at the request of his politician crony (Ilavarasu), who is all set to become the MLA. The family flees, but is captured and brought back to face the atrocities unleashed by Varma's goons.

Cast

• Nandha as Thiru
• Archana as Archana
• Biju Menon as Varma
• Vivek
• Raj Kapoor
• Ilavarasu
• Seetha as Thiru's mother
• Varshini as Thiru's sister
• Sukumari as Thiru's grandmother
• Ajay Rathnam
• Anamika
• Agathiyan as Thiru's father in a cameo role
• Sheetal Menon as an Item number

Crew

• Story, screenplay and direction: T. Nagarajan
• Production: AP. Sivayogen
• Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
• Cinematography: NP. Vetrivel
• Editing: Justin Roy
• Art direction: Jackson
• Stunts: 'Super' Subbarayan
• Choreography: Kalyan & Dinesh
• Lyrics: Snehan
• Banner: Shree Bhuvaneasvari Pictures
• Co director: Thiru
• Associate directors: S.Ramesh,B.Sc.,LLB.,& Marimuthu
• Dialogue : Rajan, Ravi.
• Stills: Sugumar
• Designs: Photoscience

Soundtrack

The soundtrack and film score were composed by the noted composer Yuvan Shankar Raja. The soundtrack was released on 12 December 2005, nearly 14 months before the film's theatrical release. It has five tracks with lyrics written by Snehan.

Review

Director Nagaraj in this action-thriller does justice to his work by retaining the momentum of the story. Nandha as the protagonist in the role of Thiru has managed his part well and proves himself versatile in both romantic and action scenes. The young actor, however, has to do much better in the time to come to make it big in the Tamil films.^[5][6]

Although, given scarcely any scene and a couple of duets, Hardeep Singh as the female lead, has done fairly well. Vivek fits well in the comedy part of the film. Biju Menon displays good histrionics as the villain. Agathiyan also proves to be a good actor appearing as Nandha's father. Yuvan Shankar Raja's music composition is fast-paced with catchy numbers. Cinematographer Vetrivel has excelled in his camera work.^[5]

References

External links

• Agaram on Location at the Wayback Machine (archived August 25, 2004)
• Review at Indiaglitz
• Review at NewsToday