Raayan Review..!
Dhanush is back as a writer & director after the 2017 film, ‘Pa Paandi’ in which he had a cameo appearance as well. It took him around 7 years to come with yet another story, in the backdrop of North Chennai and gangsters. This could seem like an uncanny resemblance with his own film ‘Vada Chennai’ which was directed by ‘Vetrimaran’. I would say, ‘To an extent’ due to the heavily inspired theme & backdrop of North Chennai and its people. Through ‘Raayan’, he has given a face-lift to his directional skills. On top of it, this film also happens to be his 50th film as an actor, is like an icing on the cake for the actor.
The film carefully starts with the flashback portions, if you have seen the trailer, the last shot of the trailer particularly grabs our attention. As the credit starts rolling, the background story of the siblings is clearly conveyed. The black and white theme that reminds us of the spectacular ‘Mamannan’ flashback portions.
Now the siblings are in North Chennai and they are running a food truck together. ‘Raayan’, who is the titular lead has a mystery and subtle hints in dialogues about his past are used to elevate the character. Raayan always keeps a heavy face and looks so rugged and grumpy most of the time. But he is so bonded to his family and he’ll do anything for them. This is the pivotal part of the plot. So, there are a few sequences that has been used to effectively develop this character. Almost every segment in the first half is used for character development or for plot introduction. ‘Dhanush’ takes a lot of time to juggle through different characters and generate subtle hints about the character’s arc that will be addressed as a major plot point. A long one-hour duration that goes plain for most of the time, maybe the pacing can be adjusted or bring more intensity to the scenes.
For example, ‘Sundeep’s’ character had more focus which felt a bit dragged. Due to this, the audience are carried through the same sequences more than once and they would be longing for an actual conflict to unfold at a quicker pace. This could have been cut shorter and crisper and focussed on the events to take place sooner. This is not just to avoid the monotonous tone of the plot point but also to keep the audience invested in different events. This film is pretty straight forward and holds a similar story telling like ‘Vada Chennai’, but the latter has so many events to keep the audience interested, rather than waiting for a surprise turnaround.
However, all the sequences were well conceived and perfectly paints the characters in the eye of the audience. Usually there would have been an important side plot or parallel plots running besides the main plot that would do more to the audience than keep guessing. Here, each character goes through a certain concern in the same conflict of interest which means everyone has an important role in shaping up the film’s core plot.
But as soon as the film moves into the intermission point, the conflict is tighter and intense. The best part was how the character of Dhanush gets caught in crosshair with the ‘Sethu’ played by SJ Suryah. Talk about the twist and turns in the plot. The intermission point was just the beginning.
The second half is more about staging a sequence and elevating the hero even when he is in the worst of the situations. ‘Raayan’ played by Dhanush is shown in silhouette for the most part assisted by a vivid background score by AR Rahman. There is one scene where his shadow gets taller over a wall while one of the stooges of ‘Sethu’ who was keeping a watch on him, gets terrified. Similarly, there are multiple scenes which accompanies well with the Black & White theme of the movie. This is also the stage when the episodes get more bloody and violent. All this larger-than-life image is not everything in the movie. There are moments when the hero is helpless. One such scene where the characters played by SelvaRaghavan and Dushara Vijayan threw themselves against all odds to save ‘Raayan’ was one of the boldest scenes by the director. This was so rejuvenating in a commercial cinema. She played the role of ‘Durga’ and her character holds so much significance in the second half like ‘Raayan’ & ‘Sethu’. In fact, the most important part of the film is the sibling bond shared by both ‘Raayan’ & ‘Durga’.
This does resonate so well with the audience and particularly a powerful woman character is a vital addition to the film. There is a scene in the beginning when ‘Sekhar’ played by Selvaraghavan played gives a monologue about the three brothers. Later on in the film, ‘Durga’ also gets a similar heroic elevation. It is so rare to find such woman characters that are so rooted to the main plot. Finally, there is a small sequence in the climax where both ‘Durga’ & ‘Raayan’ share an affectionate gaze at each other accompanied by an A R Rahman magical.
S J Suryah was never in doubt while playing the antagonist. He has this impeccable comic timing and also dons the appearance of a ruthless gangster. The role was picture perfect for him and his mannerisms in the second half give the audience a chance to cheer amidst the havoc.
Dhanush as the rugged and family loving man is just terrific, although we have seen so many great performances of the actor. He has done his role sincerely what was demanded of him. The surprise element was Dushara Vijayan. She gets a beefy role to play and has some of the most memorable scenes from the film. The role was well written and it has the potential to shine from the start to end. She has made a point for herself with the role of ‘Durga’. Rest of the actors were equally good. But the biggest issue lied with the treatment of rest of the women artists. The film had a few leading ladies from the industry like Aparna Balamurali, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar & Divya Pillai. The biggest negative was how the character of ‘Aparna’ felt wasted after giving an important part in the first half. Same was the case with the other two. The technical aspects of the film were really good. The grandeur brought in the climax portions and the frames of Vada Chennai were sharp. The colour palettes used in the film perfectly blended with the sequences. The random yellow & red shades resonated the brutality and commotion of that particular scene. This has blended perfectly with the core theme of ‘Black & White’.
A slowly evolving vicious thriller that gets a terrific makeover in the latter half.
Compiled By Jayaram