The much awaited edge of the seat thriller Payanam is all set to hit the silver screens today, February 11^th, 2011.

Payanam is a different genre film directed by Radha Mohan of Abhiyum Naanum fame. The film brings the hijack experience of flight IC 814 that takes place in Tirupati airport. The whole episode of the hijack has been directed in a spectacular way and the audiences are surely going to enjoy this thrilling journey. Telugu actor Nagarjuna will be seen as a commando and Prakash in the role of a bureaucrat. On coming with a new genre script the whole team is confident that Payanam will make its journey with packed houses.

Payanam is a bi lingual release both in Tamil and Telugu. The Telugu version was screened for the media persons and is showered with praises from the critics and film buffs for its awestruck making.

The film starts off with an Airlines flight IC 814 that takes off with about 75 passengers along with the crew from Chennai being hijacked by a bunch of terrorists. On an emergency call the plane lands in Tirupati airport and they demand for the release of their dreaded terrorist leader Yousuf Khan who is spending his days in jail. Now Home Secretary Vishwanath (Prakash Raj), along with some Airport authorities and National Security advisers comes to Tirupathi to negotiate with the terrorists. When the negotiations are going on National Security Guards officer Ravi (Nagarjuna) is designated to take on the terrorists. The information will be passed to the government but the government is not interested to go with the commando operation instantly. By finding no other way the government decides to release Yousuf Khan but on the way to the Tirupathi airport he gets killed in an accident. The really drama kicks off from here very interestingly played by the National Security Guards officer Ravi. How do they complete the most dangerous task and gets the passengers free from the hijacker’s forms the crux of the story.