Agaram (film)

Agaram (transl. Beginning)^[1] is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by T. Nagarajan. It stars Nandha and Archana, with Biju Menon portraying the role of the antagonist, and Vivek, Seetha and Raj Kapoor among others in supporting roles. Despite being announced shortly after Nandha's debut in 2002, the film's release was delayed and eventually released on 16 February 2007, failing at the box office. The film's title is a reference to the first letter of the Tamil alphabet.

Thiru (Nandha) is a young Airtel employee who has just moved into the family's new house in Tuticorin with his sister (Varshini), mother (Seetha), and grandmother (Sukumari). Their happiness is tinged with the grief of Thiru's father's (Agathiyan) recent death, before the construction could be completed.^[2] Fate decrees that the entire family be placed in jeopardy when Thiru has an argument with Pasupathy, the brother of the dreaded don of the waterfront mafia, Varma (Biju Menon), during the local elections. Varma swears to kill Thiru, agreeing to spare his life for just four days until the election ends, at the request of his politician crony (Ilavarasu), who is all set to become the MLA. The family flees but is captured and brought back to face the atrocities unleashed by Varma's goons.

The film began production in 2003 under the title Thiru.^[3] Actress Hardeep was removed from the film in December 2004.^[4] One of the fight sequences was shot at sea with more than 30 boats and 100 stuntmen.^[1]

The soundtrack and film score were composed by the noted composer Yuvan Shankar Raja. The soundtrack was released on 12 December 2005, nearly 14 months before the film's theatrical release. It has five tracks with lyrics written by Snehan.

Chennai Online wrote "It's the director's second venture, coming after a long gap after 'Aravindan' the Sharat Kumar-starrer. And as in his earlier film, Nagarajan has tried here too to give a different dimension to an oft-repeated tale. He's managed to keep the happenings interesting and the pace racy by a change in the ambience, and the slight variations he brings to the situations".^[5] The Hindu wrote "[..] the plot is credible, the pace is racy and director Nagaraj, also in charge of story and screenplay, proves that he can tell a story and tell it well. But just when events are ripe for that crucial twist in the tale that can empower the hero, the screenplay opts for a filmi solution."^[6] Sify wrote "The story, screenplay and treatment of director T. Nagarajan are outdated and predictable with hardly any twist".^[7]

• Agaram at IMDb
• "Agaram on Location". Archived from the original on 25 August 2004. Retrieved 2007-04-23.
• Review at Indiaglitz
• Review at NewsToday