A teen love story from a debutant director and actor usually tends to offer the viewer something fresh in it’s story, performances or presentation(or in some all of these) and offers the viewer “old wine in a new bottle”. JAYAM too was a teenage love story directed by a debutant director with a debutant leading man…so does the movie offer the viewer anything new? Not really, however despite a slow and tepid start it does form into a fairly gripping thriller which is sadly letdown by a lacklustre climax.
The movie revolves around Ravi(newcomer Ravi who after the success of the film was tagged as Ravi “Jayam”)-a soft spoken college boy from a lower caste who does odd jobs to pay back his fathers debts. In college he falls in love with Sujatha(Sada), however when Sujatha was young her parents arranged her marriage to Raghu(Gopichand). Raghu and Sujatha had a fight when they were young, and is convinced that he will not marry her, until he sees her and is smitten by her beauty and agrees to marry her. To make matters worse Raghu bets Ravi black and blue and tells invites him to his wedding with Sujatha on that Friday. From hereon begins the chase as Ravi manages to elope with Sujatha as the duo run away with Raghu hot on their trail. Do the two lovers finally reunite? We all know the answer.
In terms of a story M. Raja has chosen one of the oldest ones in the book. Poor boy meets rich girl and falls in love, however parents are against the wedding and there is a dastardly villan who will go to any lengths to ensure that the lovers don’t meet. The premise is one that the viewer has been witnessing countless times over the years in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu cinema and M.Raja doesn’t offer any new variation on the story. The screenplay of the movie is good for the most. The first half establishes the love story between Ravi and Sujatha as well as building a rapport with the viewers. The love story is predictable to the core and at times bores the viewer. The second half takes off with a flying start and right from interval point to the end the pace is relentless and gripping keeping the viewer excited and involved.
As a director M.Raja makes a worthy debut and despite hackneyed story he manages to infuse life into the movie to keep the viewer entertained for the most. The first half could’ve been better directed, the viewer does get a bit restless after a point as the movie pulsl out every cliché in the book as far as love stories go, however from the interval point where Raghu reveals his true colours to Sujatha and holds her by the neck right to the very end the pace picks up. Infact, the interval scene is one of the highpoints of the movie as it’s at this point the directors name flashes on screen and it’s almost like a notice to the viewer that the film is about to take a drastic turn and in a sense start NOW!
Where M.Raja scores as a director is he manages to take the most clichéd scenes yet still manage to add a fairly high amount of tension to these scenes and keep the viewer enthralled. The sequence before the marriage where Ravi challenges Raghu that he will take Sujatha away is a masterstroke and shows the talent of the director. Ofcourse we know that our “hero” is about to enter any second, however the viewer waits for the entry and how he escapes with her with bated breath. The entire chase from there is simply superbly executed and the twist and turns are stylishly executed showing the directors technical finesse. Just when one expectes that the film is about to come to a halt and end, it takes off again unexpectedly. The climax of the movie is clichéd to the core, and is somewhat of a letdown as it has been stretched unnecessarily without much impact. A stronger climax was the need of the hour.
Another interesting aspect in the movie is the casting of soft-faced actor Ravi who plays a rather unlikely and “unheroic” hero right until the final reels. Yes this is a masala movie, but here our hero is shown as the “everyday” guy who isn’t a one-man army like Madhavan in RUN or a street smart sneaky warrior like Mahesh Babu in OKKADU-he is common boy who knows his limitations. When a group of 10 men with knives and sickles chase him, he doesn’t try take them all on..he runs! Heck even when he’s beaten black and blue in front of his love, he takes it all and whimpers down with the final blow. This actually makes for a refreshing change as the actors looks and physicality endorse his performance further in making it credible and ultimately likeable. No doubt all this is leading upto the hero “fighting back” and as expected the hero does turn into a fighting machine at the end with his lady love egging him on, and this is where I felt that the climax could’ve been a LOT stronger. Ravi’s sudden change from a “common boy” to a “fighting machine” doesn’t have enough backing to justify the final fight sequence which comes across as quiet flat. YES the tension is prevalent throughout, however one just wishes that there had been more build-up to this, though it still makes for a fairly engaging masala packed finale, just not as impactful. Ravi acts with confidence, delivers his lines well and excels in the dance sequences as well as romantic and comic scenes which is really good given it’s his first film.
Sada is cute and sexy rolled into one and plays the “damsel in distress” really well. Her “Po…Po…Pooya” and jingling of “payals” to communicate make for an interesting watch, and she looks stunning on-screen. The girls figure and smile both is a killer.
Gopichand as the main villan gives a good account of himself, and plays his part with relish. A clichéd villan to a T with no redeeming qualities at all what-so-ever, the actor does his best with a one dimensional character and plays it straight forward. The sequence just before the interval or the scene where he beats Ravi he excels in.
The supporting cast is OK, but don’t have much to do. The comedy trakcs in the movie with Sumanth Shetty are annoying and stand out for the worst. Also all the comedy sequences at the start with Ravis mate Ali and the teacher are in bad vein and gyrate on the viewers nerves.
The music in the movie is great, and all the song are lilting and hummable, and have been splendidly placed throughout the movie. The picturisations too are well done and compliment the songs well. The background score too is superb and heightens the impact in several places.
Technically the movie is slick, the entire second half with the train chase sequence and the fights in the jungle have been well executed.
All up JAYAM is nothing more than a time-pass masala entertainer which has it’s moments. The first half is slow however the pace does slowly pick up. The second half from interval onwards has been superbly canned however the climax is a letdown. In saying that the movie is a easy watch once, and given it’s from a debutant director and actor there is something relatively fresh about the movie.
Overall Rating=6.5/10.0
A.Shah
0 comments:
Post a Comment