Web Series Review - Ayali

"Ayali" A ZEE5 Original is,streaming on the OTT platform this week.

The 8 part web series revolves around education of the girl child and the impediments they have to cross to even reach the 10th std in rural areas.
Tamilselvi ( Abi Nakshathra) is one such student. She lives with doting dad Thavasi ( Aruvi Madan) and strict mom ( Anumol). The village they live in is controlled by vested interests who see to it that girls who attain puberty stop their education.  
When Tamilselvi reaches that stage in life,  being an avid student, she decides to keep it a secret from the village so that she can continue studying. Only her mother finds out and ends up supporting her. 
But after two years the fact does not remain hidden anymore and all hell breaks loose. Does the child ever fulfil her dream to be a doctor?

The series captures the daily goings on of in the village lifestyle though too much emphasis seems to be on shouting mothers and bitter mother-daughter relationships, which looks unidimensional after a while.  
Abi, Anumol , Thavasi, Lovelyn and the entire cast have done their parts well and pique  your interest into what happens next. 
The team deserves kudos with their focus on girl child education, the evils of child marriage and how patriarchial power play by vested interests controls the masses, and their heart seems to be in the right place.
But at certain points one cant help but ponder was it necessary to include the overthrow of few age old  religious practices to drive home this point?

At certain points one cant help but notice how roughly and rudely Tamilselvi speaks to her mother, ( almost in the same way her father behaves with her mom)  once she starts continuing to go to school or how she manipulates her father's affection for her to get her goals, which could have perhaps been avoided.

Overall, Ayali is a series that seeks to spread a much needed social message of education for the girl child and  making her an important contributing member of society.

Cast

Abi Nakshathra- Tamil Selvi
Anumol - Kuruvammal
ARUVI Madhan - Thavsi
Lingaa - Sakthivel
Singampuli - Thiruppathi
TSR - DHARMARAJ - Murthy
Lovelyn - Mythili
Gayathri - Eswari
Thara - Kayazhvili
Melodi - Selvi
Pragadheeswaran - Murugan
Jenson - Sekar 
Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli - Inspector (Guest Appearance)
Smruthi Venkat - English Teacher (Guest Appearance)
Sendhil vel - Collector (Guest Appearance)
Bagavathi perumal (Bucks) - M.L.A (Guest Appearance)

Crew

Director: Muthu Kumar 
Producer Name: Kushmavathi
Production House: Estrella Stories
Screenplay & Dialogues: Veenai Maindhan, Sachin, Muthu Kumar
Music: Revaa
Editor: Ganesh Siva
Cinematographer: Ramji


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