Bogan movie review

Ever since the makers of Bogan unveiled the first look poster, there was a buzz in Kollywood saying that the film’s basic story is heavily inspired from John Woo’s stylish fantasy action thriller Face/Off. 

Perhaps director Lakshman would have thought that Face Transplantation is a high concept for Kollywood audiences so he preferred the accessible ‘Koodu Vittu Koodu Paaiythal’ (Ancient Body Swapping technique) in Bogan. The director has also justified the title by introducing Saint Bogar and incorporated more such native elements to suit the taste of our commercial audiences…

The film begins with Aditya (Arvind Swamy), who leads a king like life and tells us that his parents should have named him ‘Bogan’. Without wasting time, we get to see Vikram (‘Jayam’ Ravi), an upright honest cop, who operates closely with his young team and nail baddies in Chennai city. 

Unfortunately Vikram’s dad (Aadukalam  Naren) gets accused for robbing truckload of money from his own bank. During his investigation, Vikram finds that somehow Aditya makes unknown people to work for him and they eventually fall unconscious.

To catch Aditya, Vikram sketches a deceptive plan but winning over a criminal of high standard is not that easy. Aditya cleverly swaps his mind/soul with Vikram’s body and from there, the cat and mouse game begins...

The first few minutes of Bogan actually appears as the extension of Thani Oruvan but slowly, director Lakshman’s screenplay tells us that things won’t be subtle here and starts playing it to the gallery.

Be it the typical loosu ponu heroine, action sequences and pre-interval confrontation scene between Ravi and Arvind Swamy, Bogan can be rightly termed as stylishly made routine commercial entertainer!! Yes, Bogan has rich production values, two talented actors to enthrall us but at heart, the film is a regular mass masala entertainer.

Performance wise, Arvind Swamy completely own the film with his riveting performance as the bad-to-the-bone Aditya and attracts us with his stylish swag and apt modulation. Once again ‘Jayam’ Ravi is earnest, more than first half, the actor gets more scope to score post intermission and he does that with so much ease. Hansika looks voluptuous in few scenes in the second half and apart from that, the actress has only repeated her usual set of expressions.

Technically Anthony’s sharp cuts is a major plus while  Soundararajan’s grand visuals and Imman’s pulsating background score helped to maintain the tempo of the film.

Though Bogan worked to major extent, the climax was quite underwhelming with age old villain using hero’s loved ones to take revenge but otherwise, the director has got everything to satisfy mainstream audiences, who seek plain entertainment.

Verdict: Mass masala version of Face/Off

Director : Lakshman

Actors: ‘Jayam’ Ravi, Hansika, Arvind Swamy

Music: Imman

Producer: Prabhu Deva Studios