Bogan

When compared to the last fantasy genre Jayam Ravi tried (Miruthan) and the lackluster debut movie of director Lakshman (Romeo Juliet), Bogan is definitely a better movie. Every entertainer Tamil movie has this constrains of depicting certain portions in certain way and those clichés clearly drag Bogan backwards. With a terrific Arvind Swamy and an okay Jayam Ravi, Bogan is watchable for sure, but it isn’t as overwhelming as the duo’s last outing.

Spoiler Alert! I will have to spill some beans to review this film as the trailer doesn’t give an idea about what kind of a movie is this. Therefore vital elements of the story will be revealed in the remaining part of this article. Vikram is the assistant commissioner of police and he is engaged to this girl named Mahalakshmi. One day Vikram’s father becomes the culprit in a theft case with solid evidence against him. Vikram decides to go behind this case as he was very sure that some foul play was there. The investigation leads to this man named Adithya and the movie is based on a “swapping” trick used by Adithya for his escape.

Again Spoiler Alert! Yes the movie based on the fantasy idea of a person’s ability to enter another man’s body and control him. As a one liner, this thread has enough scope in a cop vs culprit scenario. In the movie also there are this dramatic moments where you really see the helplessness of the hero as the “trick” messes his life completely. The problem is that Lakshman flaunts with the idea too generously. And the typical Tamil movie formula like having an intro song, intro fight, wafer thin shallow romance etc. takes away all that hype and expectation the movie had because of the combination’s last film Thani Oruvan. The first half of the movie is entirely over the top and not so exciting as well. It creates an impression with its interval twist. The second half of the film is a mixed bag where some sequences impresses us with the practical reactions of characters and some sequences are totally illogical.

The man who gives a texture of excitement to this fantasy concept is Arvind Swamy with his alluring performance. From being the arrogant, unapologetic guy to the perplexed normal man he was able to give an identity to both versions. Jayam Ravi on the other hand plays the hero part in his usual style and the kind of switching he does in the second half isn’t completely graceful. Hansika Motwani as always is there for the glamour exhibition and Lakshman was a bit too overconfident in giving her a pinch of the body swap towards the climax. Nassar was really good.

Lakshman’s first film Romeo Juliet was a terribly mixed romcom. But with Bogan he knows how to keep the audience excited. Where he should focus is on having a writing that sticks closely to the agenda of the film. The first half of the film has so much of overwritten content. Even though it has a pivotal fantasy element, they could have captured the events happening in the real world more realistically. Some of the dialogues and conversations were good. Cinematography was fine. Music isn’t entirely attractive and the necessity and placing of some of the songs is annoying.

To conclude, I would say Bogan is just an okay film. Expecting another Thani Oruvan would be a big mistake. They have promised a sequel for the film and let’s hope it would focus more on the intrigue rather than the masala. And yeah, this isn’t fight club.

Rating: 2.5/5