Payanam - a journey worth the distance!

Tamil movie industry must be going through a lull. There is no big-budget production on the screens. The masala heroes must be preparing for yet another potpourri come Tamil new year day. And while the silence lasted, we decided to embark on a short but sweet journey – ‘Payanam’.

Radha Mohan has created a niche for himself. He has endeavored to fill a space that a lot many directors have neglected. A space for simple and clean ‘family entertainers’. And he has done it with a variety of subjects, rather than sticking to one single formula. Take for instance ‘Mozhi’, a story revolving around a speech-impaired (I do not want to use the word ‘dumb’) woman. It’s a love story albeit. But the emotions surrounding the leading lady were so well portrayed and the script was kept so light with tangy humor, so much so, that when you stepped out of the cinema, you hardly notice her handicap. Or try ‘Abhiyum Nanum’. A dad’s story about his daughter, the love for her and him coming to terms with his culturally-alien son-in-law. All neatly wrapped up into a family-pack. So ‘Payanam’ was already a must-watch in my list.

The plot is simple. The story stretches only across 3 days – it’s a flight hijack! And yet, this was not a thriller of any sort. That’s the beauty of this movie. It’s a thriller that’s not really a thriller. It’s a thriller you can actually enjoy. You wont be sitting at the edge of the seat, biting into your nails. No, that was never the intention, I firmly believe. Instead you will be sitting back and taking it all in. There are no songs, no item numbers (thankfully), and no melodrama either. But the drama itself is well played out, the characters well etched and the screenplay quite gripping.

So well, it’s a hijack, right? The scenes have to be set primarily around a flight? In fact, the focus must be inside the flight. With passengers sitting in the same positions. There is only so many angles you can show the flight from. The audience could be bored, pretty soon. Right? No, that conclusion is totally wrong! Every scene was refreshing in its own way. Attention to detail was fantastic (except in one spot where a junior artist perhaps answered a phone call from her boyfriend!). The growing tiredness and frustration (and the beards) was visible among the passengers. Interspersed was humor that suited the situation. There were some collage shots showing parallel action and multiple perspectives. The music, that usually plays a very important role in such movies, held the pieces together astonishingly well. I am not going to talk about the cast much. I will just say, they fit in well!

So what’s the story really? I shall let you watch it to know it J

Straight from the Ghat

Nitya, is a little boy who runs away from a temple, in a bid to avoid a tonsure, as his parents offer his hair in atonement. That is the long-story-short, one line 'abstract' (forgive the pun here) of a short story by RKN, titled... {pause}... 'Nitya'.

The movie was not too different. There was no start to it and neither was there an end. It was just pure and simple, move on. The matter of fact, nonchalant handling came through quite nicely. Humour had been weaved in every so lightly, like a pinch of salt here or there in an otherwise strong melange of emotions or sometimes, the absolute lack of it. A seamless blend, smooth, short and sweet I must say. Simply put, it seemed like a collage of colours, hues and moods. Just like Arun's dabs in the movie.

Prateik Babbar can be labelled as a find. Monica Dogra is quite refreshing. And Aamir? Since I cant pick the apt superlative, he is just as usual - as it has come to be a habit of his in recent times. Yasmin, the character, and the girl who played the role, were quite pleasing.

The camera angles, the handi-cam feel, the close-ups, the portrait shots (yes, I mean it, there were portraits in video!) were all so eye catchy. One couldn't help thinking that perhaps the movie was meant to be a series of photographs strung together to narrate a story that was never to be in the first place. The stillness in the shots were fittingly accompanied by long moments of soulful silence. And then the strings of the guitar would pleasantly make their presence felt.

A few of the shots, just by themselves, told a story. Like the one in the taxi with the fish on one side and the cat on the other side. Sums up the context in which the scene is placed. I shall leave it to you to interpret it though :)

So here I am, straight from the ghat... Dhobi-Ghat that is - a title as abstract as the movie is. And with a review, as open ended as I wanted it to be.