Let me start with a disclaimer - there is absolutely no harm in cinematographers directing movies. KV Anand for one is a good contemporary example who has tasted commercial success with movies like ‘Ayan’ and ‘Ko’. Cinematographer Ravi K. Chandran who has been the golden eye behind many successful commercial ventures, has donned his maiden directorial hat with ‘Yaan’. This movie is also a classic example for that which has all the ingredients for a grand product would end in a grand fiasco if the writing and execution is well below par!
Yaan is the story of a happy-go-lucky guy, Chandru (Jiiva), who falls for Sreela (Thulasi), gets trashed by Sreela’s father (Nasser) for being jobless and so pursues for a job overseas through an agent. There he gets caught for carrying drugs and that is thanks to the cunning agent and has to fight his way back to his homeland. Well, then to add some more action masala, we have an Indian terrorist in a foreign land who is waiting to get exposed by our hero (of course our hero does it single handedly). The drag continues until the director himself puts an end to it with an aide of an end card - I was seriously able to feel the director’s shaky vision, especially during the second half where nothing seemed to move in the right direction!!
The production value of the movie was high, actors were good enough, cinematography was awesome, special effects were sufficient - but everything got nullified with a very bad execution. We’ve seen so many such stories in the past - another recent example would be ‘Mariyaan’, which once again was a failure due to a dragging screenplay (even though it had a star on-screen and off-screen - don't ask me who they are?). Except, ‘Aathangara Orathil unnale’, other songs were trademark Harris Jayaraj tunes which had very little creative value. At the end of the day, only ‘Gana’ Bala seems to be the person whom one should trust in order to dish out some whippy lyrics and to keep things afloat. Such was the sad state of affairs!!
Verdict: Strictly Refrain From It!
Rating: 1 / 5
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