Payanam - Review

Payanam is a good movie which unfortunately did not get the attention which it deserved due to lack of publicity. This movie is a story about a flight hijack and before you say "Oh, i have seen a lot of Flight hijack flicks", let me say, this one is indeed a worth watching flick, which would make you feel good on a weekend.

Payanam is directed by Radha Mohan and Produced By Prakash Raj. When Prakash Raj produces a movie, audience can relax and go to the theater without the fear of losing money because we know that he would produce only movies which are good enough to have a strong story line and which would blend easily with a pinch of values and social commitment. His previous Ventures like Mozhi, Abhiyum Naanum etc might not be block busters , but the real lovers of Good cinema would appreciate those art works. Just because of that reason, expectation would be high for Payanam too and trust me, he did not let us down.

This movie does not has any cheesy introduction scene or colorful songs or unbelievable fight sequences. Movie starts at the Airport with Passengers waiting to board the flight from Chennai to Delhi. Passenger List include a minister, a super cine star, a doctor, a priest, a mimicry artist, a job seeker and people from various region and from different industries. Soon after the take off, flight is being kidnapped by 5 terrorists on board and the pilots call for an emergency landing at Tirupati. And it is then, when the world come to know about the hi-jack and the normal melodrama of the government begin.

Terrorists would want to release Yousuf Khan, who is the leader of their terrorist group and currently under police custody in Kashmir and also ask a ransom of 100 Crores. It is then a team of political beurocrats led by Prakash Raj, who is an IAS officer and political secretary takes in charge of negotiations with the terrorists. Meanwhile, NSG commandos led by Nagajuna is also summoned at the airport. But the Government higher officials play the usual red tape ism game and decides to release Yousuf Khan in return for the passengers. Nagarjuna who was the Same NSG commando who tracked down Yousuf Khan two years back at Ladakh could not agree to this "let-go" attitude of Indian Governals but had to swim with the flow. Story takes it twist and turn and the audience fasten their seat belts, when Yousuf Khan who is being transported from the jail for release gets killed in a natural calamity!

This movie brilliantly portrays the take of Government Ofiicials when such kind of situation occurs. Government spent a lot of money and the commandos spare their life to capture a terrorist and sometime later, when a flight is being hi jacked, the officials release the same terrorist who killed and who would kill thousands of people in future in order to save the life of kidnapped people. That is a sad but true fact. This movie also depicts how sensational news or a scoop is important to the medias. Radha Mohan shows that, Media is least bothered about the safety of the nation or people and all they want is a front page sensational news. The part where a journalist who is craving for a sensational news and the picture of the hijacked plane, manages to get inside the airport by breaking the security in police uniform and how he telecasts the in house information to the outside world shows us that the media is focussing only to provide information, be it good or bad with no social responsibility.

Payanam is not an "All through Serious" movie. It does have its own share of lighter moments and scenes which would make you laugh amidst the tense situation. You would burst out into laughter whenever Brahmanandam is on screen. As a matter of fact, it is indeed a question to ask the director, would the terrorists really allow passengers on a hi jacked flight to relax themselves with a mimicry show by the mimicry artist on board and would any sensible terrorist handover his gun to a passenger eventhough the bullets were removed? These are some minor stones which i found in the well cooked rice. Thanks to the director that there are no songs in the movie which would lag the movie's pace. Another excellent performance is by M.S Bhaskar who plays the role of a priest. The scene where he request the terrorist to kill him first before anyone else, as he doesnt have a family to support is truly touching.

This movie is well executed, ignoring the minor hiccups which i had mentioned earlier. How NSG commando at the airport communicates with an ex army man onboard is pretty interesting and believable. Twists towards the climax is also merged well with the story and most importantly, there is not a single scene where the viewers get bored or feel like its lagging. All together, Payanam is a movie which would make you feel that you are one among the kidnapped passengers. Good Job done by the director and Cinematographor Guhan. Watch it folks for an exciting take off, but make sure that you fasten your seat belts...!

- G. Sarath Menon

**********************************************************************

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 India License.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.NO PART OF THIS MATERIAL PROTECTED BY THE COPYRIGHT MAY BE REPRODUCED OR UTILIZED IN ANY FORM BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL. USERS ARE FORBIDDEN TO REPRODUCE,REPUBLISH,REDISTRIBUTE, OR FORWARD ANY MATERIAL FROM THIS JOURNAL IN EITHER MACHINE READABLE FORM OR ANY OTHER FORM WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR