Avihitham Review | A Crisp Satire That Overcomes Its Predictable Turns Through Witty Writing

If you look at the idea of the new Senna Hegde film Avihitham, there is minimal scope for suspense. What we see in the movie’s trailer is pretty much the very first scene of the movie, and since the movie’s female character pool is minimal, there is no way the film can shock you with a big reveal. However, the interesting thing about Avihitham is the way it teases the audience with the possibility of a twist and then uses all the prolonged scenes to establish its stand. With consistent humor enabling the movie to be in that engaging zone, Avihitham is not necessarily remarkable, but it works.

So the Story is set against the backdrop of a village in northern Kerala. While returning home after hanging out with his friends, Prakashan happened to see an illicit affair happening near the bathroom of Madhavan’s house. He could see the man’s face, but due to the darkness, the woman’s face was not clear. He reports this incident to Venu, who is close to Madhavan’s family. What we see in the film is the reaction of Madhavan, his family, and the others who got to know about it.

The premise here is pretty simple. Compared to what Senna managed to pull off in his eventful breakout film, Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam, or his wacky 1744 White Alto, this is not a laugh riot film or something that would amaze you with its unique visual grammar. But as a sucker for these indie comedies that add layers to a simple topic rather than stretching it, this 106-minute social critique kept me engaged, and it sort of sustained that element of curiosity in the narration. The entire first half of the movie is used as an elaborate setup, and the humor is relatively low. However, when it comes to the second half, the fragile male ego is in action, and from the moment one character starts setting up a plan to expose the prime suspect, the film enters that Senna Hegde fun zone.

A part of me felt that the ultimate theme of the movie, which mocks the hypocrisy and lack of understanding of men, was an overused one, as Senna himself has ridiculed toxic masculine elements in his previous films. In the penultimate moment of the movie, we get an explanation of why the main event in the film happened. I attended the paid preview in Palaxy Cinemas Kozhikode, 10:30 PM show, and there was a bunch of young college-going boys who were mocking the female character for her reasons. While the scene sort of began, I was kind of thinking whether this theme was becoming redundant in movies these days. But the way those boys reacted to that scene answered that question within seconds, and realizing that the mature men in the village in this film and the new generation boys who were watching the movie shared the same mentality was a bummer.

Senna pretty much follows that Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam style of filmmaking, where the humor happens through natural conversation, and he manages to make us laugh out loud through those pauses in dialogues and counter dialogues rather than creating too much visual comedy. Occasionally, we can see the spoofy humor also happening. The planning room exchanges are examples of that. The writing, especially how they set up the big moment, was impressive. Like I said, the female characters in this movie are limited. So what Senna and his writer Ambareesh Kalathera have done here is put every woman under the scanner. While the men in the movie are only doubting one woman, we as an audience are doubting every woman we see on screen. What the movie wishes to expose in the final moments is that judgmental mentality, and the dialogue of the mother character in that scene was just too good.

Renji Kankol, in his typical style, played the part of the jobless homewrecker Prakashan. Unni Raj as tailor Venu is also hilarious. Dhanesh Koliyat, who has done small roles in movies like Android Kunjappan, gets to do the main role of the planner here, and the guy was hilarious with that serious face. Rakesh Ushar, the police from Nna Thaan Case Kodu, is playing the naive husband who doesn’t really have an opinion of his own. Vrinda Menon as Nirmala and Ammini Chandralayam as the mother-in-law were also memorable, along with names like Vineeth Vasudevan and Ajith Punnad.

If you enjoy comedies built around relatable topics with minimal scale that depend on writing and performances rather than scale and star value, Avihitham has enough in it to keep you entertained. They have not tried to add any scenes that are not essential to the plot. On the whole, it is a critique of the male gaze, narrated in an entertaining format.