Yaathisai Review - Hardly Engages Despite its Crisp Runtime!

PUBLISHED DATE : 21/Apr/2023

Yaathisai Review - Hardly Engages Despite its Crisp Runtime!

Yaathisai Review - Hardly Engages Despite its Crisp Runtime!

Ashwin Ram


Yaathisai is a historical drama that happened in the Cheras, Cholas and Pandias era. The film is directed by Dharani Rasendran, casting debutants for most of the roles.

 

 

PremiseKothi, the head of the Einer clan, requests the Cholas to free them and cut their taxes and they in return will kill the King of the Pandias dynasty named Ranadheera Pandian. Their journey towards Yaathisai (Southern Direction) begins.

 

Writing/ Direction: 


The film is promoted as ‘Witness the valor of the Pandias’, but the film is never approached that way. It is about how a small clan fought boldly against the Pandias. The narrative is contradictory to how it is publicized, yes the Pandias won the battle at the end, but most of the movie stresses on the bravery of the Einer clan. As a film, it does offer quite an unique experience, vast landscape, exotic locations, realistically treated screenplay. The base story is satisfying, sets up a promising conflict. Until the centre point, the flow is pretty engaging, as the world is established slowly and steadily with unknown elements presented with an in-depth research. The ancient language they speak adds authenticity, thanks to the subtitles as it provides a better understanding. But the film becomes flat once the face-off takes place and the whole second half suffers to proceed forward with the intended story. There are hooks at the end that widens the film as a two-part one, there are no big interesting factors to eagerly look forward to the sequel, it could’ve easily been a single movie, considering its sharp two hours runtime. The raw and rustic tone is appreciable which makes it a novel historical attempt, but can’t get over the fact that it was had a dry layer throughout and boring portions, especially in the latter.

 

 

Performances:


Almost 90% of the artists are new faces. They fit their roles perfectly by making the happenings lively. The debut lead actors have performed so naturally for the most part, but there are too many exaggerations during the fight sequences, their dubbing for the action parts are a big letdown.

 

 

Technicalities:


The making is very promising, for the budget it is made in, the grandeur is visible in the visuals. Mainly the top-angle scenic shots look so beautiful. The neat colour tone is also set and maintained well throughout. Pretty good songs, though the Barathanatiyam choreography lacks finesse. Sound-wise the film is an absolute misfire. The sound effects are poorly mixed and there is no sync during the action blocks. Stunt choreography is extremely violent, I understand the aggression, but blood-shed is excessively loaded. Also the camera angles during fight portions carry a lot of close-ups which doesn’t give a proper clarity of what is going on out there in the battlefield.

 

 

Verdict - Historical drama that is appreciable for its bold attempt and the raw approach. But the film fails to engage, proving that the artistic approach alone cannot save a film with lack of content in the second half.

 

Rating - 2.5/ 5.


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