Payanam

Payanam (“Journey”) is a 2011 action thriller about an aircraft hijacking, directed and co-written by Radha Mohan and shot simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu; the Telugu version is titled Gaganam (“Sky”). Nagarjuna plays a National Security Guard commando and Prakash Raj the Home Secretary, alongside an ensemble of around 45 actors including Brahmanandam, Thalaivasal Vijay and Poonam Kaur. Prakash Raj produced the Tamil version and Dil Raju the Telugu one. Both were released on 11 February 2011 to a positive reception.

What the story is about

On a flight from Chennai to Delhi, five passengers retrieve weapons hidden in a toilet and hijack the plane. In a struggle to divert it to Pakistan, an engine is damaged and the aircraft makes an emergency landing at Tirupati. The hijackers demand ₹100 crore, a fresh aircraft and the release of their imprisoned leader, Yusuf Khan. A crisis team under Home Secretary K. Vishwanath takes charge, while NSG Major Ravi, the man who captured Khan, keeps warning against releasing him and pushes for a commando operation as the government hesitates. Inside the plane, the passengers, from a film superstar to a priest, wait.

Cast and crew

• Nagarjuna as Major N. Raveendra “Ravi”
• Prakash Raj as Home Secretary K. Vishwanath
• Ravi Prakash as Captain Girish and Poonam Kaur as flight attendant Vimala Gupta
• Rishi as Dr. Vinod and Sana Khan as Sandhya, passengers
• Thalaivasal Vijay as Colonel Jagadheesh
• Brahmanandam, M. S. Bhaskar as a priest, and Babloo Prithiveeraj as the film star Chandrakanth
• Iqbal Yaqub, in his debut, as the hijacker Yasin

Director and co-writer: Radha Mohan. Producers: Prakash Raj (Tamil) and Dil Raju (Telugu). Music: Pravin Mani. Runtime (Telugu version): 131 minutes.

Making the film

After a run of family dramas, Radha Mohan wanted to make a hijack thriller, and Prakash Raj agreed to fund it. Nagarjuna, in his first direct Tamil film in 13 years, chose the Telugu title himself and called it “one of the easiest” films he had done because the research had been put on paper for him; it was also his first film without a love interest. Despite reports, Prakash Raj denied that it was based on the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814: the hijack is fictional. Art director Kathir built a replica of Tirupati airport at Ramoji Film City in a month for ₹3 crore, and the film was also shot in Chennai and Kullu-Manali. The Telugu cut is shorter than the Tamil one. Ready by September 2010, the release was pushed back several times by other big releases.

Reviews

With only a single song, the film leaned on suspense and humour, and critics liked the mix. For the Telugu version, Radhika Rajamani of Rediff called Gaganam “a brilliant hijack drama”, Jeevi of Idlebrain “a decent film which should be watched with an open mind”, and The New Indian Express “a must watch”. Reviewing the Tamil version, Baradwaj Rangan called it “brisk and never boring”, likening it to a cross between a disaster movie and a stage comedy, and The Hindu was so convinced by the sets that it told the art director to “take a bow”.

Where to watch Payanam / Gaganam

We do not have a confirmed streaming listing for Payanam or Gaganam on file. If we verify one with a platform, it will appear on this page.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Payanam (2011 film) and the reviews it cites, linked above; our own cast and crew records.