User reviews

Iru Mugan (2016): Vikram is one of the most versatile actors of Indian Film Industry.I have a huge respect for his hard work and he is kinda my inspiration.Though he excels in the every role he did,there is no commercial success for him after Anniyan (2005). Even with this bad status,he still prefers to do versatile roles which proves his talent.Iru Mugan,dubbed as Inkokkadu in Telugu released today amidst huge expectations.How is it???

Plot: Akhilan (Vikram) is an officer in RAW. The secret agent left the organization as his wife Meera (Nayanathara) was killed by a transgender pharmaceutical mafia don Love (Vikram) four years ago. Akhilan destroys the empire of Love and kills him. Four years later, a group of RAW agents notice that the network of Love has resurfaced. Now, Akhilan is called again for work. Akhilan along with trainee RAW agent Aarushi (Nithya Menon) heads to Malaysia to find out about Love. What happens next??

Plus Points:

1)Performances: There is no doubt that Vikram once again proved his stamina and versatility.In the role of Love Vikram gave terrific performance.He perfectly showed the mannerisms of a transgender without going overboard.From his walking style as transgender to the wicked smile of Love,Vikram's show all the way.Nayanthara looked pretty.Nithya Menen has a limited role.

2)Plot: Iru Mugan has a decent plot of stopping a terrorist act but a transgender being the villain made this plot unique.

3)Interval episode: Interval scene is awesome with high octane action scenes which are shot brilliantly.A twist also comes at that point which comes as unexpected(not for me..)

4)Second half: Though its not perfect,its very good when compared to dull first half.It has racy action and thrilling scenes which features Love.

5)BGM: Harris Jayraj gave brilliant theme for Iru Mugan.Though it is used repeatedly in the movie,it helped a lot in few scenes.

Minus Points:

1)First half: First half of Iru Mugan moves at a very slow pace without any surprises.Though they showed scenes of undercover investigation scenes,there is no thrill or interesting matter.Comedy done by Thambi Ramayya is irritating

2)Lot of flaws: Iru Mugan has lot of loopholes which are easy to find.In few scenes there is absolutely no logic.

3)Songs: Except Helena,others are boring and even comes at wrong times which disturbs the flow of movie.

So,Iru Mugan is another proof for Vikram's talent but a dull first half and inconsistency in screenplay makes this a One-Time Watch movie.

My rating 6.5/10

Vikram has proved in every film that he can do anything in any way for just a movie. He proved that again in IruMugan. In any ways you can't blame him for any of his movies as he does his part properly and in fact excellently. The story is of course a mix of plenty of Hollywood movies. Of course we can watch those Hollywood kind of movies in tamil , it's obviously acceptable than the usual Vijay ajith kind of movies in tamil. But what anand shankar could cleared out is the logic loopholes which are plenty in the movie. And he could have written better dialogues as it never impresses you in any part of the movie. The scenes were fast paced in the first half even though there were songs kept in wrong places. But the second half actually turned out boring in many places. The love character was played brilliantly by vikram but the dialogues there could have been better as it seemed extremely normal. The bgm was extremely good in many places. Harris has proved that he is the king of melody in the movie again. Overall this movie is decent one time entertainer which could have been really better if it avoided the uncertain moments in it.

When a project has Chiyaan Vikram in its cast list, the perception around it takes on a different color. And director Anand Shankar's second directorial Iru Mugan is no exception either. To top it, we have two Vikrams who are vying for our attention in the aptly titled film.

A trailer is something that gives the audience a sneak peek of what to expect and also kindle the curiosity levels to make them buy the tickets and go to the theatre. Going by that, the trailer gave an inkling of how Iru Mugan is going to be.

Director Anand Shankar has attempted to give an action oriented espionage thriller with some scientific innovations thrown in. There are high flung chemical formulae mouthed by the characters with references to Hitler too. Looks like the team had done their research on it fine.

