Vikram doing dual roles for the first time and his teaming up with promising young director Anand Shankar was enough to create the necessary buzz for ‘Iru Mugan’. Whether the scifi subject and the dual roles appeal to the viewer remains to be seen.
A hideous attack on the Indian embassy in Malaysia by a single person creates huge confusion at RAW and the intelligence agency at a loss for a solution decide to bring out their ex-agent Akhilan (Vikram) for the job. The attack is by Akhilan’s old foe Love whom he believes to have killed in a battle in which he also lost his wife Meera (Nayanthara). Aarushi (Nithya Menen) accompanies Vikram to Malaysia where he sets out to track and finally falls into Love’s trap where a huge shock awaits him. What happens next is told with mindless action that reaches a tame ending.
Vikram has the look and the build to convincingly portray the RAW agent Akhilan and he does it with gusto especially in the high octane action sequences . He looks his debonair best when romancing Nayanthara in the song sequences and his chemistry with the latter works big time in all their scenes together. Vikram initially impresses with the much talked about effeminate super villain Love, the genius chemical wizard who is at complete ease handling seemingly harmless powders as ingenious weapons of destruction. But after a while it becomes tiring as he repeats himself once too often with the same set of expressions and his, like all the other characters being one dimensional, does not help either. Nayanthara has the killer looks in the song sequences which should satisfy her fans to some extent, but otherwise her character has nothing much to do except provide a major twist. The extremely talented Nithya Menen throughout the film gives the impression as if someone woke her up from deep sleep and demanded her to perform at gunpoint. Thambi Ramaiah as the bungling cop succeeds in evoking very little laughter and is upstaged by many illogical scenes in the second half that provide unintentional comedy. Karunakaran as Peter does his only scene with ease proving his mettle while Riythvika should be careful not to waste herself in such pedestrian roles. Nassar as the RAW chief is more comical than convincing because of the way his scenes are written.
Harris Jayaraj’s songs give that familiar feeling of déjà vu while his background score is reminiscent of the eighties action films. Cinematography by R.D. Rajasekhar is top notch as usual with his lens capturing the lead pair at their sensual best in the song Halena. Bhuvan Srinivasan has done his job as far as smooth picture flow is concerned, but cannot do anything with some rank bad writing and execution especially in the second half. Fight Masters Fight Masters Anbariv and Ravi Verma has staged some fast paced action sequences which are a major plus while the art direction too is worth a mention for the authentic laboratory setting and the villain’s lair.
Anand Shankar, who gave the neatly packaged ‘Arima Nambi’ has attempted a sci-fi with chemical warfare as the core subject and promises a lot with his set up in the first half only to disappoint with a dragging and illogical second half which pulls down the whole affair to a mediocre level. The much expected Love character is badly etched out and loses fizz very early and this works against the film big time. Karunakaran seeing the camera watch on Nithya Menen's hand quips, that people have seen these gadgets in the Jai Shankar era itself and unfortunately those words stand good for the film too.
Verdict : Watch it for the lead pair Vikram and Nayanthara, stylish making and some neat action sequences.
