Ayan (film)


Ayan is a 2009 Indian Tamil-language action film co-written and directed by K. V. Anand. The film, starring Suriya, Prabhu, Tamannaah, Akashdeep Saighal, Jagan, and Karunas, was produced by M. Saravanan and M. S. Guhan, distributed by Sun Pictures. The film score and soundtrack was composed by Harris Jayaraj, Edited by Anthony Gonsalvez, the film was filmed by M. S. Prabhu.
The film's story revolves around Devaraj Velusamy, a youngster whose mother wants him to become a government official. He, on the other hand, works for a smuggling group run by Dass, who has been his mentor and has been looking after him since childhood. Conflict occurs when Deva's archrival, Kamalesh, opposes and tries to eliminate Dass from the smuggling business. Who wins in the conflict forms the climax of the story.
The film was launched in Chennai, while filming also took place in various locations out of India, including Namibia, Malaysia, Zanzibar and South Africa. It released on 3 April 2009 worldwide to positive reviews. Ayan was declared as the solo blockbuster of the year in Tamil cinema, collecting about worldwide. It was also dubbed and released on 1 May 2009 in Telugu as Veedokkade, which was a box office success in Andhra Pradesh. and also in Kerala.

Plot

Devaraj Velusamy arrives at the Chennai International Airport after running an errand for Dass of smuggling pre-release unlicensed movies on DVD. The two of them leave for their hideout and instruct Dilli, a hearing-impaired assistant of Dass, to make copies of the DVD. Just when police crews arrive into their vicinity, Dass informs Deva and the rest to leave. Deva tells the others to leave while he quickly sets up the burning process. Deva also leaves the hideout just in time. However, the police officers arrive at the hideout, only to see the burning process of the DVDs complete. The police then seize the DVDs and computers. The inspector, who was a friend of Dass, tells him that he can close the case if one of Dass's men agrees to the crime. Deva attempts to go, but another man, Chitti Babu, who had no affiliation to the volunteers, takes the blame. Later, Chitti joins Dass's group and befriends Deva.
Dass is a diamond trafficker who smuggles diamonds from Africa. Deva's mother Kaveri does not appreciate his affairs with Dass, as she wants Deva, who holds a Master of Science degree, to have a government job. He occasionally visits home and her roadside grocery shop, only to get scoldings from his loving mother.
When Deva is invited to Chitti's house, he gets impatient and knocks on the door. As the door opens, Deva slips and falls on the bed, expecting to see Chitti but scaring his younger sister Yamuna instead. Just before he drives off, he curses himself for making such a stupid mistake. Yamuna catches this and accepts his apologies, then they slowly fall in love, and their relationship is accepted by Chitti.
Meanwhile, Kamalesh, the arch-enemy and competitor in the smuggling of Dass, slowly starts to try to foil Dass and his employees. A prank phone call from Chitti leads to a near-death experience for both Deva and Kaveri. Escaping alive and outraged, Deva goes and confronts Chitti, releasing his anger to the fullest extent. Chitti then reveals that he was Kamalesh's personal spy and that even though that their bosses were foes, he was happy to be a friend of Deva. Disgusted, he leaves, and Chitti to. At that moment, Yamuna arrives, hearing everything. Thus, this stir of events causes the interval of the movie.
After these events, Deva and Yamuna break up. In Malaysia, under circumstances, Chitti and Deva meet. Chitti, who was fed with drugs, falls prey to them and starts reacting. In a last attempt to rekindle their friendship, Deva attempts to save him. Chitti then explains that it was wrong of him to be a spy, but still admits that he was lucky to have Deva as a friend. He dies when Kamalesh's henchmen try to salvage the drugs by cutting him open. Heartbroken, Deva burns Chitti's body upon his request and returns to India.
When Deva arrives, Yamuna approaches him and asks the police officers to arrest him. However, she notices Chitti's phone, which he used to record a video before dying. Yamuna brings it out, which contains a recording of how Chitti died. She also sent the video to Dass. It is here that Deva did not kill Chitti but hid from Kamalesh's henchmen. Yamuna apologises to Deva, and the two come together again.
Later, circumstances force Deva to become a part of the security squad in the airport as he is accused by J. Parthiban IRS, the Assistant Commissioner of the Customs Air Intelligence Unit of carrying drugs. He denies it, saying that the packet of drugs was given by a passenger's relative as she had forgotten it. The drugs are opened, and it is found that [heroin is sealed in them. Deva then realises and explains that a huge amount of drugs are being transported by distracting him with a small amount. The flight is delayed and all passengers are asked to take food from the canteen. There are a few who do not do so, and hence, their stomach is X-rayed, and a huge packet of heroin is found. Deva is then asked to help Parthiban and the customs for arresting Kamalesh.
Deva and Parthiban put a cab-like room outside Kamalesh's house, and with Yamuna's help, a transmitter is put in Kamalesh's study. Then, all his conversations with his clients are recorded. Kamalesh later finds out and attempts to kill them, which fails. He later finds out that idols made of heroin are compressed under high pressure to disguise their smell and properties. With this evidence, the income tax department comes to raid Kamalesh's house, but he acts quickly and removes everything. During a final attempt to arrest Kamalesh, the truth is forced out of his accountant, but Kamalesh kills him to avoid any witnesses. Later, Deva's house is almost burnt, and Dass is killed by Kamalesh, which infuriates Deva. Deva is then forced to go to Africa and confront Kamalesh.
When Deva returns to India, he is again inspected by the customs officer. Deva learns that it was his mother this time who exposed his smuggling mission. He has no choice but to surrender the diamonds, and so he does. Parthiban hands Deva to sign a form, which Deva hesitates. He then learns that it is a government security job application form. Parthiban says that Deva's criminal mind is required for such a job in the customs. He then asks what had happened to Kamalesh, to which Deva replies that he had gone to the Congo to strike a business deal. Then, a flashback shows that when Kamalesh was returning from stealing the diamonds, his gang is killed by Deva, and he is pushed off the cliff.
The film ends on a happy note as Deva leaves the airport with his mother and Yamuna.

