''Devan'' is a 2002 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include l ...

directed by

Arun Pandian Arun Pandian is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician. He began his career as an actor as part of the critically acclaimed film ''Oomai Vizhigal'' (1986). After retiring from acting, he took the post of chief producer for the London-based A ...

making his debut as director. The film stars himself in the title role being his 50th project as actor with

Meena Meena () is a sub-group of Bhils. They speak Meena language. They started adopting the Brahmin worship system. Its name is also transliterated as ''Meenanda'' or ''Mina''. Historians claim that they belong to the Matsya tribe. They got the st ...

and Kausalya , while

Vivek Vivek (or Bibek/Bivek in some regions) (विवेक in Devanagari script) is a masculine given name that is popular in South Asia, particularly in India and Nepal. It is of Sanskrit origin and means "wisdom" and/or "conscience". Vivek may refe ...

and Malayalam actor Sai Kumar play supporting roles. Actors

Vijayakanth Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami (born 25 August 1952), better known by his stage name Vijayakanth, is an Indian politician and former actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Leg ...

, Karthik and Senthil appear in guest appearances. Sai Kumar had made his Tamil debut with this film. The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The film was released on 14 June 2002 and was also dubbed in Hindi as ''Vidrohi''.

Plot

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

as Alex Devan (Jackson) *

as Uma * Kausalya as Jacqueline, Devan's sister *

as Rathnavel IPS, Deputy Director CBI (guest appearance) * Karthik as Lawyer Chakravarthy (guest appearance) *

as Saravanan * Sai Kumar as Chetta Raghu *

Chandrasekhar Chandrasekhar, Chandrashekhar or Chandra Shekhar is an Indian name and may refer to a number of individuals. The name comes from the name of an incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva. In this form he married the goddess Parvati. Etymologically, the nam ...

as Chandran * Senthil as Police officer (guest appearance) *

Vijayan Vijayan is a South Indian name and may refer to: Given name *Pinarayi Vijayan (born 1944), Indian politician * Vijayan (actor) (1944–2007), Tamil & Malayalam film actor *Vijayan (stunt coordinator), action choreographer for South Indian films *Vi ...

as the Police inspector *

Thalaivasal Vijay Thalaivasal Vijay is an Indian actor and dubbing artist. He was born on 4 August 1962 in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India. He has acted predominantly in numerous Tamil and Malayalam films. Career Vijay's debut film was '' Thalaivaasal'' (1992) ...

as Jeeva * Pandu as Kaalimuthu *

Vinu Chakravarthy Vinu Chakravarthy (15 December 1945 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and director who is known for acting in more than 1000 movies in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Badaga and Malayalam mostly as a comedian, supporting actor or i ...

as Politician * Karikalan as Inspector Ravikumar *

Ajay Rathnam Ajay Rathnam is an Indian actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil films and serials. He is known for his supporting and negative roles and has acted in over 300 movies. Standing at 6 ft 4 in (193 cm), Rathnam is one of the tallest actors in ...

as Police Officer * Rajmohan as Shiva * Nandha as Nandha *

Mohan Raman Mohan Raman, also known as Mohan V. Ram (born 3 April 1956), is an Indian actor and writer. In 2017 and 2019, he was a Jury member for the National Film Award for Best Writing on Cinema. Raman is a film historian and writes for ''The Hindu''. He ...

as Anantharaman * Bayilvan Ranganathan as Parrot astrologer *

Kovai Senthil Kumarasamy, known by his stage name, Kovai Senthil, was a Tamil film character artist who appeared in Tamil films starting with Bhagyaraj's '' Oru Kai Osai''. He appeared in over 400 Tamil films. Career During his career, Kovai Senthil made ...

as a Company worker * Marthandan as a Company worker *

Citizen Mani Citizen Mani is an Indian comedian who works in Tamil-language films. He has acted in 200 films and television serials. He directed and acted in a film, ''Perunali'', in 2019. Career Mani left his village for Chennai to pursue a career in act ...

as Mani * Boys Rajan as Travel agent * Mudhalvan Rajendran as the Police inspector * Srilatha as a Company worker * Minnal Deepa as Bhavana

Production

The film was Arun Pandian's 100th 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!".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack and background score were composed by music director Ilaiyaraaja.

Critical reception

Balaji wrote:"though the movie starts off impressively, it eventually turns into a cliche-ridden outing filled with sentiments, revenge and action". Another 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". Chennaionline.com wrote "‘Devan’ is an impressive debut by actor-turned-director Arun Pandian".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 12465770, Devan 2002 films Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja 2000s Tamil-language films Indian films about revenge Indian action thriller films 2002 directorial debut films Central Bureau of Investigation in fiction Fictional portrayals of the Tamil Nadu Police Films shot in Andhra Pradesh Films set in Punjab, India Films set in Odisha Fictional portrayals of the Delhi Police Films set in Tamil Nadu Films about corruption in India Films set in Delhi Films about journalists Fictional journalists and mass media people 2002 action thriller films