Well crafted action sequences, stylishly shot visuals, decent music and neat performances mark Iru Mugan. However, there is something amiss in the film to make you feel that it was such a well made, taut, commercial potboiler.

What can one say about Vikram? He gives his life and soul to any character that he essays and in Iru Mugan too, it is his show all the way. As the RAW officer Akilan, he brings out the ruthlessness and sharpness of an intelligence officer and as Love, he rocks it big time. He blends in the masculinity and also the effeminate nature of the character pretty well. It sure is a tightrope walking and kudos to the director for not making a mockery of such characters. But, why is this character this way? Was it just to bring in quirkiness?

Nayanthara and Nithya Menen have their roles clearly etched out to bring in the color to the proceedings. Interesting job descriptions such as ethical hacker and RAW case officer sound cool. Out of the supporting characters, Thambi Ramaiah has more screen time and the role is like any other one that he has been portraying in many of his films. It is a little unconvincing to see cop characters continuing to be projected outright silly on screen.

The beauty of Malaysia, Kashmir and other places come to the fore with RD Rajasekar's visuals. Bhuvan Srinivasan's edits appear decent. Under Harris Jayaraj's musical Halena song stays on. Although the songs are richly choreographed and shot, they are all unnecessary protractions especially when the proceedings are at a different gear. Costumes of Nayanthara are outright chic and uber cool.

In an investigative action thriller such as this, scenes must proceed at a rapid pace. But there are moments when we leave the happenings on screen and wander around. The team should have focused more on the story and screenplay, which could have resulted in a better product. The intended twists are well guessable by the current audience. There are a few logical questions which look unanswered in the story.

To sum it all, Iru Mugan has its pluses in the form of technical prowess and performances but the core story and the treatment let it down.

Verdict: Vikram in full form, technically strong too. But script and logic could have been handled better

Chiyaan as Akilan: designed like Hollywood intelligent agent As love: simply excellent Nayanthara: Looks pretty, good performance Nithya Menon: small role, but remains in mind, Thambi Ramaiyah: Not well used Songs: Boring background score: climax portion is good, other than that,

Cinematography: The beauty of Malaysia, Kashmir and other places come to the fore with RD Rajasekar's visuals

Screenplay: 1st half just good, 2nd half okay plus: villain role, interval twist, relation of script to history minus: screenplay, songs

Well crafted action sequences, stylishly shot visuals, decent music and neat performances mark Iru Mugan. However, there is something amiss in the film to make you feel that it was such a well made, taut, commercial potboiler.

Good movie. Vikram as usual wonderfully acted the dual roles. Vikram, Nayanthara and everybody acted very well in the movie. Songs and BGM in the movie was also very good. But the movie was not so interesting. That is the main disadvantage of the movie but the movie was good.

I don't mind well made movies inspired from other language movies but this movie is very poorly executed. Too many instances from Hollywood movies and they didn't know how to stitch them into a seamless one. The result looks so forced and silly. The very intro scene of Vikram was ripped from both Rambo and Sherlock Holmes. All it manages to achieve is boosting Vikram's ego and nothing more. What's with the scientist who just spills the beans even without asking much about what he has been upto ??

After a very long time, I stopped watching a Tamil movie half way through as I was not able to bear wasting my time on such a mess.

Vikram like Kamal Hassan has always been more inclined to experimenting with roles rather than take up plain every day stuff that every other star is doing. IRU MUGAN is just one of those experiments and yes he has pulled it off with ease.

The movie opens with a 71-year-old creating a havoc in the Indian Embassy in Malaysia with super human strength and finally dropping down dead.

RAW is pulled into the scene and a Rookie Agent Aayushi (Nithya Menon) discovers a "love tattoo" on the dead man. RAW chief Malik (Nasir) remembers that the tattoo is a symbol of a dreaded terrorist Love (Vikram) in whose pursuit RAW lost one of its best agents Meera (Nayantara) when she was shot dead and Meera's Husband Akhilan (Vikram again) another RAW agent had a nervous breakdown and had to be discharged from the unit.

