YAAN MOVIE REVIEW

R.S Infotainment's Elred Kumar combines with noted and ace cinematographer Ravi K.Chandan, who makes his directorial debut in Tamizh cinema. The two names, promise us a sleek, stylish and lavishly produced film and to top it off, we have Jiiva and Thulasi Nair of 'Kadal' fame as the lead pair. Extensively shot in Mumbai and Morocco, what does 'Yaan' hold for us and can it justify the hype and curiosity it evoked among audience ?

Jiiva is a solid performer and needs no introduction. He carries off his role with consummate ease and the transition from a happy-go-lucky chap in the first half, to an distraught convict in the second half, was very smooth and convincing. As for Thulasi Nair, she gets more prominence with her role and screen timing and is very expressive nature. She looks good and confident as well, but the pairing does not look compatible. Thulasi's bigger body frame doesn't complement Jiiva's lean and athletic physique. The main antagonist played by Nawab Shah, is a huge disappointment and is a complete miscast. He sticks out like a sore thumb and has a poorly written role ! The rest of the cast such as Nassar, Jayaprakash, Karunakaran, Thambi Ramaiah, Arjun Nandakumar, Bose Venkat, Dhanush Bhaskar, Oormila Unni, Neha Chauhan, Rishi and etc had minimal scope to perform and the veterans' acting talents, were completely wasted !

The film has fantastic technical output and the result of the a lavish budget, was apparent on screen. Prime Focus (Mumbai), which takes charge of the VFX, has done a brilliant work, especially in the initial action sequence, which incorporated the freeze-frame technique. The lead pair looked cool and stylish, thanks to the costume designing by Mandira Shukla. The number of clothes for the song sequences was very high and aped the Bollywood style of glitz and glamour. More attention could have been given to the dancers, though ! 'Yaan' has some pumping, spectacular and pulsating action sequences, which were wonderfully and stylishly shot. The initial shootout sequence was fantastically staged and is a visual splendor. Kudos to Palli Harpal Singh for the extensive work and clean execution of that scene. Abbas Ali Moghul choreographed the action scene involving Jiiva, in the busy lanes of Mumbai, which was also good and neatly executed. Kecha Khampakdee of the 'Jaika Stunt' team, choreographed the jail fight sequence between Jiiva and a foreign artiste and Kecha's unique style and choreography was evident in that sequence. The chase scenes shot in the narrow and tight lanes of Morocco was choreographed by Hollywood action choreographer Mustapha Touki and it was finely staged, with an hide-and-seek element attached to it. As mentioned earlier, the film has a very glossy look, thanks to Sabu Cyril's production design and Suresh Selvarajan's art direction. Every frame in the film has plenty of details, from the posh Mumbai homes, the Moroccan prison set-up, the huge ballroom like set- work for a song, intricately detailed shoot-out scene and an entirely imaginary Gulf nation surrounding. The high-budget was justified in the final output ! A.Sreekar Prasad's editing speaks volumes, especially in the action sequences. The presentation was good and neat but the length of the film is a big turn-off. The veteran should have definitely trimmed the film's duration by 20 minutes, at least ! Cinematography by Manush Nandan and additional camera work by Hari Vedhandham, Ayananka Bose and Ravi K.Chandran himself, was superb. The thought process for the shootout scene was remarkable and their execution was fantastic. Mumbai and Morocco were wonderfully shot on camera and this entire team of cinematographers deserves appreciation. 

