Bogan (film)

Plot

Vikram (Jayam Ravi) is an honest cop in Tamil Nadu who tracks down a criminal named Aadhithya Varman (Aravind Swamy) who mysteriously robs jewels and money and is holding a supernatural power which enables him to switch souls. While interrogating Aadhithya, Vikram's best friend is killed by Aadhithya who switched souls into a police officer, When Vikram gets tempted and goes to shoot Aadhithya, Aadhithya switches souls again and now takes the role of Vikram and masks the killing of Vikram's best friend by saying that they both had personal vengeance. After coming to Vikram's home, Aadhithya(In Vikram's Body) Comes across Vikram's fiancee,Mahalakshmi (Hansika Motwani). When Vikram(In Aadhithya's Body) is surprised to find himself imprisoned. He explains that he is not Aadhithya to the Police officer who killed Vikram's best friend and escapes from the prison. After escaping from the prison. Aadhithya calls the Commissioner of the police and tells the mishap of events that occurred. Aadhithya overhears their conversation and kills the Commissioner. Aadhithya says that he has a confession video which says that he blamed Aadhithya(Vikram in his body) for saving his father. At the same time, Vikram(Aadhithya) unlocks Vikram(Himself)'s police data and takes the video evidence of his father robbing the bank (Aadhithya in his father's body) and threatens to reveal it to the public, But Vikram does not get scared and contacts Chezhiyan(Nassar)(Aadhithya's Head in Archaeology where he gets the Manuscript which gives him his power) and Chezhiyan thinks that he is being cheated and goes to Aadhithya(Vikram's Body) but Aadhithya reveals himself to be in Vikram's Body and makes Chezhiyan his bait to catch Vikram. While in the complex where Vikram was suppose to meet Chezhiyan. When Aadhithya was tracking Chezhiyan, Vikram hides and talks to Chezhiyan who says that Aadhithya's power is only in his body(In which Vikram is) and in other bodies his power doesn't work so Vikram uses Chezhiyan to take the Manuscript from the office Of The Commissioner. Aadhithya tracks Chezhiyan's phone and finds and kills him. Vikram(In Aadhithya's Body) goes there and puts a bomb on himself so that Aadhithya may get scared that if his body goes away he wont be able to use his powers. Aadhithya and Vikram go to their original bodies and Aadhithya forces Vikram to unlock his bomb but Vikram knocks out Aadhithya and while taking him to arrest, Aadhithya goes to Vikram's father's soul and beats Vikram after that Aadhithya goes to Maha's soul and stabs Vikram and threatens to kill Maha if he does not remove his bomb and so Vikram defuses the bomb and Aadhithya drives off with Maha.Vikram chases them and ends in a coast where the duos fight till Vikram gets the upperhand and knocks Aadhithya out and returns with his wife to home. In the end Aadhithya wakes up again and glares into the screen which goes off with the title "Bogan 2 be continued".

Cast

Production

Following the commercial success of Romeo Juliet (2015), Lakshman and Jayam Ravi announced that they would collaborate for another venture together. In August 2015, Prabhu Deva revealed that his new film studio, Prabhu Deva Studios, would associate with the actor-director pair as the producer and a launch event was held for the film, alongside Deva's other productions Sila Samayangalil (2017) and Vinodhan (2017). Lakshman initially wanted Vijay Sethupathi to portray a second leading role in the film, but his unavailability led him to consider alternate options. After discussing the role with Bobby Simha, Lakshman finalised Arvind Swamy for the role, with the actor being seen with Jayam Ravi again after the success of Thani Oruvan (2015). Meanwhile, Hansika Motwani, who starred in Romeo Juliet, also joined the team of the film during late 2015. Akshara Gowda joined the cast of the film during the first schedule and revealed that she would portray a police officer, while the co-producer Ganesh's nephew Varun and Prabhu Deva's brother Nagendra Prasad also joined the cast.

Bogan began production during March 2016 with the team filming sequences in Chennai and Pondicherry during the month. A song titled "Damaalu Dumeelu" featuring Jayam Ravi, Akshara Gowda, Varun and Nagendra Prasad shot first at Binny Mills in Chennai, while a press release confirmed that most of Romeo Juliet's technical crew including music director D. Imman, cinematographer Soundararajan, editor Anthony and stunt master Dhilip Subbarayan, would be retained in Bogan. Lakshman revealed that both Ravi and Arvind Swamy would play "dual-dimensioned" roles of a police officer and a former prince, while Hansika would feature as a homemaker.

In October 2016, the film ran into trouble after an aspiring director, Anthony, alleged that the story of Bogan belonged to him. Anthony claimed that he had begun production on a film titled Halwa starring Lollu Sabha Jeeva for producer Kasthuri Raja in 2011, and after the film ran into production trouble, he had emailed a copy of the script to Bogan's co-producer, Ganesh, who later chose to make it with Lakshman as director. Anthony later claimed that Ganesh had used goondas to attack him, and that he had turned down Vikraman of the Director’s Association's request for him to take away a compensation package. In reply, Lakshman criticised Anthony and threatened him with legal action for trying slander the film and his name, and revealed that he had been tipped off by producer Nemichand Jhabak and actress Nayanthara about Anthony's attempts to use his story in a different project. Concluding the issue, Vikraman suggested that Anthony's claims were false and that he had no sympathy for the pair of the directors as the story seemed strongly inspired from the English film Face/Off (1997). The film subsequently finished production in early November 2016, after a song choreographed by Sheriff and other patchwork was completed.

Release

The makers of the film initially announced 7 October 2016 as the tentative release date of the film, but were unable to complete the film as early as they had expected. A second proposed release date of 23 December 2016 was also postponed after the makers were affected by the 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation issue. Further dates of 26 January and 9 February were also scheduled to avoid a clash with Studio Green's big budget Si3 (2017), but after Singam 3 was moved to 9 February, the makers of Bogan confirmed that they would release the film on 2 February 2017.

In their review of Bogan, The Hindu concluded that it was "a fair-enough popcorn thriller, anchored by a terrific Arvind Swamy" and stated that it was an improvement from Lakshman's previous film. Sify.com provided a positive review stating that the film was "entertaining and engaging" and that "Lakshman proves that he is a director with substance and can make good commercial entertainers" and that "Bogan is his breakthrough film and he is here to stay as a filmmaker". The reviewer added that "overall, Bogan is worthy of a watch for its new theme, rich visuals and music, fantastic performances by Jayam Ravi and Arvind Swamy and fine making by Lakshman". In contrast, another critic on Sify.com stated "On paper, Bogan comes across as a great story idea – one that involves soul-swapping – but when translated on screen, it becomes one of those films which has a shaky start, impresses midway and then loses steam towards the end trying to play to the gallery." Similarly, the critic from The Times of India added Lakshman "gives us a thriller that begins well and is engaging for the most part, before losing some intensity towards the end".

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack is scored by D. Imman. The audio rights of the film was acquired by Sony Music India and the complete album was released on 3 December 2016. Actor Arvind Swamy recorded a song for the film as a playback singer for the first time in his career, after having previously recited lines for songs in Iruvar (1997) and Thani Oruvan (2015). Anirudh Ravichander also recorded a song titled "Damaal Dumeel", which was released earlier than the soundtrack as a single, following the success of the song "Dandanakka" from his previous work with Imman in Lakshman's Romeo Juliet (2015). Luksimi Sivaneswaralingam from Canada and Inno Genga from the United Kingdom – both Tamil people of Sri Lankan origin – were given the opportunity by Imman to sing in the film, while established singers including Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghoshal and Vijay Prakash also worked on the album.