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Hail Action! - Ayan

TYPICAL COMMERCIAL RECIPE: Ayan

Genre: Action

Director: K.V. Anand

Cast: Suriya, Tamannah, Prabhu, Renuka

Storyline: A techie-turned-henchman’s daredevilry leads him into many troubles, but he goes on unfazed till …

Bottomline: An oft-seen story, and action aplenty!

Smooth operator, smart aleck, charming lover boy and conscientious son — AVM Productions’ ‘Ayan’ (U/A) is Suriya’s show all the way. He bears the onus with a smile (literally) and the death defying stunts add to the robu st image he aims to project.

Suriya has worked hard on his role of Deva, a fun-loving, tech-savvy guy who is into underhand deals just for the heck of it! At least that’s what he tells his friend. The mindset remains a conundrum till the end! But Suriya’s alacrity takes you on a whirlwind tour of nail-biting action and astute humour that makes you forget the pitfalls momentarily.

Deva is a glorified henchman of Das (Prabhu) who finds his illegal globe-trotting exercises viz., smuggling diamonds from faraway Africa or the nearby harbour adventurous and enjoyable. The action story needs a villain — Akashdeep Saigal is the menacing specimen. But shouldn’t K.V. Anand have done something about his lip sync that goes awry, especially in the early sequences?

The beauty angle is taken care of by the bewitching Tamannah. Prabhu, whose demeanour and body language convey more than his words, is a picture of effortless style and dignity. And making a natural mother in every sense of the word is Renuka. Ponvannan essays the customs officer’s role with the decorum it warrants and Jagan of the small screen gets a break as Suriya’s friend.

Besides Suriya, the other bests of ‘Ayan’ are the work of the lens man (M.S. Prabhu) and stunt chief Kanal Kannan, and the exotic locations through which ‘Ayan’ travels. Prabhu’s choice of tones and the pace his camera contributes to the action sequences deserve special mention. More than sound, Harris Jeyaraj’s silence in the re-recording impact the viewer. The lyric (Vairamuthu) and tune of ‘Nenjae …’ impress.

If ‘Kana Kandaen’ gave you glimpses of K.V. Anand’s adeptness as a director, ‘Ayan’ shows his adaptability to formula. You never expected a run-of-the-mill story from Anand. In story and screenplay the Anand-Subha combo seems to be famished for ideas. Why else would they script a line that has little originality about it? Some of the gaffes are so glaring that you are unable to associate them with the promising director Anand was in his debut attempt. Sample this: The heroine’s family is gripped in tragedy and the lover is blamed. She realises his goodness in the very next scene, when she is still grieving. The next thing you see is the two taking off for a duet in alien lands! Most of the song sequences in ‘Ayan’ are positioned at the most unseemly places! So what as long as the film is viable?

Dialogue is poignant in some scenes, humorous in others and contrived in a few.

The villainous hero with a golden heart and his equally compassionate don are common characters in cinema. And the only new (!) aspect of the clichéd item number and the run-of-the-mill ambience is Janaki Sabesh who is a classic case of a misfit there. Otherwise the sequence is one that has been extant in films for more than four decades now.

Ajith and Raghuvaran in ‘Ullaasam,’ Vikram and Prakash Raj in ‘Bheema’ and now Suriya and Prabhu in ‘Ayan’ — the roles and the equations are the same. Only the milieu is different.

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