Aegan

The don in Billa, the young man seeing his dreams come crashing down in Kireedam, the man on a mission in Aazhwaar... all these movies saw Ajith play some variation of a serious, brooding protagonist with enough reasons to stay that way. It never looked like the actor was having fun appearing in those movies. Aegan, which borrows liberally from Shah Rukh Khan's Main Hoon Naa, rights this and gives him a role he is perfectly suited for. But while his role is crafted well, one can't say the same about the movie. Debutant director Raju Sundaram is able to keep intact - even if not completely - the entertainment value in the portions he borrows from Main Hoon Naa but his inexperience shows in the rest of the film.

Ramprasad(Devan) is a man on the run, wanted by both the police and the bad guys. While Chinnappa(Suman), a bad guy with his hands in everything, is after Ramprasad because he was in his gang but has now turned approver, the police hope to catch Ramprasad and through him, get Chellappa. The police, believing that Ramprasad will contact his daughter Pooja(Pia) who is a student at a school in Ooty, send Shiva(Ajith), a no-nonsense cop, to the school as a student, hoping that he can befriend Pia and nab Ramprasad when he shows up. But the school environment catches up with Shiva too as he romances the Chemistry teacher Mallika(Nayanthara) and befriends the students led by Naren(Navdeep), Pooja's best friend.

Aegan takes the central concept - an older undercover agent attending a school - of Main Hoon Naa but wraps a much simpler story around it. While one can appreciate the fact that Raju Sundaram has not ripped off the entire film, the sad fact is that it is only the parts lifted from Main Hoon Naa - Ajith caught in the fish-out-of-water scenario and the romance - that actually work while the original parts - like the villain in pursuit of an ex-gang member and the track with the principal as a wannabe-private detective - are silly and amateurish.

With Ajith not averse to poking a little fun at his age and physique(or lack thereof), his time at school is quite entertaining. His encounters with Nayanthara elicit chuckles and his bonding with the other students is built up gradually. He also shares some nice sequences with his assistant(Haneefa) and the school principal(Jayaram). While the comedy in those scenes is natural, situational and works well, the same cannot be said of the more overt attempts at it. Jayaram generates some laughs initially as he, in the tradition of school and college principals in Tamil cinema, makes a fool of himself by trying to 'help' Ajith. But things get repetitive and tiresome soon. Giving Suman a funny sidekick in the form of Sriman doesn't work either and his jokes fall flat, apart from diluting Suman's villainy.

One of the things that is brought over from the original but doesn't work because of the way it is handled is the part about Ajith's past. The whole segment - which, by the way, was always lurking in the background of Main Hoon Naa and gave the movie its emotional anchor - looks like it was added as an afterthought. It damages the film's final parts and gives it a rushed, incomplete feel. Since the movie would've worked perfectly well without it, one is not sure why Raju Sundaram felt compelled to include it in such a sloppy manner. An even bigger question is why Suhasini agreed to appear in the role she is given.

Ajith's weight seems to go through the same wild swings his career goes through. After losing a lot of weight for movies like Paramasivan and Tirupathi, he once again looks a bit heavyset here. But he finally gets the chance to turn on the charm that made him so endearing in movies like Vaali and enjoys it. Nayanthara looks great as always though the way she wears her sarees, learning would be the last thing on her students' minds. Navdeep and Pia ham it up a little bit. Suman doesn't add much to the stereotyped villain's role. Yuvan's background score works well during Ajith's introduction and a few other scenes but the songs themselves are disappointing. Hey Saala... and Odum Varaiyil... are choreographed well and Ajith executes some surprisingly fast steps. The jazzy Hey Baby... has a few interesting touches in the way it is picturized.