‘Avihitham’ review: Funniest Malayalam film of the year so far

Alright, all the big films have come and gone. Now, time to make space for the small ones. And October seems, so far, an auspicious month for them. A day after a satisfactory preview screening of Feminichi Fathima, directed by a Malayali debutant, I went into another preview screening that proved fruitful. In this case, the film comes from a familiar filmmaker, Senna Hegde, the man behind the much-adored Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam. Happy to report that his latest, Avihitham (English: Adultery), sees the Kanhangad-based filmmaker back to form — and back to roots — with yet another stellar 'Made in Kanhangad' outing.

It’s yet another case of taking the smallest idea and doing fabulous things with it, something Malayalam cinema has been praised for doing for a while. When everyone else is trying hard to find excitement in the big ideas, Avihitham finds it in the simplest things, like someone discovering that two neighbours are having an affair. One of them happens to be a married woman, the identity of whom neither the discoverers nor we are kept in the know until the closing moments of the third act. All in due time, because Senna knows that a lot of fun is to be had first.

And while his idea of fun may at first seem so simple, Senna’s imagination is not to be underestimated. He finds opportunities to extract some of the funniest and most exciting developments from this idea. He finds them in someone's dilemma of breaking the unpleasant news to her husband. He finds them in the prospect of exposing a couple’s transgressions. He finds them in the possibility of taking a jab at the misplaced self-righteousness in some of us. He finds them in the thought of briefly entertaining our hypocrisies and proclivity for getting kicks out of gossip and ‘masala’, and then pulling the rug from underneath us at the last minute. Through his film, he probably wants to tell us not to act so pure, that if given the opportunity and necessary confidence, we too might listen to the strong call of our baser instincts. He also spares some characters from judgment. Valid reasons are provided for the whys.

I didn’t expect someone to take such a simple idea and create a heist-movie atmosphere, loaded with some neat surprises, out of it. Once the group of men conceive a 'plan', there are only two outcomes — the good kind or the bad. One character even produces a meticulously detailed diagram of their neighbourhood, and behaves like a general ordering his troops. The ones who put the plans in motion are assumed to be the most intelligent and the wisest, but Senna will soon prove they suffer from delusions of grandeur. “Don’t pretend to be a brainy dude, because you don’t have much brains,” an older man tells a younger one who has just been informed that his wife is being unfaithful.

The cast is filled with faces both familiar and otherwise, actors with convincing dynamics, which works greatly in the film’s favour. Unni Raja and Renji Kankol are familiar to those who have followed their work in both television and the big screen. These actors, blessed with natural acting abilities, effortlessly slip into their roles. That reminds me, Avihitham requires, for a certain stretch, for these characters to put on an act to eliminate any doubt. At one point, one man asks why another is acting so stiff, and the former, like a student from the Lee Strasberg school, suggests, “Natural acting.”

This line — and many others — are delivered with the right measure of deadpan delivery and clever wordplay that you cannot help but burst out laughing. One finds such excellent instances of comic timing in several places in the film. And I can't tell for sure if these actors came up with these lines while rehearsing (was it even required?) because at no point does one feel a false note — except for, maybe, that one instance where someone suddenly blurts out English and upon hearing this another man immediately breaks out a salute.

But that minor hiccup aside, everything else feels so organic. Avihitham reminds us that some films are ill fit for big stars and that no matter how unfamiliar these actors may feel to us, if they can momentarily take us back to that time when we saw Priyadarshan’s Mukundentta Sumithra Vilikkunnu or Sreenivasan’s Vadakkunokkiyanthram for the first time, when we were kids and yet to familiarize ourselves with not just Mohanlal or Sreenivasan, but also the immensely gifted legendary comedians who acted alongside in supporting roles, I think their mission is successful. If you, like me, hail from Kerala's Malabar region, you're most likely going to get more fun out of this than the others.

Film: Avihitham

Director: Senna Hegde

Cast: Unniraj, Renji Kankol, Vineeth Chakyar, Dhanesh Koliyat, Rakesh Ushar, Vrinda Menon

Rating: 4.5/5 

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