Aviyal

2016 1h 56m TA

😐

5.8

MID

★5.8TMDB · 5

ComedyCrimeThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Aviyal is a collection of four short films : A young man attracted to his aunt, a filmmaker chasing robbers who have stolen his short film, two friends going on a trip to deposit the ashes of their friend and a gangster narrating a story.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Nivin Pauly
Eli
Bobby Simha
Gangster
Rajeev Pillai
Garudan
Arjunan Nandakumar
Amrutha Srinivasan
Deepak Paramesh
Roju
Jinu Joseph

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Alphonse Puthren
Writers: Alphonse Puthren, Shameer Sultan, Mohit Mehra
Languages: Tamil
Countries: India

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 10 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Alphonse Puthren, shot by Selvakumar SK. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Javed Riaz. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Alphonse Puthren shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Nivin Pauly and Bobby Simha and Rajeev Pillai carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt5542434 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

Only 5 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Alphonse Puthren directs. Selvakumar SK behind the camera. Javed Riaz scores. Alphonse Puthren cuts. Produced in India. Dialogue in Tamil.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 10 years ago.
2Directed by Alphonse Puthren, shot by Selvakumar SK. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Javed Riaz. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Alphonse Puthren shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Nivin Pauly and Bobby Simha and Rajeev Pillai carry the top of the cast.
6IMDB entry: tt5542434 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Only 5 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Selvakumar SK
Original score: Javed Riaz
Editing: Alphonse Puthren
Sound: Aju Vignesh
Runtime: 116 min · 1h 56m
Status: Released
Original language: TA
Certification (US): U
IMDB: Aviyal (2016)

Also by

Alphonse Puthren

Community reviews

What people are saying

timesofindia2016-03-18
★ 7/10
How do you introduce an incestuous romantic comedy, an action thriller with a twist, a ghost comedy, and a tale within a tale? Aviyal answers it with Shameer Sultan's wacky prelude that has an actor talking. It is only when it ends that we realise that he has been preparing us for what is to follow. Sruthi Bedam has a storyline that if attempted in a mainstream film today will have one organisation or the other protesting. A young man is attracted to the guest who has come to his home. She is a looker and is only a year older to him, though there is a hitch — she is his chithi (aunt)! Director Mohit Mehra treats this Balachander-ish plot as a comedy. There is a friend character, who advices the hero how wooing the woman is wrong even as he subtly eggs on the smitten guy with voyeuristic delight. The way Mehra keeps us guessing about the motives of woman adds to the suspense. In Lokesh Kanakaraj's Kalam, a filmmaker and his friends go after a pickpocket and his cronies, who have stolen from them a CD and pen drive containing their short film. What starts off as a low-key thriller turns into an action film (with the action being choreographed against an Aiyappa song!). There is a twist as well, and it is pulled off commendably. Two friends go on a trip to Rameswaram with the ashes of their dead friend. That is the premise of Kanneer Anjali, which is somewhat a rambling film, with hot-or-miss humour. The tale takes a turn when the duo (or, should we say trio?) gets acquainted with a drug smuggler en route, but Guru Smaran's film lacks the tautness of the other films. The acting, too, feels amateurish. But the anthology ends on a high with Alphonse Putharen's Eli, which seems to have been made prior to his Neram days. Bobby Simhaa and Nivin Pauly play the leads here as well, and even their appearances are similar to what was in that film. A gangster narrates a story and we get the actions that happen in both these stories, interrupted often by the noise from a (unseen) couple's lovemaking. It is visually splendid and shows why Putharen has come to be one of the most exciting filmmakers today. Plot-wise, the shorts in Aviyal are streets ahead of those that formed the first edition, Bench Talkies. They are daring, wacky and fresh. A couple of these films even manage to transcend the made-for-TV visual style of shorts. It will be interesting to see what Karthik Subbaraj (who is one the project's backers) and co serve us next.

Production companies