Raayan Movie Story

Kathava Raayan (Dhanush), the eldest of three brothers, Muthuvel Raayan (Sundeep Kishan) and Manickavel Raayan (Kalidas Jayaram) and sister Durga (Dushara Vijayan), treasures survival of his siblings more than anything else. After having not known the fate of their parents, Kathava Raayan aka Raayan settles in the suburbs of Chennai and runs a fast-food eatery, thus becoming the bread-winner of his family. With a fiercely affectionate Durga running the house, layabout Muthuvel romancing Mekhala (Aparna Balamurali), and student Manickavel, Raayan’s life turns upside down after the world of deceit, debacle, and devilry pulls him with plenty of bloodshed.

Raayan Movie Review

At a very crucial juncture in Raayan, Durga and Raayan share a glass of milk as a nightcap, after having just finished off a man who played dirty and did unspeakable things to them. It is not the violence per say on how the duo finish him off, that elevates this scene, but the nonchalance the brother-sister duo shares even at the toughest of times. In another instance, when Manickavel rues to Raayan how his college rivals have beat him up to withdraw from college elections, Raayan is seen with a needle and cloth, as he sows. In fact, after seeing Kalidas and Sundeep get their due of heroic introductory shots, all how we see Dhanush’s character for the first time, is when he turns around as he tosses the contents inside the wok he is cooking in. Dhanush at various instances outdoes himself as an actor, with his directing abilities, which easily becomes one of the best to come out from Raayan. Case in point, the character played by Sundeep, which has enough and more that navigates the story. When the actor in Dhanush subdues and bows down in front of the director, the film shines, and so does Raayan. But on the other hand, this scope is limited to only a few characters, as others becomes mere

In Raayan, Dhanush builds a world or rather a circuit with each character acting as pawns that determine the fate of other. Eventually, pawns switch sides, and relationships begin to sour, but where it all begins to falter, is when in the world, you get lost while knowing what the intentions of these characters are. For example, Raayan, who lives and breathes for his three siblings, possess enough strength to finish off a village, but when pulled into the world of thugs and ruthlessness, the film begins to lose the moments it survived on to build the emotional connect. Certain characters, too, have limited scope to be understood. We are introduced to rivalry gangs Durai (Saravanan) and Sethuraman (SJ Suryah), a police man (Prakash Raj) who wants to “clean” the neighbourhood and carries a past vengeance, and Sethuraman’s first wife (Varalaxmi Sarathkumar) who is up and arms against her husband spending more time with his second wife. These details have a reason, and subsequent pay-offs, but Raayan makes these moments as pitstops to build to the final conflict. A little more exploration could have gone a long way, to further imprint these characters and their motives.

As much as Dhanush doubling up as director and actor saves Raayan from its faltering writing, AR Rahman’s background score, Om Prakash’s cinematography and Jacki’s production design elevate the making of the film, which almost makes sure Chennai becomes a character in Raayan. In fact, the film diligently becomes a canvas for Rahman, who almost gives as much as a writer and actor would give for a script.

The other characters too, like Aparna Balamurali playing Mekhala, who loves Muthuvel despite his flaws, and Varalaxmi get their bits, but their limited screen presence, especially of the latter’s feel more could have been tapped.

Raayan Movie Verdict

Dhanush as a director in his second outing, makes an honest attempt and makes up more giving ample to the character that make up the world of Raayan. There is a definite shedding of stardom and heroic stunts that Tamil cinema is more than prone to overuse. Yes, the writing is bogged down by certain uncertainty and convenience, which does not let many characters to get developed, and in fact get eliminated before they are got to known. But Raayan is also a valiant effort of Dhanush’s that lets many departments shine through, and plays out a canvas for a experimentation in commercial cinema.