Review: Maayan
While credit must be given for the innovative way in which the director has handled certain portions ( for instance, the end of the world), the director by and large fails in his mission to narrate an engaging story.
Film: Maayan
Director: J Rajes Kanna
Cast:Vinod Mohan, Bindhu Madhavi, John Vijay, Aadukalam Naren, Sai Dheena, Kanja Karuppu and Raja Simman
Music: M S Jones Rupert
Cinematographer: K Arun Prasath
Editor:M R Rajeesh
Rating: 2 stars
The story is a mythological fantasy thriller that revolves around Aadhi, who works for an IT firm. A team leader, who is intelligent but who is also timid at the same time, Aadhi is subjected to constant badgering by his boss. However, the boss’s daughter Devi( Bindu Madhavi) is impressed with Aadhi.
Life goes on like this. One day, Aadhi sees Murugan, the right hand man of a gangster called Veera, hurting a youngster. Scared he rushes back to his room and starts meditating to calm himself down. It is at this point that he gets a divine revelation that the world is to end in 13 more days. He is asked to live his life the way he wishes in this short span. What happens then is what Maayan is all about.
The film has a lot of artificialty in it and that doesn’t help its mission of winning the attention of audiences.
The film also has a lot of strange ideas shared in a very discordant fashion.
For instance, right at the start of the film, we are shown two characters fighting each other in one life after the next. In every life, one character gets killed. You realise one character is Maayan but you wonder who the other character is and why they keep fighting. In fact, there is very little information on offer about the other character that fights Maayan except in the final few minutes of the film.
Then, we are told about the Maayan calendar, which predicts the end of the world. The film also claims that Mexicans are actually Tamilians and implies that the Maayan civilisation and their calendar was therefore actually created by Tamilians. All of these dent the credibility of the plot.
Vinod Mohan, who plays Aadhi ( who also happens to be the celestial character Maayan) has a long way to go when it comes to acting. For the most part, his expressions seem inadequate. For some reason, you get the impression that the actor is counting more on his physique and make up than his acting to lend credibility to his character.
Bindu Madhavi as Aadhi’s wife Devi does her part but she has very little to do in the film. The two best performances come from supporting actors in the film.
The first is Sai Dheena, who plays Veera, a gangster preferred by corporates, and the other is Raja Simhan, who plays Murugan, Veera’s right hand man.
While credit must be given for the innovative way in which the director has handled certain portions ( for instance, the end of the world), the director by and large fails in his mission to narrate an engaging story.
As a result, Maayan isn’t gripping enough to command your attention. A valiant effort but not good enough to impress you.