Cast

Development

Three years after the release of his debut venture Kana Kandaen starring Srikanth and Gopika, cinematographer K. V. Anand expressed his desire to commence his second film as director. He and Subha discussed several plots and settled for "Ayan" because "it was not only different but had scope for entertainment". It was later announced that Anand would be directing his next film, produced under the AVM Production banner, titled Ayan. The film was inaugurated at AVM Studios on 24 March 2008 with the presence of most of the unit members. On the occasion, Anand announced the film's genre to be an action thriller interlaced with romance and comedy. He also suggested Ayan meant "outstanding", excellence" or can be the name for sun rays in five different languages. However, this was later doubted by a few critics, raising a point saying Ayan was not necessarily a Tamil language word. Despite the film's lyricist Vairamuthu's calls for the word to be a Tamil word, it was argued that Ayan was a nickname for the Hindu deity Lord Brahma. Since the word was then touted to be borrowed from the Sanskrit language, the film was prone to a title change, in light of Tamil Nadu's Entertainment Tax Exemption Act, which was passed in 2006. A similar problem was faced by the producers of Aegan, which was also under production at the time. The controversy was later dropped. Ayan was announced to be predominantly set in various locations of both South Asia and Africa. It was made at a production cost of 200 million.

Casting

announced the film with both Suriya and Tamannaah to play the lead roles in the film. Surya was initially expected to play the lead role in Anand's earlier film but was not able to do so. Anand expressed his thoughts during the film's inauguration that "Surya was apt for the title role" since the film's title meant "sun rays" and the name "Surya" refers to the sun. Ayan would also make Surya's second film with AVM Productions, after their previous partnership in Perazhagan. Furthermore, Surya had worked with Anand since Surya's debut in the 1997 film Nerukku Ner for which Anand was the film's photographer. Surya's physique was key for his character, as he would be acting as a powerful and active youngster. During the film's launch, he announced that he would give the film his best, understanding the nature of the producers, who previously presented the big-budget film Sivaji. Tamanna, after starring in the Tamil films Kalloori and Padikathavan, was cast in Ayan. Prabhu was consecutively cast in Ayan in a pivotal role, as per his previous films, in which he played important supporting characters. It was later announced that Anand would introduce a new actor to Tamil cinema in the film, who will be playing a negative role, which was later known to be Akashdeep Saighal, who predominantly works in Bollywood films.
Apart from the film's cast, the film's crew consisted of Harris Jayaraj as the film composer along with Vairamuthu, Pa. Vijay and Na. Muthukumar as the lyricists. M. S. Prabhu was chosen as the film's cinematographer, who is a friend of Anand and worked with him under the guidance of P. C. Sriram.

Filming

Nenje Nenje’ song was shot on the sand dunes of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, Dune 7 and Dead Vlei in Namibia, in freezing temperature. Songs were composed in Mauritius, where William Honk choreographed the car chase shots. The stunt sequences were shot at Binny Mills with a huge set resembling an airport while another fight was shot at Cape Town, Africa. The filming was also held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zanzibar.

Themes and influences

The film dealt with the concept of smuggling and custom officers. In order to prepare the script, Anand did a lot of research and is said to have spoken to a lot of custom officers to understand the modus operandi of smuggling.

Music

The film's soundtrack is composed by Harris Jayaraj, in his fourth collaboration with Suriya, after Kaakha Kaakha, Ghajini and Vaaranam Aayiram, and his first colaboration with director K. V. Anand. Harris composed all the songs in Mauritius. The film's audio launch took place on 10 January 2009, at the office of Sun TV Network in Chennai, with the presence of the film's cast and crew. The audio launch had a live telecast on Sun Music. The film features six tracks, with lyrics written by Na. Muthukumar, Vairamuthu and Pa. Vijay.
The film was dubbed into Telugu as Veedokkade, and its soundtrack was released on 22 February 2009.
Reception
The soundtrack album received mostly positive reviews from music critics as well as listeners. Behindwoods gave the album 3 out of 5 stating "Harris Jayaraj’s crafting is elegant as ever. But what disappoints us here slightly is that the songs have influences of his earlier albums here and there, which could have been avoided. Harris does have it in him to give us many more ‘wah wah’ numbers." Indiaglitz gave the album 2.75 out of 5 and stated "'Ayan' has a whole lot of mix in spellbinding melodies and mind-boggling peppy numbers. Undoubtedly, Harris is there over the top with the prodigious score for his ducky actor Surya." Rediff gave the album 2.5 out of 5 stating "Harris Jeyaraj wants to break away from his usual melodies and try something new. And he has succeeded, to a certain extent. Barring one or two numbers, this effort doesn't seem to sustain itself after the first few lines but perhaps, with repeated listening, its appeal might increase."

