Review Overview
Performances
Screenplay & Direction
Technical Aspects & BGM
Hackneyed Debut!
In his relentless pursuit to narrate a sensitive, debatable story with magnificence, Ravi K Chandran misses to tick the most pivotal box of film-making – passion. And, that makes Yaan a damp squib!
Cast: Jiiva, Thulasi Nair, Nasser, Thambi Ramaiah, Karunakaran, Arjunan, Nawab Shah, Jaya Prakash, Bose Venkat & Others
Cinematography: Manush Nandan
Music: Harris Jayaraj
Editing: Sreekar Prasad
Stunts: Kicha
PRO: Suresh Chandra
Written & Directed by: Ravi K Chandran
Produced by: Elred Kumar for RS Infotainment
Distribution: Dream Factory
Run Time: 02:35:00
Release Date: 02-10-2014
When Ravi K Chandran, one of India’s most celebrated filmmakers, makes his directorial debut with a promising actor like Jiiva in the lead role, it’s quite natural to expect the film to be decent, if not the best. When Ranbir Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan take sometime out of their busy schedule to come on YouTube to give bytes – good words – about the film, it’s OK to expect the film to be at least passable, if not above par. But, Yaan is bitterly disappointing to say the least!
Yaan is pretentiously funny and absurd on one side and lavish, slick on the other side. It has flamboyance written all over it, but there is only very little passion to complement it.
Chandru (Jiiva) is a happy-go-lucky, jobless MBA graduate who falls in love with Sreela (Thulasi Nair) at first sight. He stalks her till she falls for him and that, she does in a jiffy. The entire first half is dedicated to a reduntant romance story between the leads. Watch out for the opening scene, a shootout in the happening lanes of Mumbai, where Manush Nandan’s cinematography shows spine and welcomes us with a promise. In fact, Manush’s work is the only factor which makes the proceedings lively and adds charm to a film which otherwise suffers from cliched narration and hackneyed characters. The visuals spew grandeur, especially in the first half.
With a lame, formulaic twist in the interval block, the film travels to Basilistan, where Chandru is arrested upon arrival at the airport for drug-trafficking. He is sentenced by the jury to be beheaded in public. Will Chandru survive the sentence? Thereafter, the film brims with farcical contrivances, exhausting songs and timeworn scenes.
Jiiva is hyper-active and sports uber-cool costumes throughout the film. He looks suave and debonair. His character saves your frowns in the film where either the characters are under-utilized or stereotyped. The talented Jayaprakash and Nassar are under-utilized and rest of the supporting characters are run-of-the-mill, save alone Thulasi Nair – to an extent. She appears mighty better than her previous outing, but one feels there’s still a long mountain to climb. Stuntman Kicha has done a brilliant job and deserves mention.
In his relentless pursuit to narrate a sensitive, debatable story with magnificence, Ravi K Chandran misses to tick the most pivotal box in film-making – passion. And, that makes Yaan a damp squib!