‘Agilan’ movie review: Jayam Ravi can’t save this mishmash of watered-down ideas with dull writing

Jayam Ravi in ​​a still from ‘Agilan’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

For a country that has never taken pride in invading or usurping foreign lands after independence, it is ironic that our films give importance to water bodies. After establishing that “Indians are the kings of the Indian Ocean” at the end of Durisingam Singham 2, we now have Agilan, who claims to be the only true king. If only the movie universes could collide and our universal cop and king of smuggling could be confronted by Aquaman, the king of Atlantis!

We rarely have films with an ocean backdrop that are not based on the trials and tribulations of fishermen. Throw in a port worker who wants to rule the underworld of maritime transport, the one-liner seems like a brilliant idea. But Jayam Ravi’s agilan, despite being set in an environment that is full of opportunities for something unique, ‘I Will Finish the Good Work Started by My Father’ revisits the tried and tested. Watching agilan It’s the equivalent of being tossed in the middle of choppy waters – you’re trying to keep yourself sane but wave after wave of randomness keeps hitting you, leaving you exhausted with hope for some respite. Agilan (Jayam Ravi) does the dirty work for Paranthaman (Harish Paradi), only to sideline the latter to attract the attention of Kapoor (Tharun Arora), the kingpin of the illegal operation.

Why the thirst to be on the wrong side of the law? Agilan gets a flashback that involves the death of innocent people because, spoiler alert: his father gets duped. So what does he want? a ship! In this KGF-Get- citizen The movie, really doesn’t make any sense after a while. Before we can even ask how something illegal can be illegal – it’s an open secret to those working across the port – we are introduced to Mathavi (Priya Bhavani Shankar), Agilan’s girlfriend, who runs the port. The area is managed by the police. Is not a single officer honest? We’ve got Gokul (Chirag Jani), a Central Intelligence officer who, as expected, falls for our hero.

Just a little googling tells us that the ships are worth a few million, even in the worst case scenario. But our Agilan can buy one thanks to his efforts at smuggling. They also call it Tamizhannai in Tamil. As much as we love our Tamil, I doubt that even naming a ship in a regional language is allowed. Imagine boarding the wrong flight to a different country because the airline decides to name its carrier in its own language. In one scene, Agilan ventures into the middle of the ocean with a small motorboat that miraculously transforms into a boat with additional props in the very next scene. Despite his enemy lurking in an isolated boat with no cover to take him to the open sea, Agilan still continues his operation. Just by looking around, he would have known that he was being followed. but these logistical issues are the least agilanGiven the concerns of how the film leaves many questions unanswered.

The film, at regular intervals, throws up curveballs in the form of information or interesting subplots. “From onion prices to stock prices, everything is determined by sea traffic,” Agilan said, pointing to the impact of freight traffic. Just when we think that this common sense could lead to something bigger, it dissolves into nothing like salt thrown into water. The film also touches upon a number of crimes such as human trafficking, drugs, piracy and arms smuggling. But these plots remain as superficially level as the ships they are booted from. agilan Also plagued by lipsync issues. The background score is also very fast.

A glance at Jayam Ravi’s filmography reveals something fascinating. Whenever the title of the film also happens to be the name of his character, it either ends up being a smash hit or a huge deal. for everyone Son of M. Kumaran Mahalakshmi, Santosh Subramaniam And Ponniyin Selvanhe got one too Adi Bhagwan, forget us And Earthand unfortunately, agilan Will join later. Despite Ravi carrying the film single-handedly on his able shoulders, agilan goes nowhere and is wasted like an anchored ship.

Agilan is currently playing in cinemas.