Aviyal (2016)

Excellent but underrated film

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

STRENGTHS:- * First Story: very good start.... * Casting and performances in all 4 sub stories.... * Third Story: concept and well handled.... * Final Story: contains adult content, it is mandatory WEAKNESSES:- * Second story lost its pace little bit.... FINAL VERDICT:- * Overall... it is a great attempt of combining 4 movies into one feature this leads to showcase new talents in silver screen. First story was awesome and you will enjoy madly, the cast also did their job very well.. I strongly recommend to watch this movie and enjoy this weekend... Aviyal is a collection of five Tamil short films made by various directors, including Alphonse Puthren, Sameer Sulthan, Lokesh Kanakaraj, Mohit Mehra and Guru Smaran. Directors: Lokesh Kanagaraj, Mohit Mehra | 3 more credits » Stars: Praveen Kumar, Sharath Kumar, Arjunan Nandakumar | See full cast & crew »

Dear Ram Gopal Verma, Quite a few anthology films have come out of India since the early 2000s. You were the pioneer when you produced Darna Mana Hain. In the last decade, I watched Shorts and Bombay Talkies in Hindi and Kerala Cafe and Anju Sundarikal in Malayalam. And now Aviyal in Tamil.You inspired a whole generation of filmmakers, Ramu. Aviyal is a creative and sometimes original collection of Tamil shorts. It includes Alphonse Puthren's (director of Premam) The Rat - A Sexy Tale. While the visuals indicate that this was a very cheap production, the audacity of the writers and directors made me happy that I watched it. The film begins with a guy in a coffee shop calling for all reluctant filmmakers to get off their lazy asses and make a movie.The first short is about this young guy who falls in love with his aunt who is only a year older to him. It's reasonably entertaining because the two leads are very charming. The actress who plays the aunt is very pretty and quite natural. The second short is about a filmmaker whose footage is stolen and he soon uncovers a conspiracy. This short has a pretty original fight sequence mainly due to the use of an unusual background score and build up to the fight.The third short is the weakest. Two slackers travel to Rameshwaram with the ashes of their dead friend. Their encounter with their friend's ghost, police and gangsters after they stop for a few drinks at a bar was a very interesting idea. But the plot development and resolutions are quite uninteresting. Though I guess this short does deserve a full film with better writing and direction. The fourth short was the one by Alphone Puthren. It stars Nivin Pauly (!). It's about a gangster telling a story about destiny to his henchmen. But he is distracted by noisy love making from the floor above him. I thought it was quite average. Best Regards, Pimpin. (6/10)