Raayan Review: Dhanush Works His Magic Again

Dhanush deserves credit for imagining a visually rich, edgy action thriller which is enhanced by a fascinating background score from A R Rahman, observes Divya Nair.

The 8.45 pm show on Friday at a theatre in Thane saw a euphoric crowd celebrate Dhanush's 50th film, Raayan. Even the incessant rains and lack of transportation didn't deter the spirit of the audience.

This was the first time I watched a Tamil film in Thane with a crowd that hooted and celebrated this milestone movie. I didn't see such euphoria for Thalaivar, Ulagayanayagan or Vijay's films!

Dhanush plays Kaathavarayan, aka Raayan, the eldest of four siblings, including the troublemaker Muthuvel (Sundeep Kishan), the studious Manickavel (Kalidas) and the one he dotes on, Durga (Dushara Vijayan).

When Durga is a few months old, the parents leave home to attend some work but never return.

A surprising turn of events forces Raayan to slay a neighbour, who is a priest, to protect his sister and family.

Circumstances force the siblings to flee to Chennai the same night where they meet Sekhar Anna (Selvaraghavan) who decides to help them.

Fast forward to the present day, Raayan and his siblings operate a successful food truck.

The responsible and peace-loving Raayan takes care of his family, while averting trouble of all kinds.

While Muthuvel gets into petty fights, Manickavel challenges a minister's son, hoping to win the college election and change his future.

Meanwhile, there is a gang war angle brewing Durai (Saravanan) and Sethu (SJ Suryah) which is triggered by the entry of the city's new police commissioner Sargunam (Prakash Raj) who is on a mission to clean the city and wipe off criminals.

Just like you would guess, Muthuvel accidentally kills Durai's son and all hell breaks loose.

When Durai asks Raayan to surrender Muthuvel, Raayan is forced to take up weapons to protect his family.

What ensues is a web of violence and action scenes that keep you busy for the next two hours.

I particularly liked the scene when Durai, after threatening Raayan, is comforting his mourning wife while being guarded by an army of burly men.

Suddenly, the power goes off.

While Durai is confidently seated in the centre of his house, we only hear noises of attack advancing and finishing off his men.

While we know what is coming, the anticipation of the moment is treated so well.

The scene introducing the calm yet menacing Raayan, backed by his brothers, is your paisa vasool moment. Even in that moment of rage, the banter between the quintessential villain Durai and our hero Raayan is the stuff that makes Tamil cinema so stylish and worth an encore.

As a director, Dhanush knows how to play to the theatre audience.

The scene where his character visits the injured landshark and casually threatens him to withdraw his complaint against his brother, and the sequence when an eager Sethu is curious to know how Raayan finished off his opponent Durai are some of the whistle-worthy moments in the film.

The makeshift hospital scene is flawed but has its high points too.

Dhanush deserves credit for imagining a visually rich, edgy action thriller which is enhanced by a fascinating background score from A R Rahman. Even with a basic storyline, Raayan attempts to engage you with ample twists and trickery.

Like in Karnan, Dhanush has used some metaphors that are quite intelligent and important to this story.

While on the run, a young Manickavel, unaware of the danger they just averted, asks Muthu, what happened to the poojari (the priest), at whose house they were staying in.

Muthu explains that Swami has passed away and Manickavel innocently, reasons 'Poosari la, adhan kadavul kitta poitaru (Since he is a priest, he went to God/heaven).'

Dhanush, donning black, is probably another metaphor for the darkness or the lack of answers inside him.

Also, the way Raavan is imagined and presented in the film will make you wonder if this film could have been a lot more magical than what you actually see.

You think about the priest who wanted to harm the girl child and as the audience, you want to know what made him such a monster.

Raayan gets the emotional aspect right in the first half when he finds the means to provide for his siblings but fails to recreate that magic in the second half.

What also lets down Raayan is the failure to turn an ordinary revenge story into something extraordinary that we haven't seen before.

Dhanush's calm demeanour gives you Vada Chennai vibes while Kalidas and the promising Sundeep Kishan are reduced to mere props.

Dushara Vijayan gets a meaty role but Keerthy Suresh, you would agree, did it better in Saani Kaayidham.

Although Durai looked more worthy of a villain, we sadly don't get enough of SJ Suryah's cunning, although he does bring in comic relief.

When Sekhar Anna warns Sethu what Raayan is capable of, you expect something extraordinary to happen, but you are disappointed when the anticipation is reduced to a regular fight scene.

Whether it was deliberate or not, I felt there were too many loose ends that took the focus off the main story.

Like what happened to the parents? Raayan never even discusses the event with his siblings.

Or why did Durai warn one of his new boys against Raayan? What does he know?

Or what makes Raayan such a natural in combat scenes? What does he think and believe in?

Overall, Raayan is an interesting one-time watch written for the masses with a little meat here and there for the critics to bite on.