ராயன்(2024)

In the 2nd half of Raayan, there is a particular section which involves Dushara committing violence for the first time in a bid to protect Raayan. While I was extremely happy of its existence(due to it being “feministic”) and the audience’s cheers, I was reminded of a particular Sherlock Holmes story not written by Doyle but by a bevy of other writers….

If I remember correctly, its title was “The Adventure of The Displaced Detective” which involves an older Holmes called into investigate a “perfect” murder while staying with Watson Jr and his wife…. A particular scene involves Watson Jr’s wife lamenting about the gender disparity in her job and while Watson apologises to Holmes for the commotion, Holmes replies in his wife’s support… When asked why(because it was an extremely “advance” thought), Holmes reveals that for a society to be successful, it needs to use all the resources that it has. So, if it discriminates on any basis, it causes its own loss….

Similarly, in the scene mentioned above, other filmmakers would have had a “Annaaaaaaaaaaaa” kind of scene which would then wake Dhanush up to fight them. But what Dhanush does is that he doesn’t fight/let himself fight, instead handing over duties to his sister and “father figure” Selvaraghavan(because it is the most logical use of the resources that he has in that scene). It also has a terrific ending (the scene) wherein it shows the men killed hanging in front of the villain’s (SJSuryah’s Sethu) house… But what effect does the hanging have?

There is another minor thing in a scene which involves the kidnap of Sethu’s 2nd wife. The scene involves only a shot of Varalakshmi Sarathkumar, who is his first wife, and it evokes extreme laughter in us because of her dislike for the 2nd wife which was already established in the 1st half. Or the fact that the intro of Sundeep and Kalidas takes place in an intercut which both involve violent acts conveying their similar nature and connection. I loved the way Dhanush underlines the ultimate “sister sentiment” in the opening sections of the film. I also loved the way he uses a low angle shot while talking about people in power and a pretty eye-level shot when he talks about themselves. So, as you would have assumed, the film technically quite proficient.

But the issue I felt was that if you had a director who studied directing and learnt all the “rules” of filmmaking and made a film, you’d get Raayan. The making seems soulless in way that is also not benefitted by the generic (though with its own surprises) script.

The interesting section of the film is the Dushara portion and also a portion that comes in when Raayan goes to assassinate Sethu. The twist here could be said to be the main “inciting” incident in a certain way. It’s what messes up their family life and ultimately affects their life. Is any of this bad? Absolutely no but there is a heavy dose of “been there, seen there” that somehow really brings down the film. Also, should a woman be raped for her to become “violent” akin to Saani Kaayidham? There is a certain lack of “auteur-ship” or personality that seems to seep through the camera. It feels someone, theoretically, learnt what each shot meant and kept It rather than keeping a shot based on which emotion to elevate. Does this mean Dhanush is a bad director? No. But does it also mean there is a certain “soullessness” in the film? Yep. There were however 2 interesting things in the film.

During the climax fight scene, Sethu and his gang search for Dhanush’s Raayan and the way it is shot is quite good: We see a tracking shot of Sethu walking (searching i.e.) and it cuts to a circular shot of him searching Raayan and this cutting keeps happening until we suddenly hear sounds of violence. This sound of violence is again, a great callback to the assassination of the first Don in the town, Durai, who is assassinated in the following manner: His son has been killed and its mistakenly by Raayan’s 1st young brother, Muthuvel, played by a very delightful Sundeep Kishan. Durai gives Raayan time till morning to give him Muthu. As Durai is in his house, we, again, suddenly hear sounds of violence, which keep escalating until there are only 2 people near Durai, and then it cuts into a cathartic shot of Raayan jumping and hitting the men in front of Durai.

Here it is also revealed that Raayan younger brothers have also assisted him in this gore-fest which seemed to be a better “Avengers” team-up moment for Dhanush and Sundeep than in Captain Miller. This callback is great because it is also verbally said in another scene by Raayan himself to Sethu (“Durai ah poda mudinja ennala, ungala poda mudiyadha”). So, it’s a callback on both a visual level and dialogue level (again, image and sound).

Similarly, the way the exchange scene of the 2nd wife also takes place in a similar manner. We see in a wide a van containing the 2nd wife and it goes nearer and nearer to Sethu’s right hand man. We keep hearing Sethu’s petrified cries as “background” sound and this adds to the humour of the scene as the shot ends in wide itself.

So definitely, Dhanush is a good director. No doubt, because I don’t think there are that many actual “directors” who can use sound and image in this manner. But it somehow felt like the film failed to cross the script onto the screen and simply was happy to be on the script level than have an edge and be on screen……