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Ayan
Ayan is a 2009 Tamil action thriller film written and directed by K. V. Anand. The film, starring Surya, Prabhu, Tamanna and Karunas in lead roles, was produced by M. Saravanan and M. S. Guhan, while distribution handled by Sun Pictures. The film score was composed by Harris Jayaraj, the soundtrack released on January 19, 2009. Edited by Anthony Gonsalvez, the film was filmed by M. S. Prabhu.
The film's story revolves around Deva, a youngster whose mother wants him to become a government official. He, on the other hand, works for a smuggling group run by Arumuga Dass who has been looking after him since childhood. Conflict occurs when Deva's arch rival, Kamalesh opposes and tries to eliminate Arumuga Dass from the smuggling business. Who wins in the conflict forms the climax of the story.
The film was launched in Chennai and released the following year on April 3, 2009 worldwide to positive reviews. It released in Telugu as Veedokkade. Filming also took place in various locations out of India, including Namibia, Malaysia, Zanzibar and South Africa.
Plot
Deva (Surya Sivakumar) arrives at the Chennai International Airport after running an errand for Arumuga Dass (Prabhu Ganesan) of smuggling pre-release pirated movies on DVD. The two leave for their hideout and instruct Dilli (Karunas), 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 (Jegan), who had no affiliation to them volunteers, takes the blame. Later, Chitti joins Dass's group.
Dass is a diamond trafficker who smuggles diamonds from Africa. Deva's mother Kaveri (Renuka) 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.
Deva goes to take revenge on Kamalesh. After an intense battle, Kamalesh falls off the high cliffs of the Congo[disambiguation needed] and Deva retrieves the diamonds. When he returns to India, he is again inspected by Parthiban. 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 is a government security job application form. Parthiban says that Deva's criminal mind is required for such a job. The film ends on a happy note as Deva leaves the airport with his mother and Yamuna.
Cast
- Surya Sivakumar as Devaraj Velusamy. Deva is a post-graduate whose mother, Kaveri, wants him to get a government job. His mischievous attitude appeals to the eyes of Yamuna. Deva, who also expresses his love to Yamuna, prioritizes Dass before anything else, as he shows great respect to him.
- Tamanna Bhatia as Yamuna. Yamuna, the sister of Deva's friend Chitti, falls in love with Deva after an incident with him at her house. She also assists Deva to help expose the Kamalesh's smuggling business.
- Prabhu Ganesan as Arumuga Dass. Dass is a smuggler of diamonds who has receives the diamonds from errands ran by his right-hand, Deva. Dass is disrespected by Kaveri, whose husband was once killed while working for him. Dass gets killed in a collision with an oiler tank, perpetrated by Kamalesh.
- Akashdeep Saighal as Kamalesh. Kamalesh is the main opponent of Dass, who is jealous of Dass' growth in the smuggling business. He finds ways to buy the clients of Dass, without success however. A cold-hearted business minded character, he kills his father who opposes him when he is found smuggling drugs. Kamalesh gets killed by Deva during the climax of the film by Deva.
- Jegan as Chitti Babu. Chitti is Deva's best friend and the older brother of Yamuna. He is caught betraying Dass, as he is really a henchman of Kamalesh. Kamalesh's gang kills him when they are ordered to remove the packets of heroin from his stomach.
- Karunas as Dilli. Dilli is part of Dass' crew of smuggling who often forgets to plug in his hearing device. He is suspected by Dass when he finds out his information is being leaked out.
- Ponvannan as Parthiban. The chief inspector at the Chennai International Airport who often receives information about Deva smuggling goods during his flight trips. Once Deva finds ways of hiding the goods, Parthiban is dumbfounded when he finds Deva to be clean of smuggled items.
- Renuka as Kaveri Velusamy. Kaveri, a widow, is Deva's mother. She is often strict with Deva as she does not want him having affairs with Dass and his smuggling crew.
- Koena Mitra in an item number. Appears during the song "Honey Honey" as an item number.
Production
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. It was later announced that Anand would be directing his next film, produced under the AVM Production banner, titled Ayan. The film was inaugrated at AVM Studios on March 24, 2008 with the presence of most of the unit members.[3] 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 lyricst 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.[4] 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.
