Aviyal is a collection of five Tamil short films made by various directors, including Alphonse Puthren, Sameer Sulthan, Lokesh Kanakaraj, Mohit Mehra and Guru Smaran.

Manoranjan (Kamal Haasan) is a leading film star who is immensely popular among his fans; however, he is beset with several personal problems. 25 years back, he had been forced to marry Varalakshmi (Urvashi), the daughter of noted film director Poornachandra Rao (K. Viswanath), despite being in a relationship with a woman named Yamini. He is an alcoholic and his teenage son Manohar (Ashwin) despises him. He has a daughter Manonmani (Parvathy) who was born out of wedlock to Yamini and was raised by Yamini’s husband Jacob Zachariah (Jayaram) after Yamini’s death. She also despises Manoranjan. He has been diagnosed with advanced stage brain cancer and has only a few more months to live, which is unknown to anyone including his own family. He is treated by his family doctor Dr. Arpana (Andrea Jeremiah), with whom he has an extramarital affair.

Rambabu (Pawan Kalyan) owns a garage and is a mechanic. But he is a different young man who is sensitive to injustice and doesn’t hesitate to take action as a responsible citizen. Soon, his actions catch the attention of media person Ganga (Tamannah) who brings him to the news channel she works for and gets him a job as journalist. Meanwhile, Rana (Prakash Raj) is an aspiring chief minister and his father (Kota) is an opposition party leader. Both keep hatching plots to bring down the government. Few situations lead Rana to clash with Rambabu. What happens from there forms the rest of the story.

The film deals with the social stigma associated with a handicapped girl in a rural milieu. Murali is a potter by profession. He has a sister, who is born dumb. Murali has to struggle a lot as the handicraft industry is a dying industry and a good amount of money is taken away by his father (Manivannan), who is a drunkard and a gambler. But, he tries to hide his sorrows by having fun with his sister and servant (Vadivelu), who is also his trusted friend. He is in love with his neighbour (Meena), a weaver. He wants to get his sister married to a noble man. But many reject her as she is dumb. Finally, one man agrees to marry his sister but on condition that Muralimust offer dowry. Murali then sells many things dearer to him to get money for the dowry. But, that money is taken away by his father and the marriage falls through. Yet Vadivelu offers to marry his sister without asking dowry and Murali goes home along with Vadiveluto convey this happy news to his sister. But it was too late as the sister commits suicide. Murali as a penance decides to marry a handicapped girl.

A true-life drama, centering on British explorer Major Percival Fawcett, who disappeared whilst searching for a mysterious city in the Amazon in the 1920s.

Muthupandi, an aspiring politician, wants to marry Maya, the daughter of his schoolmate who he had a crush on during their school days.

The movie revolves around Easwaran alias E (Jiiva), an orphan brought up in the musty, teeming slums of Chennai by an old woman. For him, money is the thing in life. He comes across Jothy (Nayantara), a bar dancer who settles down in the same locality. After a few encounters, they get acquainted with each other. E’s simple ways attract Jothy. Coming to know of E’s past, Jothy tries desperately to correct his ways and set him on the right path. Meanwhile, Dr. Ramakrishnan (Ashish Vidyarthi) takes up the task of testing a medicine devised by a foreign company, which may come handy in killing people in thousands, especially during times of war. Ramakrishnan chooses Jothy’s sister and E’s grandmother as specimens for the test. He cashes in on the ignorance to slum dwellers. Things take a turn when E rescues Ramakrishnan from a murder bid by Nellai Mani (Pasupathy). A sequence of events brings Mani and E together. Without knowing Mani’s motive, E hides him in a secret place and decides to hand him over to Ramakrishnan for a huge sum. Slowly, E gets attracted by Mani’s good ways. Through him, E comes to know of Ramakrishnan’s ulterior motives. Mani, a revolutionary fighting for a cause, tries to bring about a change in E’s heart. Succeeding in his attempt, Mani lays down his life, leaving E to complete his task. The rest is all about how E puts an end to Ramakrishnan and his evil ways.

Adonis has been thriving in both his career and family life, but when a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy resurfaces, the face-off is more than just a fight.

Vijay Rajendran is a happy to-go lucky man. Things change when his foster father dies unexpectedly.

12-year-old Mathilda is reluctantly taken in by Léon, a professional assassin, after her family is murdered. An unusual relationship forms as she becomes his protégée and learns the assassin’s trade.

Nandini is a rich girl raised by her three loving brothers. However, after an astrologer predicts that she will marry a man of her choice, her brothers try to protect her all her life.

Kicha Vayasu, a man known as the Collector, returns to his childhood city of Nagercoil to demolish an old school, which he recognises as his former school. His reminiscences of his school days in Nagercoil form the main theme of the film.
The film then transitions to when Kicha is a 16-year-old boy. After Nirmala, a teacher whom Kicha has a crush on becomes the headmistress of their school, Kicha, who often teases people around him, becomes very well-behaved towards Nirmala. Because of this, he often garners her support. However, Kicha, being his usual self, begins leading a group of errant boys who perform various misdemeanors around their town. This includes stealing and selling dishes from the school and eating in hotel restaurants without paying the bill.
Kicha and his friends are finally caught when they attempt to escape after not paying a hotel bill. The hotel owner thrashes them so thoroughly that the other boys inform the owner on Kicha and claim that he taught them to do such things. When the boys’ parents are notified of this, many become angry, claiming that Kicha has misled their children and made them wayward.