Since Akhilan was the only one alive who has seen Love, Malik recruits him unofficially and sends him to Malaysia to investigate along with Aayushi. Aayushi discovers that the dead man happens to be inhaling a drug called Speed, the same one which Adolf Hitler was rumored to have given his Nazi troops to fight the war with super human strength. The drug was known to increase the Adrenalin rush in the body.

Following some leads Akhilan and Aayushi finally come face to face with Love only to discover that all the while Love had been hiding a secret……..

Vikram is fantastic as LOVE, the body language, the expressions and the one liners all make this character as one of the best villains Indian films have come up with. Vikram as Akhilan is just OK, he does the same thing which is expected of a south Indian Hero, it is LOVE that steals the show here.

Nayantara as Meera is as hot as anyone can get, she has different shades to her role. Like Vikram's LOVE, she too has an evil alter- ego ROSY. She is equally good as the bad girl.

Nithya Menon is just OK as the rookie agent, but its her voice modulation for the character which saves the day for her. She just uses the right tone when interrogating people or when making a point. It shows how important it is for an actor/actress to dub their own lines.

Back ground score by Harris Jayaraj is excellent and the song "HALENA" needs a special mention.

RD Rajashekhar's cinematography captures the well choreographed chase sequences and the flashy sets magnificently. Anand Shankar's screenplay and Direction are top notch and he really proves he has what it takes to come up with an excellent sci- fi/espionage thriller.

If they had edited Thambi Ramaih's character completely, the movie would have been more crisper and tight. The character is down right silly and only helps in slowing the plot.

I would recommend it to anyone who loves flashy thrillers with good action and chase sequences and out of the world plot.

Synopsis – The film is all about how the undercover agent Akhilan defeat a pharmaceutical mad-scientist named... "Love" who is ready to market his dangerous drug in and around the world. The drug which can transform an ordinary man to supermen for 5 minutes. (The director should be inspired from Hollywood film called "Limitless" & many more - No offence though)

Iru mugan started with an amazing top view of Malaysia, however simply failed to become an impressive thriller. Anand Shanker's first film "Arima Nambi" was quite impressive as it was a well- cooked light meal to digest for. When it boils down to Iru Mughan, it's just a high calorie junk food which just fills the stomach without supplying any minerals. The director cum writer Anand Shankar have had an excellent plot in hand, however the dragging script formation & laziness in showing the perfection in tailoring the scenes (Except Action) are clearly visible. The forced comic scenes by a Tamil Cop in Malaysia sits uneasily with the seriousness of Hero's mission. Why suddenly a flash back scene & a song while chasing the truck to locate the main villain? The script is however flavored with twist and turns which was highly predictable for me. Anand should come up with challenging / engaging thriller if in case he gets date from an acclaimed actor.

Without Chiyan Vikram & Nayanthara the movie could have been a crap, Anand should be thankful for their honest performance. Hats off to Vikram for his classic performance as both Akilan & Love. Nayanthara was looking beautiful in all frames irrespective of quality of the movie. Thampi Ramayah's performance was decent, however exaggerated comic element was irrelevant for such a film. Nithya Menen becoming quite Typo character as she continues to do supporting actor along with the lead heroin. The rest of the cast were decent enough to play their own roles.

When it comes to the technical side, Ace Cinematographer R D Rajashekar really deserves appreciation for brilliant delivery of frames and some moving close up shots. The top view of Malaysia, Kashmir & songs were excellently captured. However, bit disappointed with Bhuvan's editing department as I guess the songs were misplaced and the flashback scene didn't sink well with the story narration. And it affected the film's flaw drastically. The choreography team did well & innovative in all songs except "Helena". Hariss Jayraj strikes with his impact-full BGM & songs right from the opening credits.

