Raayan (2024)
5KRaayan (2024). 2h 25m
“Dhanush has always been one of Tamil cinemau0026#39;s most consistent actors in terms of the quality of projects he accepts. So when he makes his directorial debut, one surely must be excited to see what his storytelling vision really is. Itu0026#39;s not very surprising that he tries to model his debut along the lines of some of his most acclaimed work as an actor (think u0026quot;Asuranu0026quot; or u0026quot;Vada Chennaiu0026quot;), and for the most part, he has a story thatu0026#39;s good enough to get the conversation started.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Raayanu0026quot; is a movie about an orphaned family of siblings fending for themselves in a city infested with gang violence and one where the volatile instability of their lives are highlighted. It has all the markings of a good u0026#39;Vetri Maaran-esqueu0026#39; movie, and it promisingly starts off in that regard too. Right until the movieu0026#39;s interval block, it has its sights set on where it would want to end up, and does a great job keeping the audience interested and invested in the movie and its characters.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor as well as it started, itu0026#39;s the movieu0026#39;s second half that disappoints massively, as it just comes across as if the movie is stuck not knowing where to go from here. It has very few points of interest from thereon, and the story beats just donu0026#39;t seem to work. The movie drags and drags to the point where youu0026#39;re now just waiting for it to end. The second half has nothing to offer and that stance is insulted further by the time we get to the movieu0026#39;s climax, which seems to be entirely unaware of the mockery itu0026#39;s making of the entire movie and its premise. Itu0026#39;s disappointing especially, considering how promising the movie looked during its first half.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMost of the mistakes in this movie comes from bad flow and writing. It had the foundation to succeed, but didnu0026#39;t have the experience to build off that, and that is ideally where Dhanush would have to improve should he want to continue down this particular path of storytelling. And as for whether this movie is worth checking out in cinemas, no, itu0026#39;s not, donu0026#39;t bother.”