Harris Jayaraj delivers another album which is experimental yet has the quintessential "Harris Jayaraj" template and stamp all over. "Hey Lamba Lamba" is the opening song shot on the lead pair, with several montages of various Mumbai locations. The urbane shopping malls, modern coffee houses and restaurants, clubbing arena and the beaches become the backdrop for the song. The cool choreography and color tone complemented the song's mood. The pick of the lot from the album, "Aathangara Orathil" is a unique mixture of gaana and hip-hop/rap music. The lavish ballroom set and the colorful dancers, adds more zing and energy to the song, along with Jiiva's smooth dancing moves. "Latcham Calorie" is a simple and sweet melody, shot on the lead pair, in colorful localities of Switzerland. Besides that, there are some montages of funny moments, interspersed with the dance sequences. "Neeye Neeye" is a pathos song, shot on Jiiva in the imaginary "Balichistan prison" (Moroccan locations) and also with some few montages shot on the lead pair, interspersed along with the original track. "Nee Vandhu" has a tinge of Trance music in it and the lead pair was seen canoodling in scenic and panoramic locations of Iceland. The cinematographer captured the beauty of the lush and green highlands of Iceland, and the lighting added more beauty to the picturization. Harris Jayaraj's background score sufficed the needs of the script and is catchy in the action sequences. Lots of hard-work is put in the mixing and is evident in the background score. The flute piece of "Aathangara Orathil" is instantly likable ! 

Ravi K.Chandran's directorial debut, co-written by Adithya Roshan has a very contemporary and exciting template of drug mules and trans-border smuggling. The script had scope for some very good set of sequences and placements for the artistes to score. Unfortunately, Ravi K.Chandran's writing is no where as good as his cinematography sense. The film's basic story-line and some sequences bear's striking resemblance to the 1978 American/British film, 'Midnight Express' which was written by Oliver Stone and directed by Alan Parker. The original film starred Brad Davis, Randy Quaid and John Hurt and was based on Billy Hayes' 1977 book, Midnight Express. If it was an American smuggling hashish out of Turkey in the original, its an Indian unknowingly smuggling drugs into Balichistan, in 'Yaan' ! The ace cameraman's script is full of inexcusable flaws with unforgivable, gaping loopholes. The film has a very straight/linear story-line and the absence of twists and turns, make 'Yaan' a very dull affair. The entire first half is a complete waste and has no bearing on the overall story. The comedy and love tracks did not work out and falls flat, completely.  For the extensive budget, high production value and glossiness employed in the film, the writing completely lets down all the brilliant work, put in by the technicians. This film deserves some save-facing ratings only for the technical works and not for the art of film-making. 

'Yaan' - A cavernous yawn !


Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

7AM ARIVU MOVIE REVIEW

7am Arivu... A big film with huge expectations thanks to the coming together of 3 names, that is Suriya-AR Murugadoss-Harris Jeyaraj trio and in addition, some of the best technicians in the Indian film industry. Though the movie started off with big expectations, nothing was told to the outside until the audio was launched, where the trailer of the film was released along. The trailer took the expectations several notches higher and there was no stopping marketing wise. The fans were bombarded with new news each and everyday until the release. What really made the proceedings intriguing was the revealing of the Bodhidharma character which the film revolves around. A mystical man from Tamil Nadu who was totally forgotten about in his homeland whereas in the other side of the world, he is being revered as nothing less than a GOD and the founder of martial arts. So, how did all this build-up work?

Starting off with the cast. Suriya was exceptional in his hard-work and tremendous effort to bring out the role of Bodhidharma. Be it his opening shots as the Pallava King and the transformation of the character into "Damo". He was majestic in his opening shot as the king and he brings the needed stillness and calmness for the role of the monk. His hard-work shows off in the stunt sequences, be it the fight scenes in the Chinese village or the climax sequence. Not to forget, the tricks he learned for the circus artist role as well. Bravo and hats-off to him for pushing the boundaries of Tamizh cinema heroes in putting efforts for their characters. Shruti Haasan's made her Tamizh debut here and she does justice to her role and has the intelligent look needed for her scientist character Subha. Good work on her side for working on the Tamizh syllables and difficult words. She can be the daughter of "Ulaganayakan" but it is unfair to expect her to speak as flawlessly as her father. Anyways, a decent debut for her and it is a welcome relief to see heroines getting plum roles, which in case nearly equal to the hero. Johnny Tri Nguyen, does what is expected of him and being an expert in martial arts, he does his role well but there was some kind of stiffness around him. All the other character roles were performed appropriately.

