Agilan review: An action thriller that ends up being preachy

Director Kalyana Krishnan, the protege of late director SP Jhananathan who was known for his communist ideology, comes up with a film that revolves around ports and sea traffic — Agilan.

The film is all about Agilan (Jayam Ravi) who is an altruist and a cynic in parts.

He intends to make operational a ship called “Thamizhannai” to carry supplies to feed the hungry all over the world. While Agilan’s intentions are noble, the methods he employs to attain wealth to acquire Thamizhannai are ruthless and unfair.

There’s a reason why he becomes a cynic and trusts no one. His dad, who had noble intentions just like him, was backstabbed and murdered. So, Agilan believes that he does not owe anything to anybody, least of all loyalty.

As expected, several people try stopping him — from becoming the most powerful person who controls the port and the ongoing illegal activities to operationalising Thamizhannai which could hurt the interests of corporates in the shipping business.

How Agilan outsmarts his rivals to complete what his dad had set out to do is what the film is all about.

Problems galore

One is not sure where the plot of the film is heading for quite a long time. It is not until the flashback episode in the second half that you get an idea of what the hero wishes to accomplish.

Director Kalyana Krishnan, like his mentor SP Jananathan, wants his flick to do too many things at the same time.

On one hand, he wants to narrate a commercial entertaining story. On the other, he wants to create awareness about the hard lives of the poor.

He also wants to educate the masses on how ports and shipping play a big role in the economics of the country.

This apart, Kalyana Krishnan wants to show the level of corruption prevalent in the shipping industry and how the big guns use this to their advantage.

As a result, you get a little bit of everything in bits and pieces. This makes you wonder for the most part where the film is heading.

Also, with the director striving to make too many points, the movie comes across as being preachy.

#Agilan is all yours from today⚓️#AgilanFromToday pic.twitter.com/KTmg9PH3kW

— Jayam Ravi (@actor_jayamravi) March 10, 2023

Performances

Not just that. Agilan has several problems, beginning with casting.

Jayam Ravi nails his character as Agilan. He comes up with an impressive performance which, however, alone is not enough to sustain the interest of the audience.

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Priya Bhavani Shankar as his love interest-cop Mathavi is completely out of sorts. She looks too fragile to be a cop and often stands out like a sore thumb.

Tanya Ravichandran as Punitha, Chirag Jani as Gokul and Madhusudhan Rao as union leader Jananathan put up a good show.

Hareesh Peradi, who is now present in almost all Tamil films, comes up with a commendable performance as Paranthaman.

An unobtainable Illegal king @actor_jayamravi as #Agilan !

Now In Theatres ..#AgilanFromToday
#DirKalyan @priya_Bshankar @actortanya @SamCSmusic @JaniChiragjani @skiran_kumar @onlynikil @shiyamjack pic.twitter.com/pkFLT95nEl

— Screen Scene (@Screensceneoffl) March 10, 2023

Technical crafts

On the technical front, Ganesh Kumar’s editing leaves a lot to be desired.

Some sequences, which must have been trimmed mercilessly, make the film unbearably long.

Some sharp editing could have reduced the length of the flick and increased the interest in its plot.

Dubbing is bad and lip synchronisation seems out of place in quite a few sequences.

The action sequences are exaggerated and woefully long.

Sam’s background score is just about okay as are the visuals of cinematographer Vivek Anand.

On the positive side, Agilan gives an insight into the functioning of a port, the direct connection between the prices of essential commodities and the time that ships are allowed to dock at the ports and offload their cargo.

Final take

In all, Agilan has some pertinent points to make but it fails to impress as an entertainer.

(Views expressed are personal.)