Ayan (film)

Ayan
Official poster
Directed by	K. V. Anand
Produced by	M. Saravanan M. S. Guhan
Written by	K. V. Anand Subha
Starring	Surya Tamannah Prabhu Akashdeep Saighal
Music by	Harris Jayaraj
Cinematography	M. S. Prabhu
Editing by	Anthony Gonsalves
Studio	AVM Productions
Distributed by	Sun Pictures (India) Ayngaran International (UK) FiveStar (Malaysia)
Release date(s)	3 April 2009 (2009-04-03)
Running time	158 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	20 crore (US$4.4 million)
Box office	65 crore (US$14.3 million)

Ayan (Tamil: அயன், Ayaṉ ^?; English: The Creator) is a 2009 Tamil action thriller film written and directed by K. V. Anand. The film, starring Surya, Prabhu, Tamannaah and Akashdeep Saighal 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, while filming also took place in various locations out of India, including Namibia, Malaysia, Zanzibar and South Africa. It released on April 3, 2009 worldwide to highly positive reviews, emerging a high commercial success. It was also dubbed and released on May 1, 2009 in Telugu as Veedokkade and was later dubbed in 2012 in Hindi as Vidhwanshak: The Destroyer.

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 (Jagan), 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. 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 (Tamannaah) instead. Just before he drives off, he curses himself for making such a stupid mistake. Yamuna catches this and accepts his apologies, slowly starting to fall in love with him. Meanwhile, Kamalesh (Akashdeep Saigal), the arch-enemy and competitor in 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 Deva and Kaveri. Escaping alive and outraged, Deva goes and confronts Chitti, releasing his anger to the full 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 too, and at that moment, Yamuna arrives, hearing everything. Thus, this stir of events causes the interval of the movie.

After some events, Deva and Yamuna break up. In Malaysia, under circumstances, Chitti and Deva meet. Chitti, who was fed with drugs fall 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 him as a friend. He dies. Heartbroken, Deva returns to India.

When he arrives, Yamuna approaches him and asks the police officers to arrest him. While in jail, Dass approaches the police and brings out Chitti's phone, which contains a recording how Chitti died. It is here clear that Deva didn't kill him, but hid from Kamalesh's henchmen. Yamuna apologizes to Deva and the two come together again. Then later circumstances force Deva to become a part of the security squad in the airport as he is accused by Parthiban 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 realizes and explains that 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 don't do so, and hence their stomach is X-Rayed and a huge packet of heroin is found. Then Deva is asked to help Parthiban 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 but Kamalesh later finds out and attempts to kill them, which becomes a feeble attempt. He later finds out that idols made of heroin are compressed under high pressure to disguise their smell and properties. With this evidence, the police come to raid Kamalesh's house but he acts quickly and removes all the stuff. 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 burnt and Dass is killed by Kamalesh, which infuriates Deva. He then is forced to go to Africa and confront Kamalesh.

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. He then asks what had happened to Kamalesh to which Deva replies that he had gone to Congo only to get revenge on Kamalesh. 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

• 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.
• Jagan 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 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".

Surya & Tamanna in a song

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 inaugurated at AVM Studios on March 24, 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 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. 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. 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 (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.

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.

Release

The film was declared the sole blockbuster of 2009, having generated a net revenue of approximately 65 crores worldwide. It was made at a production cost of 18 crore. AVM Productions sold the film's distribution rights for Tamil Nadu to Sun Pictures for 20 crore. In Chennai alone, box-office totals were reported as 7.43 crore in theatrical revenue. International distribution rights were sold to Ayngaran International. Ayan's revenue exceeded 5 crore in Malaysia and 50 lakhs in UK. The film's Telugu version, Veedokkade, was sold to Hyderabad-based producer Bellamkonda Suresh. The movie crossed 100 days in Kerala.

Soundtrack

Ayan soundtrack was composed by Harris Jayaraj. The Times of India credited the popularity of the film for the popularity of songs including "Nenje Nenje" and "Vizhi Moodi", stating that "music critics were impressed with the songs".

Ayan
Soundtrack album by Harris Jayaraj
Released	19 January 2009
Genre	Film soundtrack
Length	27:36
Label	AVM Music
Producer	Harris Jayaraj
Harris Jayaraj chronology
Vaaranam Aayiram (2008) Ayan (2009) Aadhavan (2009)

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Pala Pala"	Hariharan	5:25
2.	"Vizhi Moodi"	Karthik	5:32
3.	"Oyaayiye Yaayiye"	Benny Dayal, Haricharan, Chinmayi	5:33
4.	"Nenje Nenje"	Harish Raghavendra, Mahathi	5:44
5.	"Honey Honey"	Sayanora Philip, Devan Ekambaram	5:19
6.	"Oh Super Nova"	Krish	2:37
Total length:			27:36

Awards

Ayan received the most nominations (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
	Best Dance Choreographer	Dinesh (Pala Pala)	Won
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	Tamannaah Bhatia	Nominated
	Favourite Film	AVM Productions	Won
	Best Lyricist	Vairamuthu (Nenje Nenje)	Nominated
	Best Male Playback	Harish Raghavendra (Nenje Nenje)	Nominated
	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 Sivakumar	Won
2009 Meera Isaiaruvi Tamil Music Awards	Best Album of the Year	Harris Jayaraj	Won
2009 South Scope 2010 Awards	Best Actor - Tamil	Surya Sivakumar	Nominated
	Best Actress - Tamil	Tamannaah Bhatia	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor - Tamil	Prabhu Ganesan	Won
	Best Comedian - Tamil	Jagan	Nominated
	Best Music Director - Tamil	Harris Jayaraj	Won
	Best Male Playback - Tamil	Harish Raghavendra (Nenje Nenje)	Nominated
	Best Male Playback - Tamil	Karthik (Vizhi Moodi)	Nominated
	Best Female Playback- Tamil	Mahathi (Nenje Nenje)	Nominated
	Best Lyricist - Tamil	Na. Muthukumar (Vizhi Moodi)	Won
	Best Cinematographer - Tamil	M.S.Prabhu	Nominated

External links

• Ayan at the Internet Movie Database