Casting
K. V. Anand announced the film with both Surya Sivakumar and Tamanna Bhatia to play the lead roles in the film.[5] Surya was initially expected to play the lead role in Anand's earlier film, but was not able to do so.[6] Anand expressed his thoughts during the film's inaugration 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.[7] Surya's physique was key for his character, as he would be a 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 (for which she was nominated for a Filmfare Award) and Padikathavan, was cast in Ayan. Prabhu Ganesan 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.[8]
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 National Film Award-winning cinematographer P. C. Sriram.[9]
Release
The movie became a blockbuster film, generating revenue of Rs 80 crores, the third highest in the history of Tamil Cinema, after Sivaji and Dasavathaaram.[10][11] The film grossed at box-offices across domestic and overseas markets.[12] Ayan was made at a production cost of Rs.15 crores. AVM Productions sold the film's distribution rights for Tamil Nadu to Sun Pictures for Rs.18 crores. In Chennai alone, box-office totals were reported as Rs. 7.43 crores in theatrical revenue.[13] International distribution rights were sold to Ayngaran International. Ayan's revenue exceeded Rs.5 crores in Malaysia.[14] The film's Telugu version, Veedokkade, was sold to Hyderabad-based producer Bellamkonda Suresh for Rs.3 crores. The movie crossed 100 days in kerala also (trivandrum) . [15]
Ayan was termed as the only blockbuster for the year 2009 in Tamil Nadu.[16][17][18][19] Ayan soundtrack also topped the album sales for 2009. "Nenje Nenje" was selected the title song of the year and "Vizhi Moodi" was selected the most popular mobile downloads of the year.[20]
Soundtrack
| Ayan | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack by Harris Jayaraj | ||||
| Released | 19 January 2009 | |||
| Genre | Soundtrack | |||
| Length | 27:36 | |||
| Label | AVM Music | |||
| Producer | Harris Jayaraj | |||
| Harris Jayaraj chronology | ||||
| ||||
| No. | Song | Singers | Length (min:sec) | Lyrics | Notes |
| 1 | Pala Pala | Hariharan | 5:25 | Na. Muthukumar | Features Surya with extras; shot in Chennai, Malaysia and parts of Africa. |
| 2 | Vizhi Moodi | Karthik | 5:32 | Na. Muthukumar | Romantic interlude with Surya and Tamanna Bhatia. |
| 3 | Oyaayiye Yaayiye | Benny Dayal, Haricharan, Chinmayi | 5:33 | Pa. Vijay | Romantic interlude with Surya and Tamanna Bhatia filmed in sets. |
| 4 | Nenje Nenje | Harish Raghavendra, Mahathi | 5:44 | Vairamuthu | Romantic interlude with Surya and Tamanna Bhatia, shot in the Namib Desert. |
| 5 | Honey Honey | Devan, Sayanora Philip | 5:19 | Pa. Vijay | Item number featuring Koena Mitra also featuring Akashdeep Saighal and Surya. |
| 6 | Oh Super Nova/Hey Raja | Krish | 2:37 | Na. Muthukumar | Plays with the opening credits;included in Second Released soundtrack album. |
Awards and nominations
In addition to the following list of awards and nominations, prominent Indian film websites named Ayan one of the 10 best Tamil films of 2009, with Rediff, Sify and Behindwoods all doing such that. Ayan received the most nonimations (11) in the South Filmfare Awards 2009.
| Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 Filmfare Awards South | Best Actor | Surya Sivakumar | Nominated |
| Best Director | K.V. Anand | Nominated | |
| Best Film | Ayan | Nominated | |
| Best Lyricist | Na. Muthukumar (Vizhi Moodi) | Won | |
| Best Lyricist | Vairamuthu (Nenje Nenje) | Nominated | |
| Best Male Playback | Harish Raghavendra (Nenje Nenje) | Nominated | |
| Best Male Playback | Karthik (singer) (Vizhi Moodi) | Nominated | |
| Best Music Director | Harris Jayaraj | Won | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Prabhu | Nominated | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Jagan | Nominated | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Renuka | Nominated | |
| 2009 Vijay Awards | Best Actor | Surya Sivakumar | Nominated |
| Best Art Director | Rajeevan | Nominated | |
| Best Choreographer | Dhinesh Pala Pala | Nominated | |
| Best Director | K.V.Anand | Nominated | |
| Favourite Director | K.V.Anand | Nominated | |
| Best Entertainer | Surya Sivakumar | Won | |
| Favourite Hero | Surya Sivakumar | Nominated | |
| Favourite Heroine | Tamanna Bhatia | Nominated | |
| Favourite Film | A.V.M Productions | Won | |
| Best Lyricist | Vairamuthu (Nenje Nenje) | Nominated | |
| Best Male Playback | Harish Raghavendra (Nenje Nenje | Nominated | |
| Best Music Director | Harris Jayaraj | Won | |
| Favourite Song | Harris Jayaraj (Vizhi Moodi) | Nominated | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Jagan | Nominated | |
| Best Comedian | Jagan | Nominated | |
| Best Stunt Director | Kanal Kannan | Nominated | |
| Best Costume Designer | Nalini Sriram | Nominated | |
| Icon of the Year | Surya | Won | |
| 2009 Meera Isaiaruvi Tamil Music Awards | Best Album of the Year | Harris Jayaraj | Won |
