One of my biggest complaints against Tamil film directors is that they refuse to take risks and try something new. They have a 'follow the herd' mentality and simply try to come up with some variation of the latest hit. But the director of Aayul Regai has boldly tried to strike a different path. With a complex story, a complicated screenplay, unfamiliar actors and no masala elements like fights or comedy or item numbers, Aayul Regai is Tamil cinema at its riskiest!

Karikalan(Thennavan) seems on the verge of depression. His psychiatrist suggests that he spend time with people he knows in order to drive away his sense of loneliness. So Karikalan calls his friends Vairavan, Raji(and her husband) and Hema over to his house to celebrate his birthday. Chatru, an old acquaintance, shows up uninvited asking for his share of Karikalan's wealth. Karikalan locks him up in a room but when his friends start dying one by one, he begins wondering if Chatru is somehow getting out of the room.

The movie definitely boasts of a very unusual story. It starts off like a B-grade Hollywood slasher flick rip-off since we get a group of people congregating at a big mansion and then getting eliminated one at a time. But it soon reveals itself to be aiming much higher. It turns into an exploration of the psyche of a very disturbed individual and the reasons behind it.

The movie has quite a few surprises up its sleeve. But the initial scenes are staged awkwardly and and even amateurishly and anyone who has seen a few Hollywood films and 1 particular, much more high-profile, 2004 Tamil film, will be able to guess the route the movie is going to take. But it still holds a couple of good surprises near its finish. Admittedly, logic is sacrificed at the expense of springing these surprises near the end. But the surprises do work and keep us from thinking about the story until the end credits roll. One surprise in particular completely blindsided me.

The movie is raw, stark and unflinching in its depiction. The scenes focussing on a young boy are particularly wrenching. The circumstances he is growing up in are not pleasant and the movie pulls no punches in showing them. There are also a few scenes (a boy's mother's death and a macabre see-saw in the middle of the forest, to name a couple) that literally shook me up because of the way they have been mounted and shot. So the movie is not an easy watch. But this kind of portrayal helps create a very memorable lead character.

The director has bravely kept away from typical masala elements. So you don't have any silly comedy, ill-fitting duets, item numbers or special-effects-laden fights.

The movie is packed with unfamiliar faces. Thennavan(the man with the knife in the picture) is the 'hero' and he looks kinda familiar though I couldn't place where I've seen him. He seem a little stiff initially but gradually makes us believe in him. The actor with the rope on his shoulder in the picture gives a truly manic performance. With a wiry frame, unkempt hair and large eyes, he fits the role perfectly. Cinematography catches the eye. There are some unusual and imaginative camera angles(this is the 2nd movie in a row where I've seen a 'dog-cam'!) and the camera almost never stops moving. Songs play in the background and one of them was very catchy.