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Devan (film)

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Devan
Poster
Directed byArun Pandian
Written byArun Pandian
Produced byArun Pandian
StarringVijayakanth
Karthik
Arun Pandian
Meena
Kausalya
CinematographyP. Selvakumar
Edited byB. S. Vasu
Saleem
Music byIlaiyaraaja
Production
company
Friends Creations
Release date
  • 14 June 2002 (2002-06-14)
Running time
175 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Devan is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by Arun Pandian making his debut as a director. The film stars himself in the title role being his 50th project as an actor[1] with Meena and Kausalya, while Vivek and Malayalam actor Sai Kumar play supporting roles. Actors Vijayakanth, Karthik and Senthil make guest appearances. Sai Kumar made his Tamil debut with this film. The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The film was released on 14 June 2002.[2]

Plot

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The movie opens with Alex Devan murdering photographer Jeeva in cold blood in the latter's house. Jeeva strategically positions a video camera to capture the impending murder, but Devan's face is not captured on it. Jeeva shouts out the name of his killer before dying, but the audio is lost at that point.

While the police search for the killer, Devan zeroes in on Chetta Raghu as his next target. He follows Chetta to Chandigarh but is apprehended by CBI officer Rathnavel. Rathnavel is a tasked with bringing down hoarders and black marketers of India's staple grains. Once Rathnavel realises that Chetta is a mastermind of the hoarding operation, he begins to help Devan, even hiring successful lawyer Chakravarthy to fight for him.

The flashback shows that Devan's sister Jacqueline was killed by Chetta. Earlier, Chetta and Devan were friends, but Chetta stalks and harasses Jacqueline. He peeps on her when she is bathing, and when she finds out about it, she slaps him in public. Chetta decides to take revenge. On Jacqueline's wedding day, he drugs her and sends her to church in the bridal costume with no dress underneath. Chetta then grabs her costume from the car, thus rendering her completely naked in public. He then shoots her and her groom. Devan is framed for the crime and wants to avenge his sister's death.

In the end, Chetta is killed.

Cast

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Production

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The film was Arun Pandian's 50th film as actor and debut film as director. The climax scene was shot in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, at the harbour, where underwater sequences were shot, using helicopters and ships, 3000 tractors, 50 buses, and 200 camels. Says Arun Pandian, "It's a story that I penned about 10 years back. Earlier when I casually talked to Vijayakanth about my intention of directing a film he had said that he would definitely act whenever I directed it. I reminded him of it and he promptly agreed. He was confident and didn't have any apprehension that I being the actor-director would give more footage to myself!".[3][4] Vijayakanth made a special appearance, and charged no remuneration for doing so.[5]

Soundtrack

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The soundtrack and background score were composed by music director Ilaiyaraaja. [6][7]

No. Song Singers Lyrics
1 "Intha Ezhai Geetham" Ilaiyaraaja Palani Bharathi
2 "Kanda Kanda Pasanga" S. N. Surendar, P. Unnikrishnan
3 "Sexy Bomb" Mathangi, Ganga, Viji Manuel
4 "Teenagela" Mathangi, Febi Mani
5 "Thaalaattum Kaatre" Sujatha, Hariharan
6 "Thaalaattum Kaatre" Ilaiyaraaja

Release and reception

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A reviewer wrote:"An interesting screenplay, with suspense, action, vendetta and patriotism weaved in, the male characters are well-etched, and the female characters given just enough scope to justify their presence in the film. Only that the film is a bit too lengthy and could have been trimmed a little".[8] Chennaionline.com wrote "‘Devan’ is an impressive debut by actor-turned-director Arun Pandian".[9] The Hindu wrote "There is a laudable theme that has been touched upon and, of course, plenty of action. Probably proper pruning and crisp narration would have done "Devan" a world of good".[10] Cinesouth wrote "Story, Screenplay, Produced and Directed by- Arun Pandian. He had done a good job as he blended suspense and realistic screenplay very well initially, but as soon as Vijayakanth makes his entry, Arun Pandian begins to loose his grip on the screenplay. Even a newborn could easily predict the next step that he intends to take when the court releases him. The screenplay is so predictable and routine. However, all these drawbacks are very well covered up by the excellent performances by the lead artists and the magnificent cinematography of Selvakumar. These two factors have together rescued 'Devan' from being an utter disaster".[11]

The film was dubbed in Telugu as Mass with Srihari replacing Karthik.[12]

References

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  1. ^ "Moments to cherish". The Hindu. 24 May 2002. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  2. ^ "நட்சத்திர படப் பட்டியல்". Cinema Express (in Tamil). 1 December 2002. pp. 41–43. Archived from the original on 2 February 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  3. ^ "Devan". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 20 December 2002. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  4. ^ "The Hindu : An action filled suspense drama". hindu.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2003. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  5. ^ V, Sankaran (8 February 2024). "கேப்டன் விஜயகாந்த் சம்பளமே வாங்காமல் நடித்துக் கொடுத்த படங்கள்!.. அட இவ்வளவு இருக்கா?." CineReporters (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 14 February 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
  6. ^ "Devan Songs". Gaana. Archived from the original on 26 October 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  7. ^ "Devan songs download". Raaga. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  8. ^ "Devan Movie Review". lavan.fateback. Archived from the original on 12 August 2004. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  9. ^ "Devan". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 6 April 2005. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  10. ^ "Devan". The Hindu. 20 June 2002. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023.
  11. ^ "Devan". Cinesouth. Archived from the original on 16 December 2002. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  12. ^ "Mass review: Mass (Telugu) Movie Review - fullhyd.com".
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