Aagathan

''Aagathan'' () is a 2010 Indian Malayalam-language revenge drama thriller film directed by Kamal and written by Kamal and Kalavoor Ravikumar from a story by Kamal. Starring Dileep, Sathyaraj, Charmy Kaur and Lal. The music for the film was provided by Ouseppachan. In the plot, a mysterious man Gautham arrives at retired Army General Hareendranath Varma's house, but his arrival has a backstory.

Plot

The opening scene of the movie depicts young Gautham Menon's family relocating to Srinagar and adjusting to life in Kashmir. Later, after a terrorist attack on the village, Gautham's parents are killed. Gautham's older sister drags him away from the murderers and hides behind some trees. A gunshot is heard as a terrorist discovers them. Later, the doctor asks him to pray for his sister after noticing that she is in severe condition at the hospital. Gautham is seen maturing into a teenager and receiving scholastic awards. He rushes to the hospital to share his excitement with his still-hospitalized sister, only to discover that she is dying in her hospital bed.

The narrative shifts to the present, where an adult Gautham Menon (Dileep) visits his elderly uncle Dr. Unnithan (Babu Namboothiri), a physician who was a mentor to him as a youngster and a friend of his late father. Gautham claims that he was sent to India by his employer and that he has the choice of being stationed either Bangalore or Chennai.

He visits Major George Joseph (Lal), a retired Army officer who was fired from his position for arguing with superiors while intoxicated. He claims to Gautham that a drunk driving accident caused the deaths of his family. Major recognizes Gautham as the boy from the past who was compassionately consoled by him following the military operation that killed the terrorists who attacked Gautham's village.

Meanwhile, a journalist comes to visit General Hareendranath Varma (Retd) (Sathyaraj) to publish his biography. The General reluctantly accepts the offer. Later he sees his mother trying to call Shreya, daughter of Varma, asking her to stop by while en route to Bangalore, that they could proceed her marriage with an NRI boy. Knowing the intentions of Grandma, Shreya (Charmy Kaur) dodges the calls saying she can hardly hear her while travelling on the bus. The bus hits an old woman. Gautham, sitting next to Shreya, carries the women to bus demanding to take her to hospital. He asks the help of Shreya to carry her to the hospital. The driver takes the bus leaving behind Gautham and Shreya at the hospital. Later the relatives of the victim come to hospital and takes money from Gautham as compensation. Gautham and Shreya leave and have to wait till 10 PM to catch the next Bus to Bangalore, where Shreya has to pay all the expenses.

Shreya finds Gautham gone in the morning, but after repaying her the expenses and a note left behind. She is picked up by her cousin and cousin's husband Dr. Sudhir Krishna (Biju Menon). Incidentally Gautham also rents the house owned by Sudhir's brother and befriends his family, though he tactfully dodges Shreya every time she sees him. Shreya develops a fondness towards Gautham, despite not knowing anything about him including his name. Meanwhile, her Grandma arrives to Bangalore and Sudhir comes up with the proposal of Gautham for Shreya. Grandma likes Gautham upon seeing him. But Shreya, already in love with ‘stranger’, does not agree to it. Later ‘stranger’ reveals himself to Shreya as Gautham. Varma invites Gautham to his farmhouse to meet him. Gautham wins everybody's heart with his polite and gentle manner. Later he beats the General in a chess game and gains his admiration. That moment Gautham reveals himself as a survivor of the terrorist attack foiled by Varma's army which upsets the general.

Gautham speaks to the General in Private and reveals the truth that his sister was cruelly raped by the then commanding officer Varma after killing all the terrorists knocking her unconscious for the rest of her life. Varma asks Major George, who was a silent witness to his cruelty, to report it as a terrorist act thereby hiding the truth. Gautham swears to the General that he will make him reveal the truth to everyone.

