Iru Mugan Movie

Review
Synopsis: A suspended
RAW agent returns to
the force to track down
his nemesis, who has
now developed a new
super drug that he plans
to sell to terrorists
Review: If Anand
Shankar's previous film
Arima Nambi had

echoes of K Bhagyaraj's
Rudhra, the set-up of his
Iru Mugan recalls that of
Kamal Haasan's Vikram.
An intelligence officer is
tasked with
investigating and foiling
a nefarious plot. The
mastermind behind the
plot is the man who
killed his wife, and he is
now conducting his
operation from a foreign
nation. So, the officer

has to go there with a

female sidekick in tow
and save the day. Here,
it is Akilan (Vikram, with
beard), a RAW agent
who goes after Malaysia
to capture Love (Vikram,
with prosthetics), an
anarchist and a brilliant
knowledge about
chemicals, to avenge
the murder of his wife
Meera (Nayanthara,
whose character feels

underwritten despite a
terrific twist). He is
accompanied on this
mission by Ayushi
(Nithya Menen, in a
rather minor role), a
trainee officer.
With Arima Nambi,
Anand Shankar showed
us that he has a flair for
Hollywood-ish action
thrillers. Iru Mugan, too,
feels like something that

Hollywood might have

come up with. There is a
high-concept involving a
super drug that
increases one's
adrenaline and turns
ordinary men into
supermen for five
minutes. The villain is an
over-the-top figure who
seems to indulge in evil
acts not out of any
agenda, but more
because he relishes the

chaos he can create in

the world. There is also
a clever twist involving
the heroine that is
actually borrowed from
Fast & Furious 6. The
characters look chic and
the visuals have a sheen
that we don't usually
see in our films here.
But, unlike the first half
of Arima Nambi, where
Anand Shankar hardly

deviated from the plot,

here, perhaps because
he is working with a
star, he settles for
compromises forced
comedy by Thambi
Ramaiah, who appears
as a cop in Malaysia,
that sits uneasily with
the seriousness of the
hero's mission (it is a
stark contrast to what
the director achieved
with MS Bhaskar in

Arima Nambi); a
melodramatic character,
played by Riythvika,
who seems to have
dropped in from another
film (perhaps Kabali,
given that she plays a
similar character here);
the ease with which
Akilan and Ayushi trace
the whereabouts of
Love, who is built up to
be a cunning person;
clumsy exposition that is

provided through a
character (Karunakaran)
who seems to exist just
for this purpose (the guy
works for the villain, but
is only too eager to tell
everything he knows of
his plans to the hero);
the several logic leaps
(for example, the almost
magical recovery by the
hero in the climax after
taking the super drug,
which we are told leaves

a person drained for

hours after the fiveminute mark).
And yet, the film
works... to an extent.
And that is mainly
because the director
gives an antagonist who
is more than an equal to
the hero. His Love
seemed to be more of
an indulgence in the
promos, especially

because of Vikram's
predilection towards
gimmicky roles, but the
character works in the
film, and keeps us in
thrall. And the actor
nails both the
mannerisms and the
modulation of this
character. The film feels
alive whenever this
character is on screen,
and that is why the
second half despite

the implausible scenes

comes across as more
engaging than the initial
portions.