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