Release

The satellite rights of the film were secured by Sun TV. The film was given a "U/A" certificate by the Indian Censor Board. AVM Productions sold the film's distribution rights for Tamil Nadu to Sun Pictures for 200 million.

Reception

Critical reception

Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote: "Ayan is Suriya’s show all the way. He bears the onus with a smile and the death-defying stunts add to the robust image he aims to project". Behindwoods wrote: "Ayan is fun. Just buy a huge bag of popcorn, a can of cola, and have a blast! But do remember the first step about the logic". Indiaglitz wrote: "Though the storyline is familiar and oft-seen in the past, the pacy narration and captivating visuals provide the necessary pep to the film".
Sify rated 3 out of 5 stars stating "Paisa Vasool".Rediff rated 3.5 out of 5 stars stating "Ayan is definitely a must-watch."

Box-office

In Chennai alone, box office totals were reported as in theatrical revenue. International distribution rights were sold to Ayngaran International. Ayan's revenue was in Malaysia and in the UK. The film's Telugu version, Veedokkade, was sold to Hyderabad based producer, Bellamkonda Suresh.
The final worldwide box office was around. The film ran over 100 days in Kerala. The Telugu version Veedokkade ran over 100 days in Andhra Pradesh.

Awards

Ayan received the most nominations in the Filmfare Awards South 2009 and in the 4th Annual Vijay Awards.
AwardCategoryNomineeResult
2009 Filmfare Awards SouthBest ActorSuriya
2009 Filmfare Awards SouthBest DirectorK.V. Anand
2009 Filmfare Awards SouthBest FilmAyan
2009 Filmfare Awards SouthBest LyricistNa. Muthukumar
2009 Filmfare Awards SouthBest LyricistVairamuthu
2009 Filmfare Awards SouthBest Male PlaybackHarish Raghavendra
2009 Filmfare Awards SouthBest Male PlaybackKarthik
2009 Filmfare Awards SouthBest Music DirectorHarris Jayaraj
2009 Filmfare Awards SouthBest Supporting ActorPrabhu
2009 Filmfare Awards SouthBest Supporting ActorJagan
2009 Filmfare Awards SouthBest Supporting ActressRenuka
2009 Filmfare Awards SouthBest Dance ChoreographerDinesh
2009 Vijay AwardsBest ActorSuriya
2009 Vijay AwardsBest Art DirectorRajeevan
2009 Vijay AwardsBest ChoreographerDhinesh
2009 Vijay AwardsBest DirectorK. V. Anand
2009 Vijay AwardsFavourite DirectorK. V. Anand
2009 Vijay AwardsBest EntertainerSuriya
2009 Vijay AwardsFavourite HeroSuriya
2009 Vijay AwardsFavourite HeroineTamannaah
2009 Vijay AwardsFavourite FilmAVM Productions
2009 Vijay AwardsFavourite SongVizhi Mooodi
2009 Vijay AwardsBest LyricistVairamuthu
2009 Vijay AwardsBest Male PlaybackHarish Raghavendra
2009 Vijay AwardsBest VFX CompositorSrinivas Karthik Kotamraju
2009 Vijay AwardsBest Supporting ActorJagan
2009 Vijay AwardsBest ComedianJagan
2009 Vijay AwardsBest Stunt DirectorKanal Kannan
2009 Vijay AwardsBest Costume DesignerNalini Sriram
2009 Vijay AwardsIcon of the YearSuriya
2009 Meera Isaiaruvi Tamil Music AwardsBest Album of the YearHarris Jayaraj
2009 South Scope 2010 AwardsBest Actor – TamilSuriya
2009 South Scope 2010 AwardsBest Actress – TamilTamannaah
2009 South Scope 2010 AwardsBest Supporting Actor – TamilPrabhu
2009 South Scope 2010 AwardsBest Comedian – TamilJagan
2009 South Scope 2010 AwardsBest Music Director – TamilHarris Jayaraj
2009 South Scope 2010 AwardsBest Male Playback – TamilHarish Raghavendra
2009 South Scope 2010 AwardsBest Male Playback – TamilKarthik
2009 South Scope 2010 AwardsBest Female Playback- TamilMahathi
2009 South Scope 2010 AwardsBest Lyricist – TamilNa. Muthukumar
2009 South Scope 2010 AwardsBest Cinematographer – TamilM.S.Prabhu