A new genre flick ‘Payanam’ produced by Prakash Raj along with Dil Raju from the banner ‘Silent Movies’ is said to be an ‘edge of the seat’ thriller, different from the usual action packed movies. The successful duo Prakash Raj and Radha Mohan who have a created a niche for themselves in this industry, come together in this fourth production of Duet Movies after their super hits ‘Azhagiya Theeye’, 'Mozhi’ and ‘Abhiyum Naanum’. Payanam will hit the screens in the Telugu version as "Gaganam" with the same star cast and the technical crews produced by Dil Raju.

This movie under Radha Mohan’s direction moving away from his regular family oriented stories has Telugu superstar Nagarjuna and Prakash Raj along with Poonam Kaur and Sana Khan. This is a direct Tamil film after a gap of 13 years for Nagarjuna the Tollywood star, fit as a fiddle even after more than 25 years in the tinsel world. Nagarjuna with a good fan base in Chennai too is said to have fitted into the character of the NSG commando with the expert directions given by Radha Mohan and Prakash Raj who had beforehand researched well for this. Prakash Raj needless to say is adept at squeezing into any character with ease and he is said to have done the same thing in Payanam too as the senior bureaucrat interacting with the terrorists.

Bharath Reddy & Brahmanandam play important roles supporting the main cast. Rishi, M S Bhaskar, Thalaivasal Vijay, Kumaravel, Manobala, Badava Gopi and Nitheesh don various characters strengthening the screenplay.

The storyline of Payanam is all about a plane which is being hijacked by terrorists and the mental agony of the passengers when the terrorists force its landing at Tirupati airport. The scenes advance with the commandoes planning to storm the flight to rescue the passengers and the bureaucrats interacting with the government to release a dreaded terrorist from Vellore jail to save the flyers peacefully.

A huge set at a whopping cost of Rs 3 crore has been created at Ramoji Rao Studios in Hyderabad by art director Kathir to recreate the Tirupati airport. Though the main concept stands on the Kandahar hijack in 1999 the story is a combination of incidents from various hijacks. Payanam is said to lucidly project the emotional trauma of the hundreds of passengers put at stake by a handful of terrorists. It is also said to have lighter moments amidst the tension packed hours in the flight.

Background music has been scored by Praveen Mani to keep up with the pacing tempo. Sometimes sudden brake is applied to the story’s speed by songs barging into serious sequences. Luckily this movie does not have any song. After Mozhi, Radha Mohan has teamed up with cinematographer Guhan. Payanam is shot in digital format in Red camera giving the team an unusual experience. So, fasten your seat belts to check if Payanam will be another success story really hijacking the viewers’ hearts when the movie will be released on 11th February.