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Saagasam
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Wikipedia article
'Saagasam' is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film directed by Arun Raj Varma and written and presented by Thiagarajan. The film stars Prashanth and Amanda Rosario, while an ensemble cast including Sonu Sood, Nassar, Thambi Ramaiah, Kota Srinivasa Rao, and M. S. Bhaskar portray supporting roles. The music was composed by S. Thaman. Soonu sood scenes reused from original
The film is a remake the 2012 Telugu film 'Julai' and was released on 5 February 2016. Some of the actors in the Telugu movie reprise their roles, including Sonu Sood, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Rao Ramesh, and Brahmaji. That above actors scenes also reprise from the original Telugu version.
Plot
A thug named Bittu (Sonu Sood) and a local MLA named Varatharajan (Kota Srinivasa Rao) plan to rob 15 billion (US$210 million) (1500 crore) from a bank. Ravi Narayan (Prashanth) believes in earning quick money rather than toiling like his father Narayana Murthy (Nassar). During a chance meeting with Bittu, Ravi reveals his intention of making quick money by betting on an IPL match and discloses the location of the betting ring. However, the police raids the location, and Ravi is apprehended. During interrogation, Ravi deduces that Bittu has tipped off the police to commit a crime and attempts to convince Commissioner Rajamanickam (Rao Ramesh). Bittu successfully robs the bank, and his brother Bala (Shafi) takes the money to the city's dumping yard. However, the police catches Bala, who resists them, only to be killed by Ravi. Meanwhile, Bittu goes to the dumping yard to collect the money but is shocked as the dumping yard is burnt to ashes. Having his brother dead and the money burnt, Bittu decides to kill Ravi. Manickam sends Ravi to Coimbatore from Chennai under the Witness Protection Program and makes him stay at his friend DIG Seetharaman's (Thambi Ramaiah) house. One day, Ravi happens to see Madhu (Amanda Rosario), a middle-class girl who works with travel agent Murthy (Brahmaji), an associate of Bittu. He prepares fake passports for Bittu's gang to help them escape from India. Ravi befriends Madhu, both fall in love with each other, and the two find out about Bittu. Eventually, a final showdown between Ravi and Bittu occurs wherein both intend to end the other. Ravi emerges victorious and exposes the stolen money. The movie concludes with Ravi realizing the importance of hard work over any apparent short-term routes to success. The movie ends with Ravi going to the job, which earns him 25000.
Cast
*Prashanth as Ravi Narayan
*Amanda Rosario as Madhu
*Sonu Sood as Bittu
*Nassar as Narayana Murthy, Ravi's father
*Kota Srinivasa Rao as Varatharajan
*Thambi Ramaiah as ACP Seetharaman
*Abeetha as Kavitha, Seetharaman's daughter
*Abi Saravanan as Kothandapani
*M. S. Bhaskar as Sadanandam
*Rao Ramesh as Commissioner Rajamanickam
*Brahmaji as "Travel" Murthy
*Tulasi as Kameshwari, Ravi's mother
*Madhan Bob as Madhu's father
*Hema as Madhu's stepmother
*Devadarshini as Lalitha, Seetharaman's wife
*John Vijay as "Chain" Jaipal
*Riyaz Khan as Bar Owner
*Sheetal Menon as Sheetal
*Leema Babu as Raji, Ravi's sister
*Shafi as Bala
*Ravi Prakash as Dhanushkoti
*Swaminathan as Iyer
*Vamsi Krishna as Bittu's henchman
*'Hello FM' Suresh as RJ Suresh
*Sai Prashanth
*Robo Shankar
*Nalini
*Besant Ravi
*Selvi Subbaraj
*Indhu
*Sai Ram
*Nargis Fakhri as item girl in "Desi Girl"
*Zareen Khan in Special appearance "Desi Girl"
*Sandy
Production
Prashanth and his father, Thiagarajan scouted locations to make the film while on business trips to Kuwait and Australia. The team soon requested fans to name the film through a poll on Facebook, with the titles considered including 'Asthiram' and 'Modhi Paar', before 'Saahasam' was finalised. The film progressed through the end of 2013 with little media coverage, and the technical crew and cast remained unannounced. In early February 2014, it was announced that Arun Raj Varma was making his debut as a director while Sakthi Saravanan and Devi Sri Prasad would be cinematographer and music composer respectively. In a turn of events, Thaman replaced Devi Sri Prasad as composer, working on an original soundtrack.
The team re-began work after a break in late May 2014 and it was announced that Nargis Fakhri had signed on to appear in an item number. The song, composed by Thaman and written by Madhan Karky, was filmed in late July 2014 at Binny Mills, Chennai. Nargis Fakhri had flown from Hungary to be a part of the shoot, with Raju Sundaram choreographing the song also featuring hundred extras. Tamannaah was briefly linked as the female lead, before Australian model Amanda Rosario was chosen as the lead actress in the film. The team subsequently shot for the film in late 2014 and early 2015 in locations including Coimbatore, Chennai, Malaysia and Japan. A week prior to the film's release in February 2016, the film was retitled from 'Saahasam' to 'Saagasam', with the tagline 'Enra Veerachayal', in order to recoup tax benefits.
Soundtrack
In July 2014, the film's first song, described as a "bar number" featuring actress Nargis Fakhri in an item number, was recorded. Written by Madhan Karky, the song's original version was sung by actress Remya Nambeesan. In late October, a gaana song titled "Pudikkum Pudikkum" written by Kabilan was recorded with Shreya Ghoshal, who remarked that it was her first tryst with the "kuthu" genre. Impressed with his work in the album, producer Thiagarajan and Prashanth gifted Thaman, a Toyota Fortuner car on his birthday in November 2014. In early December 2014, the song written by Madhan Karky was recorded with the voice of actress Lakshmi Menon, replacing Remya Nambeesan's voice. The team initially approached Yo Yo Honey Singh to sing the male portions for the song, but his unavailability meant that Anirudh Ravichander instead recorded "Madhoo" for the album. Mohit Chauhan recorded a song titled "Penne Kutty Penne" in Mumbai in mid-December, while Shankar Mahadevan lent his vocals in the duet with Shreya Ghoshal. The team also announced that Arijit Singh and Andrea Jeremiah would work on the soundtrack which did not made it to the album, while a further track was recorded with Silambarasan in the final week of 2014.
Critical reception
M. Suganth of 'Times of India' rated the film 2.5 out of 5 and wrote "Prashanth, making a return to the screen after quite a while, gives his best, but we can't help but feel that this required an even younger hero. But what lets the film down the most is that it is directed without any feel for the material, so we are unsure if we need to take the film seriously or as a spoof". 'Sify' wrote "Overall, Saagasam might attract audiences who love Telugu commercial entertainers but for others, its just another average entertainer".
References
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