Payanam Movie Reviews

The much awaited edge of the seat thriller Payanam is all set to hit the silver screens today, February 11th, 2011.

Payanam is a different genre film directed by Radha Mohan of Abhiyum Naanum fame. The film brings the hijack experience of flight IC 814 that takes place in Tirupati airport. The whole episode of the hijack has been directed in a spectacular way and the audiences are surely going to enjoy this thrilling journey. Telugu actor Nagarjuna will be seen as a commando and Prakash in the role of a bureaucrat. On coming with a new genre script the whole team is confident that Payanam will make its journey with packed houses.

Payanam is a bi lingual release both in Tamil and Telugu. The Telugu version was screened for the media persons and is showered with praises from the critics and film buffs for its awestruck making.

Payanam Story:

The film starts off with an Airlines flight IC 814 that takes off with about 75 passengers along with the crew from Chennai being hijacked by a bunch of terrorists. On an emergency call the plane lands in Tirupati airport and they demand for the release of their dreaded terrorist leader Yousuf Khan who is spending his days in jail. Now Home Secretary Vishwanath (Prakash Raj), along with some Airport authorities and National Security advisers comes to Tirupathi to negotiate with the terrorists. When the negotiations are going on National Security Guards officer Ravi (Nagarjuna) is designated to take on the terrorists. The information will be passed to the government but the government is not interested to go with the commando operation instantly. By finding no other way the government decides to release Yousuf Khan but on the way to the Tirupathi airport he gets killed in an accident. The really drama kicks off from here very interestingly played by the National Security Guards officer Ravi. How do they complete the most dangerous task and gets the passengers free from the hijacker’s forms the crux of the story.

Performances:

Nagarjuna as NSG commando has given incredible performance. He looked dignified and has brought the genuineness to the role of a commando.

As a bureaucrat Prakash Raj brought all his experience to the character but there is no much scope for him to perform.

Poonam Kaur is perfect fit as an air hostess. Bharat Reddy as a sub ordinate to Nagarjuna, Ravi as a pilot and Harsha Vardhan as a tabloid journalist have gone into the skin of their roles.

Vijay as a Colonel is seen in a vital role. Sana Khan doesn’t have much to perform. Prithvi as film actor is just okay and his role brought out some best spoof on the real life stars. Ace Telugu comedian Brahmanandam has brought some laughs in the some parts of the film.

Director Radha Mohan has succeeded in making Payanam as a watchable film. He has handled the plot very interestingly and maintained the curiosity factor all through the film.

Cinematography by K V Guhan is worth mentioning as he brought the real essence to the film by his imaginative camera work. By using Red camera Guhan has brought the feel of a real air plane as the set of airplane was erected at Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad. Dialogues by Anu Radha are easy to understand and Background score is okay.

The run time of Payanam is about 2 hours, the first half carries the scenes about the build up to the hijack and doesn’t loose the pace at anytime. Even though the film begins quite indifferently but for some reasons it engages you and captures you in a world of surreal splendor. Second half is interesting.