Directed by K V Anand
Edit by Anthony and Cinematography by M S Prabhu
rohit SAYS,
With the dawn of stars like Rajni Kanth and Chiranjeevi a new genre called ‘Masala’ is introduced to South Indian cinema. Most of the super hits of the late 80’s and through the 90’s have been of this genre. These movies are most popular for shooting the actors into the pinnacle of stardom which includes fan clubs, huge cut outs, massive openings etc.
These movies go about like this – a super hyped hero introduction song, a lot of humor through the first half while silently establishing the premise of the movie, a love story filled with duets, a few scenes of super heroism, a fast paced second half filled with fights, one or two more duets to lighten the mood, an item number and an ending where good wins over evil.
Most of the successes of this genre initially were very well scripted or at least fully loaded though they follow a similar pattern. However, the makers have gone real lazy after a while (especially with reference to screenplays, cinematography and music) and a genre which is supposed to be perfectly entertaining had become real tiresome to the audiences. The crowds were asking for more from the genre and the stars who usually prefer this genre.
Then there are a few who gave the genus a totally professional look. Classic example – Shankar. Directors like Shankar have taken up subjects like ‘corruption’ rather than ‘revenge’ with a Masala backdrop. Shankar had taken these movies to the next level especially in the case of visuals, edit, music and song videos in particular. But, a lot of stars have been trying to establish themselves in a similar Rajni or Chiru pattern in the 2000’s which backfired drastically. Classic example – Vijay.
Now, we have one of the most elegant and intelligent actors of our time – Suriya, who had been doing one movie out of the box and coming back to the favorite South Indian genre every second movie. Not a bad way to build up one’s career.
Talking of Ayan, I don’t remember the last time I was so satisfied with a movie of this genre after Padiappa (Telugu version – Narasimha). Ayan is one of those movies which wouldn’t let you think even for a minute and keeps giving you whatever you want from a time passing evening flick.
But, the thing I like the most about Ayan is great amount care taken regarding the technicality of the movie. The ‘Blood Diamond’ look alike visuals in Congo, finely scripted scenes of humor, the superb song videos which had some of the most well worked upon costumes, a pretty precise characterization (for a Masala flick), good performances (Prabhu and Suriya in particular) and the top notch choreography.
It’s a story of a boy from Chennai (Dev played by Suriya) involved with smuggling of diamonds. Because of the involvement with the mafia a lot of other deals such as cocaine and heroin smuggling also come their way, but, are turned down by Das (Dev’s boss played by Prabhu). Then there is the egoistic marwadi Kamalesh (played by Akashdeep) who wants to be the top guy of the business and takes up offers turned down by his competitors. A few betrayals, crimes and real incident adaptations is much of the film’s plot.
Expect non-sense, don’t have any expectations and buy some popcorn. Do that and you’ll love the movie.
Rating – √√√1/2 – now, that’s an entertainer
Directors with dazzling narration capabilites like K.S. Ravi Kumar should learn from this movie about technical strongholds for the mature audience.
the triangles say daskino