Bottom Line –

The only reward if you spend time & money in theatre by watching Iru Mughan would be the music by Haris Jayraj & tremendous performance by Chiyan Vikram.

Watched iru mugan with som expectation. Did it satisfy?. Good things about the movie first. It had great visuals, locations and good performance from Vikram if not his best performance. Apart from Vikram every one was made to look dumb including Thambi Ramaiah, Karunakaran, Female leads. With a very nice concept they could have made a edge of the seat thriller, but instead the movie is so predictable which makes it boring at many times. Also the movie looks very lengthy. I thought movie was over one hour before the movie actually came to an end. With this concept there at least the action should have been innovative, but that falls flat.

We can watch it only if we are a fan of Vikram.

A simple but an effective storyline. A refreshing action-sci-fi that had a few flaws. First of all it was unnecessary the lead actor playing the both good and negative roles. That gives the impression how character obsessed these actors are. Yep the negative role was powerful, so if someone better actor in the part would have been much better for cinema. That's the major setback in this and the rest of the film is enjoyable.

This is the story of an ex Indian agent who brought in back for a special mission. The death of his wife and this new organisation has something in common. So he has to find out what's it and if they are the same gang, then it'll be the revenge time. The remaining film is a cat and mouse game, and how it all ends was told with a final face off between two men.

I liked the story, but many scenes were so cliché. Besides, the songs were disadvantaged. Indians might enjoy that, not the international audience, because it disturbed the rhythm of the fine story of an agent. The stunts were okay, the cinematography was good. Actors, actresses, all were excellent. Even that sci-fi theme was impressive. Somehow they have missed to turn it into a masterpiece. So once watchable film, a decent agent film like this won't come easy from India.

6.5/10

One of the most pathetic and logically flawed movies I've seen in a long time. There is utter laziness in writing. The movie manages to become more and more dreadful by the minute. There is no substance or any kind of subtext. The last scene is the most hilarious one in the whole film. I fail to see Vikram for his level, even considering doing such bizarrely flawed logic less film. One other well funded pathetic movie in the list of block busters. I don't see why Anand Shankar(The director) took almost the whole of 2015 to come up with the script. Watch it for enjoying utter stupidity and lack of sense. Otherwise there is not one thing that is worth even mentioning to be anywhere close to a good film.

Imagine if a man destroys all liquor shops but keeps few liquor bottles with him for him to drink,What will u call him? Imagine if a man destroys all brothels but keeps few girls as his mistresses,What will you call him? These two examples are I felt after watching iru mugan. I was about to enjoy and finally like some vikram movie after anniyan but like deiva thirumagal it's ending also ruins everything. Bad luck vikram.

Yes, I verified the other negative reviews - Movie is slow and does not need songs - Why is vikram the hero and villain ("Bhai ko sirf bhai hi maar sakta hai phenomenon" ?) - Actors really don't care about situations and just go on saying their dialogues robotically - Really bad and illogical(yet predictable because it is so bad) twists

In short, god awful movie !!!!

Erywhere is Vikram, being his die-hard fan, I didn't like this direction. One of the crappiest movies I have ever seen for a long time. Many nonsense and unnecessary events make this dull.

If there is a 3rd world war, Its not going to be with Atom bombs or Guns. It will be Bio war either Cyber War. At this point many counties not ready for Cyber War; maybe except few countries. But many countries already created bio-weapons and they started testing in small countries (Eg: Zika Virus, Ebola virus ). There is a 2006 Tamil movie "E" clearly explains the Bio-war and how they using small countries for testing. It will sound funny to many people but it's true! if u do a deep research about it you will understand the dark side of the upcoming world.

Story: Movie starts with a terrorist attack on Indian Embassy in Malaysia. 70 year old man use his inhaler and he became super human for 5 minutes, killed twenty people in the embassy and after five minutes he also dies. Now Indian government must investigate the attack and they getting a lead with symbol of Love in the old man's head which is pointing the terrorist called "LOVE". Ex-RAW agent Akilan who killed love 4 years ago in Kashmir, now they need to bring him back to investigate this attack. He starts the investigation with help of Nithiya Menon (RAW case officer) and Malaysian Police. Rest of the story how he is finding out "Love", How he escaped from India, What happened to Vikram's wife Nayantara, who's is the mastermind behind love's untraceable activities, How he going to stop love's plans... You watch it on Screen!!

Acting: What can we say about Vikram? He gives his life and soul to any character that he play and in Iru Mugan too, it is his show all the way. As a RAW Agent Akilan he is stylish cold-hearted intelligent officer & Effeminate Character "Love" brings out the manliness and feminine side. He nailed it as Love. he made audience to though like they are two different actors with his perfect acting. Nayanthara (Ethical Hacker) and Nithya Menen (RAW case officer) have their roles clearly to further development of story and bring in the color to the movie. Thambi Ramaiya made us to laugh in few scenes as Malaysian Police Officer.

Technical: Kudos to Director Anand Shankar for fresh elements without stereotype story. There are lot of chemical formulas used by the characters with references. Specially the "Speed" drug (Crystal methamphetamine) used by Hitler in 2nd World war to increase his soldiers speed. I love the way he explain each detail to make us understand. He done a lot of research in small details too. Specially in the title card they showing the Evolution of weapons used in Wars. Harrish Jeyaraj did decent work with BGM and songs. R. D. Rajasekhar cinematography is colorful well captured Malaysia but what is important to movie only.

Plus+: Vikram, Nayantara, Love Character, Interval Block, Technical details in small things, Harrish Jeyaraj BGM, Cinematography & director brought new elements to Tamil audience.

Minus-: Event though shot in high quality & eye catching costumes, unnecessary placements of songs slowing down the movie. There are a few logical questions which look unanswered like why the love character is like that? why the police didn't try to enter the room in hospital when they lost the surveillance?

But still Iru Mugan has its pluses in the form of technical skill and performances. I usually don't write long reviews for movies except i'm impressed.I'm impressed with the concept here. My rating for this movie would be 3.5/5

P.S: Above review was written in my point of view and everyone got different taste!

Btw movie is okey but lack in inconstancy ,vikarm sir acting is good and perfectly excutly role of love which attracted the audience which is further good part of movie I like her ,thanx for reading.

What a mystery, every character was badass, vikram acting level was top, i love it!!

Iru Mugan starts with a strong opening scene which establishes the main concept dealt in the film but right after the scene, the film feels too draggy till the interval. We are supposed to get along the story but instead, we are watching Vikram and Nithya Menen's action sequences and Thambi Ramaiah's comedy scenes which are making us disconnect from the initial story. It's only after the interval that the film starts to be much more interesting with only Vikram's terrific screen presence. Well, as Akilan the protagonist, Vikram's role doesn't seem to be heroic nor interesting because his backstory is totally wasted by a simple illogic factor. As Love the antagonist, Vikram shines on screen. He shows his versatility as an actor by portraying the role perfectly. His mannerisms, his attitude, and his performance are a delight for the audience. His role adds so much intensity to the film and helps it be engaging further. Except for Vikram, Iru Mugan fails to offer strong characters. On the musical front, Harris Jayaraj made a decent album and a pulsating background score. Visually Iru Mugan looks stylish. There are so many cinematic shots that help the film to be a high-quality venture. Coming back to Anand Shankar, he has done a decent job in this action entertainer and the scientific concept that he deals with in the film adds a certain uniqueness. While handling such a concept, Anand Shankar fails to look up to the logic because we witness so many illogical scenes that unfortunately need scientific researches. There are only a few surprising plot points that create a high peak effect in the film. Overall, Iru Mugan can be watched for Iru Vikram's screen presence.

Story is so pathetic! Time waisting! No thrill, no mystery, typical action! Just give 5 for concept!