Avihitham

Vampire Owl: This is not the kind of genre that we have loved through our lives.

Vampire Bat: Well, you know that Malayalam movies usually transcend genres with a lethal approach.

Vampire Owl: Yes, most Malayalam movies do belong to drama category by default.

Vampire Bat: If we go a long way back, each of them is first drama and then anything else.

Vampire Owl: Malayalam movies have dealt with human emotions in a realistic manner.

Vampire Bat: Yes, there has been no gravity defiled in the process.

Vampire Owl: Humans and objects do no fly around in Malayalam cinema.

Vampire Bat: Neither do the villains fly when the heroes move hands.

Vampire Owl: This one does not even have those big stars to feed on our brains with elements of hero worship.

Vampire Bat: Then it also has that name which won’t attract family audience at all.

[Gets a paneer roll and three cups of Sikkim tea].

What is the movie about? :: One night, Prakashan (Renji Kankol) returns home after having some drunken time with his friends. It is very dark, and as he goes through a shortcut, he sees a young man named Vinod (Vineeth Vasudevan) and an unidentified young woman hugging and kissing behind the house of Madhavan (Unnikrishnan Parappa), a veteran carpenter working on a temple project in another village. He sees that it is Vinod’s house on the other side, and the woman can only be from the house of Madhavan. He contacts the local tailor Venu (Unni Raj) to help him find the woman, and Madhavan’s daughter-in-law Nirmala (Vrinda Menon) is estimated to be person who is in the extra-marital relationship, as her room is just behind the wall, and the tailor confirms that from the shadows, her blouse size matches according to the list of women’s body size taken by him for stitching blouses. As they visit the same place on the very next day, they realize that this happens on almost every night without fail, and this is a love affair which could become talk of the town.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: They decide to save the honour of the family by telling Murali (Dhanesh Koliyat), the younger son of Madhavan, and he is quick to inform the father about the same. As Nirmala is one of those young, beautiful women of the village, Murali also goes to same area and waits, only to see Vinod waiting for someone during the same time period. The next day, he follows Nirmala and finds out that she keeps going to Vinod’s mill even though they do not find the need for her to frequent place – she also talks very sweetly to Vinod, which raises further doubts about how intense the relationship has been. They finally inform the husband Mukundan (Rakesh Ushar) who is devastated after hearing the news. He begins to suspect her further as she goes to Vinod’s mill wearing her new saree and even tells him that he could look for a job in the Middle East. He decides to catch both of them from the bathroom outside the house where they seem to go together for sexual intercourse, and calls the people who already know about this to come up with a perfect plan. Now, what can go wrong here?

The defence of Avihitham :: The movie shows a certain number of skills in bringing to the screen how curiosity, rumours and the perpetual need for self-righteousness leads to complications in a simple world. The interactions and strange investigations carried out by local villagers remain something of interest throughout its run, as humour is nice and never overdone, remaining within the limits and not going out of the family mode. The setting itself works in support as we see how well the whole thing is placed in this premise and realistic world. Even without the big stars, this has been achieved with a strong narrative and the use of witty dialogues which also seems to be managed with a calculated smartness. One also cannot deny that fact that between all the drama and comedy, there is also a certain amount suspense being maintained, and the twist would have a say too. There is also a message about the idea of morality, and this would remain a satire about society and what comes to us in the form of tradition. The collective hypocrisy and the forced morals are shown without second thoughts.

The claws of flaw :: The audience can feel that the movie all set on the topic which is rather trivial, or has been explored as part of movies which mainly dealt with other topics. The emotional depth is also not that much to be taken, and we do not feel that much for the characters. The ending also seems forced, and there seems to be silly justifications for extra-marital affairs, and the justifications feel like a little too much, and the final message seems to go on different paths. Justifying the issue of infidelity just became the woman wants to go with a random man might not be right message, no matter how much tradition and righteousness is blamed for not giving the partner the opportunity and right to cheat. The characters are not that much developed, and the final moments do not reveal enough either. There are some repetitive moments when the movie seemingly tries to make its ideas feel superior, and except for that final twist, one keeps wondering why such a weak end had to happen. The struggle to prove something which is not there to be taken keeps pulling the movie down as it moves towards the end too.

The performers of the soul :: Unni Raj as Venu and Renji Kankol as Prakashan leads the way among the cast who are not that much known. If you look at the Wikipedia page of the movie, you will not find even one name which leads to another page which details an actor or actress. The above mentioned are the two actors whom we note first, and the former seems somewhat familiar from the Marimayam series of Mazhavil Manorama television channel. Instead of relying on a single star performance or at least on some well-known names, the cast here works as one unit that powers the movie. Among them, it is Vrinda Menon who plays Nirmala that requires the special mention, as she becomes the centre of attraction, and yet goes through a simple journey, nicely depicted on the screen. Vineeth Vasudevan as Vinod has some fine moments to add here, while Rakesh Ushar and Dhanesh Koliyat add the doubtful characters nicely. With the other female characters, Vijisha Nileshwar, Karthika Vijayakumar and Ammini Chandralayam gets small, but nice situations to contribute to the world.

How it finishes :: Avihitham can be considered as a humorous social satire that uses a simple situation in a usual village to comment on moral policing and where gossips and curiosity can lead people bound by traditions which have provided them with the understanding of accepted good and evil to maintain order in a world which can always go deep down into chaos. The relatable characters, authentic village setting and believable performances make this work, even though the movie seems to take a prejudiced movement forward with its social message. While seemingly working against people going through gossips and interfering in the personal matters of others, it seems to support extra-marital affairs – for the movie, cheating by women feels justified for some strange reason, and the final dialogue by the woman when caught is just the same as those Indian tourists who had shoplifted from supermarkets and souvenir shops of Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, being ready to pay for them only when caught – this attitude which comes from those early tourists who emptied everything from a hotel room and agreed to pay for the same. We think about these, and then enjoy this movie with its simple moments of humour and even a little bit of suspense to go with it.

Release date: 10th October 2025
Running time: 106 minutes
Directed by: Senna Hedge
Starring: Unni Raj, Renji Kankol, Vrinda Menon, Vineeth Vasudevan, Dhanesh Koliyat, Rakesh Ushar, Ajith Punnad, Unnikrishnan Parappa, Aneesh Chemmarathi, T Gopinathan, Vijisha Nileshwar, Ammini Chandralayam, Parvana Raj, Beena Kodakkad, Vismaya Sasikumar, Premalatha, Shyamili Das, Vipin K, Swapna Pallam, Mukesh OMR, Karthika Vijayakumar, Sayanth, Prabhakaran Velaswaram, Shubha C P, Lakshmanan Manniath