Gautham gets close to everyone in the family which annoys Varma who tries everything to get rid of him. Gautham proves to Varma that Shreya is madly in love with him. Varma takes Gautham out for a ride and threatens to kill him by pointing a gun, but Gautham has already texted Shreya to follow them, thereby foiling Varma's attempt. Later Varma almost succeed in killing Gautham by locking him in the wine preserving barrel, but Gautham escapes with the help of Lawrence ( Innocent), Varma's servant. He challenges Varma that he will make him reveal the secret in two days, that is at the engagement ceremony.

A large party of the General's ex-colleagues, including Major George, is invited to the function by Gautham using Varma's email id. It is also revealed that the journalist chronicling Varma's biography has also been sent by Gautham to trap him. The media people are also invited. All these were done so that when the secret is revealed, all will come to know easily.

At the function, Varma presents himself in the Army General's uniform. He reveals the secret to all the invited guests in the guise of a dirty plan by Gautham to blackmail him. Varma also says that if anyone among the guests believes the story, he will shoot himself. But all keeps quiet. Gautham challenges General to shoot him if the story is a scam. Though the General points the gun towards Gautham, he cannot pull himself to shoot him, thereby silently admitting the crime. Soon all the guests turns against him. Realizing his mistake and out of guilt, he leaves the scene and kills himself after writing down the confession to the President of India and returning all the accolades and awards he received during his service.

The film ends with Shreya sitting in an airport receiving a letter passed on to her. She reads it to find it from Gautham asking if she still has feelings for him. She sees him sitting a bit far away smiling at her.

Cast

* Dileep as Gautham Menon
* Sathyaraj as General Hareendranath Varma (Retd) (Voice dubbed by Sai Kumar)
* Charmy Kaur as Shreya
* Lal as Major George Joseph (Retd)
* Biju Menon as Dr. Sudhir Krishna
* Innocent as Lawrence
* Zarina Wahab as Malathi Varma
* Valsala Menon as Shreya's Grandmother
* Rony David as Journalist Akbar Ali
* Shafna as Gautham's Sister
* Anand as Gautham's Father
* Archana Menon as Gautham's Mother
* Majeed as Rakhi's and Deepthi's Father
* Ambika Mohan as Rakhi's and Deepthi's Mother
* Babu Namboothiri as Dr. Unnithan
* Shilpa Bala as Deepthi
* Reena Basheer as Rakhi

Production

Dileep signed into play the male lead while Tamil actor Sathyaraj signed into play the antagonist marking his Malayalam debut. Vidya Balan was considered to play the female lead even though she was interested in the character couldn't take up due to prior commitments. Later Mamta Mohandas signed into play the role but opted out citing health issues. Finally Telugu actress Charmy Kaur replaced the latter marking her come back to Malayalam industry after a hiatus of 8 years.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack, composed by Ouseppachan and lyrics penned by Kaithapram, was met with positive reviews. Shreya Ghoshal, who performed one of the tracks, won the Best Female Playback Singer Award at the 13th Asianet Film Awards. She also won the Kerala Film Critics Award for Best Female Playback Singer.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from both critics and audience. Veeyen of Nowrunning.com commented "Aagathan has an 'I know what's round the corner' quality all over it despite a stunning backdrop and an unusually subtle soundtrack. It's a psychodrama gone wrong, precisely because the denouement that it hopes to cash on is a bit too obvious, and comes at the wrong instant".http://movies.rediff.com/review/2010/feb/15/south-malayalam-review-aagathan-the-one-who-came.htm The film was acclaimed well by the audience by the choreography done in the film.

Box office

The film had a hard competition with ''Chattambinadu'', '' Ividam Swargamanu'', '' Happy Husbands'', '' Drona 2010'' and Dileep's other film ''Bodyguard''. The film was declared average success at box office.

References

External links

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''Aagathan''
at Oneindia.in

{{Kamal (director)

2010 films
Indian thriller drama films
Films scored by Ouseppachan
2010s Malayalam-language films
Films shot in Tamil Nadu
Films shot in Bangalore
Films shot in Ladakh
Indian Army in films
Films directed by Kamal (director)