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)
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)
