Yaanai, a template mass Hari film that keeps you engaged

What comes to mind when you think of director Hari is his Saamy, Vel and Singam film series.  Now he is back with Yaanai , a film starring his brother-in/law Arun Vijay after his last outing in 2018 Saamy Square, which fizzled at the box office.  the director is known for his fast-paced, action-packed, loud, masala commercial films with plenty of punch dialogues, a romance and family drama. Yaanai starring Arun Vijay, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Samuthirakani, Radhika Sarathkumar and others, follows a similar template as well. Yaanai is set in southern Tamil Nadu - Hari’s favourite location - but this time in Ramanathapuram where the PRV family, which owns a seafood empire worth Rs 450 crore, is headed by actor Rajesh whose sons are played by Samuthirakani (Ramachandran) from his first wife and Arun Vijay (Ravi) from his second wife enacted by Radhika Sarathkumar. Ravi is the youngest son who is also the most progressive in this family that holds on dearly to caste ego and traditional values. A death in the family of their rival Samuthiram (Jayabalan) causes a deep rift and Samuthiram’s son Lingam is out to take revenge on the PRV family. The sudden elopement of Ramachandran’s daughter Selvi with a Muslim boy, Raheem, is pinned on Ravi and all hell breaks loose in the PRV family. Will Lingam take revenge? Will Ravi be able to prove them wrong and protect his family? If you have seen director Hari’s older films then you know there is a r protagonist who protects the family and a villain who is out to destroy it. The female characters are most often at risk and in danger and in this film too we see that emerge. There is plenty of family sentiment and with the focus around caste and religion and rifts caused by these social elements, we see plenty of dialogues that Ravi spouts against them. When it comes to cinematography, Hari and cinematographer Gopinath seem to have tried something new and gone in for single take action scenes which Arun Vijay has pulled off superbly.  The emotional scenes have also been well executed and flows seamlessly with film. But it is the comedy track with Yogi Babu that sticks out like a sore thumb and could have been avoided. Though the scenes are a laugh, they don’t connect with the main story. Priya Bhavani and Radhika are assets to their films with their good performances. GV Prakash has scored the music for the film and the BGM keeps up with the tempo of the action and the shots but the songs are just average. Director Hari has delivered another pucca mass masala film with good performances by the cast. Latha Srinivasan is a senior journalist based in Chennai. Her passion is entertainment, travel, and dogs. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.