AVIYAL MOVIE REVIEW
Aviyal, the Tamil anthology of five independent short stories brought to screen life by directors Alphonse Puthren, Shammeer Sultan, Mohit Mehra, Lokesh Kanagaraj and Guru Smaran, is the brainchild of Stone Bench creations which is the production house of director Karthik Subbaraj. This is Stone Bench’s second venture after last year’s release of Bench Talkies-The first Bench. Like different ingredients coming together to form a new dish, Aviyal is packed with five unique short films within it’s 2 hour run time which makes the whole package interesting.
The movie starts off with an intro scene directed by Shammeer Sultan, before going into the shorts and it makes no mistake in conveying to the audience that this movie is all about the directors and their story’s worth. After a very impressive prelude, Aviyal unfold its first tale.
Shruthi Bedham is director Mohit Mehra’s tale of Raj, a regular guy living with his parents. All seems to be normal in his life until Shruti enters. What happens next is an unfolding of a complete laugh riot revolving around the complexity behind the love he develops for her. Shruthi Bedham is filled with unexpected plot turns that are smooth and convincingly comical.
Credit goes to the cast including Amrutha Sreenivasan (Shruthi) and Rohit (Raj) for having given a convincing performance. Director Mohit Mehra deserves appreciation for weaving a satisfying and comical tale which sets up a great opening for the other shorts in the line up.
Second in the lineup is Kalam by Lokesh Kanagaraj. The plot revolves around a filmmaker, played by Deepak Paramesh, whose dream film does not reach submission because of a pickpocket named Michael. What follows is a battle between the two of them, each one trying to get from the other, something that belongs to them. The plot starts out with a firm hold on the audience but slowly loses grip. Performance by the cast is excellent and complementing to the unique characterization the director has to offer.
The third tale, Kanneer Anjali, by Guru Smaran gets mixed responses. Though not the tastiest ingredient that makes up the Aviyal, it contributes to the simplicity and originality of the film. This story is about the incidents that follow after two friends set out on a journey to Rameswaram to perform the final rituals with their friend's ashes. The roles of Dosa and Bra have been believably executed by the actors but the film could have been more engaging.
Alphonse Putharen adds the spice to the recipe with his story titled Eli. The plot features Bobby Simha in a gangster role narrating a story on screen which slowly carries one’s curiosity level to great heights. Eli with its comical and off beat revelation makes a great seasoning for the movie Aviyal and concludes it on a satisfactory note. Nivin Pauly and Bobby Simha perfect their appearances evidently.
Overall Aviyal does a smooth job of entertaining the viewers and most certainly does not disappoint. Though after the movie one might feel the pang of the absence of a usual movie pattern, the satisfaction of having watched something new and offbeat will make up for it.
