Yaanai is an emotional action masala flick directed by the proven commercial filmmaker Hari. The movie stars Arun Vijay and Priya Bhavani Shankar in the lead roles. Music is scored by GV Prakash. After a highly disappointing venture Saami Square, let's see whether the director is back with a bang here.

Premise

Arun Vijay is the youngest son of his wide and wealthy family. His brothers are regressive, addicted to their caste. The villain is from the fisherman family, who wants to seek revenge as he has lost his brother a few years back and Arun Vijay is accidentally one of the reasons behind it. A big issue arises that breaks the family, how the hero resolves it all forms the remaining story.

Writing/ Direction

The story is simple, usual Hari style stuff, very much convincing though. Sets the base well by establishing the characters crisp and clearly, backstory unfolds at the right time too. Packed as full meals that have everything, has its share of hits and a few misses. Dialogues are sharp, perfect to the context and punchy too, relating the words to sea based stuff is a smart choice. Hari has revamped his thought process and come up with a different treatment, though the content is familiar. Many single take action sequences and emotional conversations are conceived superbly, presented with conviction without any compromises. But missing his fiery fast cuts that make his flow like a bullet train. Nevertheless he has achieved what he has tried to convey in his storytelling without dragging the screenplay that much. Both sentiment and mass scenes are decent, pretty good in terms of engagement too. The film would have been much better and racier if the Yogi Babu track comedies were avoided. However the combination scenes of the hero and the comedian aren’t bad, even Yogi Babu gets a clap worthy sensible ending to his character. The romance is thankfully not away from the main subject, but still it was just average. The basic structure of the family, their conflicts are commercially solid, but the two crucial places of the story which is the interval block and pre-climax deserved more length for a better impact. The villain characters could have been more powerful at places, but some scenes hit the bulls-eye. The director has the knack to crack the audience's pulse, and here he has done it at the satisfying level. The fall and rise of the hero factor clicks, which paves way for some clap-worthy moments in the latter half. The villain gets a neat ending without ending it in a violent note.

Performances

Arun Vijay has shouldered the film by carrying it to his strengths. Great effort has gone into making multiple high-octane single shot fight scenes. His beast-like physique is a big plus for the mass moments, his dialogue delivery and slang are good too. Priya Bhavani Shankar’s body language needs improvement in the serious situations, otherwise she has done her job without much complaints. Yogi Babu’s humour is laughable at parts, however the theatre went gala for his jokes. Pugazh’s scenes are the most annoying part of the film, there would’ve been no difference if his portions were scissored. KGF villain Ramachandra Raju has a strong hold and he has played his part well, seeing him melt at the climax is effortlessly done too. Ammu Abhirami and veteran Radhika have good importance to the story, their roles are strongly portrayed at the required places. Samuthirakani, Bose Venkat and Sanjeev roles are satisfactory, and they are fine, acting-wise.

Technicalities

GV Prakash’s songs are a huge letdown, with some delightful music, it would have been that wholesome commercial flick. Background score is pleasing, but a humming theme that a Hari film usually has is missing. Stunning camera work that uplifts the film technically, the director’s vision was successfully achievable because of cameraman Gopinath and team’s hardwork, visual quality is clean too. Scene order could have been placed differently at two areas and a couple of track comedy sequences could have been chopped-off, otherwise Anthony’s editing is quite seamless. Hats-off to the stunt choreographer, rehearsals are evident on-screen, action scenes are an absolute blast throughout the movie.

Bottomline

An agmark Hari film, the man is back in action with an emotional actioner that is sure to attract its targeted family audience. He has revamped his style a bit, by improving his presentation skills, but sticking to some of his flaws too with respect to the comedy track. Racy flow is missing at places, nevertheless it’s a satisfying masala flick with a convincing story and strong performance by Arun Vijay.

Rating - 2.75/ 5