As mentioned earlier, this film has some of the best technicians in the Indian cinema and their talent can be seen in the film. Shabina Khan' and Anuvardhan's costume work was apt for the film and kept simple. The VFX team did a good job with the opening shot of the 'Gurukulam' depicted early in the film. Cinematographer Ravi K.Chandran, one of the best and most wanted in Indian film industry, is a huge asset to the film. His work is top-notch and his stamp of work i evident throughout the film but certainly the opening 20 minutes shot in China has some beautiful colors and views and the climax scene as well with various different shots and angles. Proves he is one of the best. Another major role player is Rajeevan. His artwork is impressive and helps bring the story to life. The village erected in China, Kancheepuram "Gurukulam", the science laboratory, the circus props everything needed big amount of effort and work and his team has pulled it off brilliantly. Will be one of his best in his entire career. Anthony could have done little bit better in the editing, especially with the length of the film but more of it later. His work in the climax fight was classy. Peter Hein had put in lots of research from his part as well and it shows off here with the superbly choreographed Chinese village and climax fight sequences.

Coming to the songs, Harris Jeyaraj has disappointed his fans with average songs this time. Most of the songs have a heard before feel to it and do not really excites the audiences. Though the songs are average,the picturization were unique. "Oh Ringa Ringa" has an incredible concept of having 1000 dancers under at the same time under the guidance of choreographer Shobi, and that too with Suriya in a heavily crowded public places. It was a commendable job and the crane shot was well used but the song doesn't really reflect the grandeur of having 1000 dancers and many close up shots were used instead. "Mun Andhi" is a slow romantic number, picturized in Krabi Islands of Thailand. Beautiful close up's of Shruti and Suriya and many different shots such as under water camera and helicopter shots were implemented. "Yellae Lamma" meanwhile was done in Hong Kong and different colour shades were attempted, giving it a cool and chilled out look. "Yamma Yamma", a pathos song was picturized solely on Suriya's emotions and Ravi K.Chandran's tilt-and shift method was put to good use and the train station set erected by Rajeevan was near perfect. "Innum Enna Thozha" and "The Rise of Damo" was done in montage sequences and were used to establish the proceedings of the screenplay.

Captain of this big 'ship' AR Murugadoss deserves a big,big round of applause for the amount of work and research he had to put, to come up with this script and above all to deliver a thumping and necessary and timely message, interwoven in the script, to the watching audiences. But there is one BIG fault in the script and that is the length of the film. He had a brilliant concept, which is very hard to be made into a regular Tamizh commercial cinema and he tried his best in coming up with one but he fails to execute it perfectly. Murugadoss's previous films like "Dheena", "Ramana" and "Ghajini" all had fast and thrilling screenplays but here, though the thrill is there, he drags it too much with unnecessary elements. The "attempted" romance track between Suriya and Shruti didn't work out as there was no proper chemistry between them and it was not necessary to the film and thanks to this "attempt" songs were churned out and were thrust into the film and the placing of the songs were ill-timed. Besides that, the "Nokkuvarmam" or hypnotism issue was over-used, especially with the long-drawn out car stunts scene.The film did start off in a fantastic manner, depicting the journey of Bodhidharma in a documentary manner with over-voice. The film then loses the grip it had on the audience after that and we had to wait for sometime until a drama comes up and sadly the pace drops few times and had to be picked up later on as the film progresses. This slows the screenplay badly and leaves the audience feeling exhausted and stretched. It is not wrong to dream of a many interesting concepts but it is very difficult to put a few of them in one single film and this is where Murugadoss falters by failing to come up with a tight screenplay. Life and times of Bodhidharma, the historical facts on ancient culture of Tamizh people, mysterious martial arts skills, scientific research advancements, political issues aided by bio-warfare, backdrop of circus environment, all these is a bit too much for audience to ponder upon at a time. Even if its possible, then the commercial aspects should have been compromised. Commercialism doesn't work all the time audiences do have matured a bit to accept realistic cinema and Murugadoss should have boldly moved away from thrusting in regular commercial elements. Scientific-logic issues gave way in the end to accommodate commercial sentiments, so that the take-away message can be sent across loudly.

In conclusion, 7am Arivu is a good film which could have been much, much, much better and salutes to AR Murugadoss for his thumping message.


Ratings: 3/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL