#Raayan Review

#Raayan
2024- Tamil
Starring : Dhanush , SJ Suryah, Selvaragahavan, Sundeep Kishan , Aparna Balamurali , Kalidas Jayaram, Dushara Vijayan , Varalaxmi Sarathkumar , Prakash Raj & Saravanan
Directed by Dhanush
Plot : Kathavaraayan AKA Raayan , runs a Fast food shop in Chennai with his siblings. His Peaceful life is disrupted when one of his sibling gets into an issue and Raayan is unwillingly involved among two rival gangs. How Raayan protects his family? And what happens next forms thw rest of the film.
Performance wise, Dhanush as Raayan is impeccable. The Variation he shows as a timid bread winner for a family and the vengeful brother protecting his family is flawless and professional. Selvaragahavan as his guardian gets a good role but is underwritten. Sundeep Kishan and Kalidas Jayaram as Siblings of Dhanush get a very strong role and the story involves around them completely. Comparatively, Sundeep does a great job. Dushara as the Youngest Sibling gets a even more stronger role and has performed really well. SJ Suriyah as Antagonist is underdeveloped and is written half baked but somehow his performance tries to overshadow that. Yet somewhat from his performance was missing. Prakash Raj as the Police get a small yet powerful role and has performed well. Varalaxmi Sarathkumar wasted.

Technically the film is strong. Cinematography by Om Prakash is catchy. The Way he portrays North Chennai is completely different from what we have seen till now and is very classy. Editing by Prasanna GK is really good especially the Intercuts with flashback dialogues and symbolism images are visually stunning.
Special Mention to Art Direction with respect to the entire Raayan's Home and the surroundings. The Art Work is really fantastic. AR Rahman's Songs are good as Montages , Adangtha Asuran & Water Packet stands out among all the songs. Rahman's BGMs are top notch especially right from the first frame , his bgm amps up the mood and setup of the film.
The First Half moves at a very low pace as it takes time to setup the characters, the world and animosity between the siblings. After the Introduction, the film quickly dives into the core plot where one of the sibling gets caught in a problem and the film escalates from there. While there are few dull scenes in first half , the goosebumps inducing pre Interval fight makes up for it . Post this , the Second Half completely gets into the Crime Drama zone . With no unwanted sequences in Second Half , everything leads up to the Bombastic pre climax song and climax fight.

Talking about the film's Negatives , the films pace might not sit well with everyone. The Slow burn treatment that Dhanush has chosen for this Crime Drama might be charged as a drawback as it is not as commercial as expected. Also the film lacks Emotional Depth with regards to the bonding among the brothers. While the Special bonding between Dhanush and Dushara is established beautifully, the same feeling is not properly established between Dhanush and Sundeep&Kalidas. Due to the some scenes , which were supposed to invoke tears unfortunately do not. The Major Twist in Second Half is placed well but somewhat the execution failed and didn't give the expected impact.
Writer - Director Dhanush has taken a very wafer thin plot line and has decided to write a dense crime drama around that , which does not only revolve around the title character but everyone around him. This Decision is very much appreciated. While some dialogues felt silly at times , the Dialogues largely work. The writing of first half is a bit confused and is all over places, the second half writing becomes much better. While still there are a lot of logic loopholes, the film manages to work largely. To put in simple words , Actor Dhanush succeeded, Director Dhanush succeeded majorly in Execution, but Writer Dhanush could've worked a bit more but nonetheless, a Decent Crime Drama .
Highlights :
1)Pre Interval Fight Sequence 
2)Market Chase Fight
3) Hospital Fight
4)Adangatha Asuran Song and its Visualization 
5) Climax Fight and the Symbolism 
Overall : Raayan is a Old Wine in a New Bottle that is largely sweet and a little bit bitter but the strong Perfomances of Dhanush , Dushara , Sundeep & Kalidas supported with Terrific Background Score of ARR makes the film work against the negatives.
Rating : 3-3.25/5


Television Rights: Sun TV
Digital Rights : Sunnxt

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