Raayan Review - Watchable Action Drama!

Ashwin Ram

Raayan is Dhanush’s landmark 50th film. He himself has written and directed this action drama. The music is scored by A.R.Rahman and the project is produced by Sun Pictures.

Premise:

Set in the North Madras backdrop, Dhanush and his family run a roadside food truck business. A Big shot in the area tries to grab it from them, is the starting point of the lineup of conflicts that follow.

Writing/ Direction:

Dhanush has written a template gangster drama by getting the basics right. The initial black and white portions sets Dhanush, the elder brother of two boys and a girl as a fatherly figure, denoting he is the saviour of the family by placing the situation correctly. The establishments are good, both the emotional ones and the buildup dialogues. Things fall in place in the first half, the beginning to most subplots are strong, even the purpose to Prakash Raj’s character is valid, but the development isn’t convincingly done. Mass-murders happen at the interval point, that leads the hero to SJ Suryah, but the reasoning is so weak to form enmity between the two. Despite presenting a couple of solid face-off moments, they only click to an extent because of the underwhelming drama. Downside, the issues the family face are very familiar and don’t have any inventive content to give a refreshing experience. The twists within the family feel forced, the game after that is dragged to a huge extent rather than closing things off crisply. Song placements are random, especially the final dance number is conveniently made rather than forming fluently. The film goes out-of-track to give character depth, like the needless Kalidas Jayaram’s college election subplot for example, it doesn’t really work or impacts the core in any aspect. The setting balances realism and heroism smoothly, but everything gets glorified into a cinematic space towards the end, for the fans alone to cherish.

Performances:

Full-on serious and a focused performance by Dhanush, his subtle reactions match well with the mass scenes of the hero-underplay zone. Promising start to the characterizations of both the brothers, Sandeep Kishan and Kalidas Jayaram, but sadly not a fulfilling outcome due to the inconsistency in writing for their gray shade portions. Tushara Vijayan shines bright in terms of acting and her sister role gets highlighted nicely in the second half. Selvaraghavan as the Godfather of the family does well, his character is also quite worthy in both the halves. Weak villain role for SJ Suryah barring a couple of places, the base is silly, man gets some scope to perform in his own style in the middle, but very dull towards the end, involving him in the ‘Adangadha Asuran’ dance number was a blunder.

Technicalities:

Pleasing album from A.R.Rahman, he has given enough variety with songs that are lovely to hear. Background score is decent, with better screenwriting, the elevations would have been much more. Om Prakash’s camera work is the film’s biggest strength, he has achieved a lot with the night shots, especially the ones that involve smoke and shadows, and also maintains a steady visual tone throughout. The overall runtime is a breather to witness on paper, but still the film could have been tight as there is handsome potential to trim for the editor G.K.Prasanna. Great artwork, the visual presentation is realistic that we don’t realize everything is a set.

Bottomline

The setting is relatable and the film does provide some enjoyable mass moments, but the opportunity of providing a wholesome commercial product is missed due to the wafer-thin conflicts and weak situations.

Rating - 2.75/ 5