Aelay
Introduction
Onto the second and the last release of the weekend and I have just finished watching the Tamil flick Aelay on Netflix. Now there was zero publicity from the OTT and minimal from the makers of their movie getting an OTT release. Yes this movie did have a theatrical release in February but the OTT premiere was a quiet affair. Does it manage to impress, stay tuned.
Story & Screenplay
Aelay is the story of a son who slowly discovers the other side of his father after an unfortunate event. The story is fairly good with packets of buffonary from its characters(yes this is a comedy). The screenplay is well written too but one of the major drawback is that the film is 150 mins long and atleast 20 mins could have easily been chopped off. I really enjoyed the breezy first half where the narrative style is non linear that pieces together the events leading to the ultimate mishap. The part featuring the young kid is outstanding and will keep you glued. It is in the middle that the writing falters simply because it gets a little repetitive and slow. Some amount of the drama could have been trimmed down and the writers could have reached their destination faster. The twist and turns towards the backend are good though if you have closely then you can easily predict them. But on the whole, the writing is fairly good.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are pretty well written for a comedy and some of them will leave you in splits. The music is good and blends well with the drama. Director Halitha Shameem has done a good job here. Her main goal was to keep the ball of comedy rolling with an emotional thread attached and she does that very well.
Performances
All performances are pretty good here. Madhumathi has done a fine job here as the protagonist’s love interest. Her innocence is lovely to watch and witness. Samuthirakani who plays the father is an absolute treat to watch. He is outstanding with an incredible sense of comic timing. But my pick of the lot is Manikandan as the son. There are so many layers, so many emotions to his character and he portrays each of them beautifully. I really wish to watch more of him in the future too.
Conclusion
Aelay is a sweet little tale that will leave a smile on your face. Available on Netflix.