Saagasam

Saagasam
Poster
Directed by	Arun Raj Varma
Produced by	Thiagarajan (Presenter) Shanthi Thiagarajan
Written by	Thiagarajan
Story by	Trivikram Srinivas
Based on	Julai By Trivikram Srinivas
Starring	Prashanth Amanda Rosario
Music by	S. Thaman
Cinematography	Shaji Kumar
Edited by	Zashi Qmer
Production company	Staar Movies
Distributed by	Sri Thenandal Films
Release dates	5 February 2016 (2016-02-05)
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	₹30 crore (US$4.4 million)

Saagasam (English: Adventure) is a Tamil action comedy film being directed by Arun Raj Varma and written and produced by Thiagarajan. The film features Prashanth and Amanda Rosario in the roles, while an ensemble cast including Thambi Ramaiah, Vamsi Krishna and Abi Saravanan portray supporting roles. The film, a remake of Telugu film Julai (2012), began production in November 2013, and released during February 2016 as a competitor to Bangalore Naatkal. Upon release it received positive reviews and prasanth was highly praised for his energy level.^[1][2]

Cast

Production

Prashanth and his father, Thiagarajan scouted locations to make the film while on business trips to Kuwait and Australia.^[3] The team soon requested fans to name the film through a poll on Facebook, with the titles considered including Asthiram and Modhi Paar, before Saahasam was finalised. The film progressed through the end of 2013 with little media coverage, and the technical crew and cast remained unannounced. In early February 2014, it was announced that Arun Raj Varma was making his debut as a director while Sakthi Saravanan and Devi Sri Prasad would be cinematographer and music composer respectively. In a turn of events, Thaman replaced Devi Sri Prasad as composer, working on an original soundtrack.

The team re-began work after a break in late May 2014 and it was announced that Nargis Fakhri had signed on to appear in an item number.^[4][5] The song, composed by Thaman and written by Madhan Karky, was filmed in late July 2014 at Binny Mills, Chennai. Nargis Fakhri had flown from Hungary to be a part of the shoot, with Raju Sundaram choreographing the song also featuring hundred extras.^[6][7] Tamannaah was briefly linked as the female lead, before Australian model Amanda Rosario was chosen as the lead actress in the film.^[8] The team subsequently shot for the film in late 2014 and early 2015 in locations including Coimbatore, Chennai, Malaysia and Japan.^[9] A week prior to the film's release in February 2016, the film was retitled from Saahasam to Saagasam, with the tagline Enra Veerachayal, in order to recoup tax benefits.

Soundtrack

In July 2014, the film's first song, described as a peppy "bar number" featuring actress Nargis Fakhri in an item number, was recorded. Written by Madhan Karky, the song's original version was sung by actress Remya Nambeesan.^[10] In late October, a gaana song titled "Pudikkum Pudikkum" written by Kabilan was recorded with Shreya Ghoshal, who remarked that it was her first tryst with the "kuthu" genre.^[11] Impressed with his work in the album, producer Thiagarajan and Prashanth gifted Thaman, a Toyota Fortuner car on his birthday in November 2014.^[12][13] In early December 2014, the song written by Madhan Karky was recorded with the voice of actress Lakshmi Menon, replacing Remya Nambeesan's voice.^[14] The team initially approached Yo Yo Honey Singh to sing the male portions for the song, but his unavailability meant that Anirudh Ravichander instead recorded "Madhoo" for the album.^[15] Mohit Chauhan recorded a song titled "Penne Kutty Penne" in Mumbai in mid-December, while Shankar Mahadevan lent his vocals in the duet with Shreya Ghoshal.^[16][17] The team also announced that Arijit Singh and Andrea Jeremiah would work on the soundtrack which did not made it to the album, while a further track was recorded with Silambarasan in the final week of 2014.^[18][19]

Critical reception

MG Vijayan of Only Kollywood rated the film 2 out of 5 and noted "Overall, Saagasam delivers a typical story, middling romantic portions and is centered mainly on Prashanth's timely decisions to over the villain".^[20] M. Suganth of Times of India rated the film 2 1/2 out of 5 and wrote "Prashanth, making a return to the screen after quite a while, gives his best, but we can't help but feel that this required an even younger hero. But what lets the film down the most is that it is directed without any feel for the material, so we are unsure if we need to take the film seriously or as a spoof".^[21] Sify wrote "Overall, Saagasam might attract audiences who love Telugu commercial entertainers but for others, it’s just another average entertainer".^[22]

References