Language: Tamil
H Vinoth’s Valimai aspires to be a lot of things. On one hand, it wants to be a slick action-drama, Mission Impossible-style. It also wants to house deep ideological conflicts. But it also doesn’t completely let go of its commercial roots. So while we have grand, high-octane stunt pieces where guns and tech are free-flowing, we also have celebratory dance numbers and an over-emphatic need to deliver ‘messages’ to the audience. Valimai tries to use the best of both worlds but ends up being a kitsch combination of sensibilities.
Valimai reimagines Chennai as an Indian version of Gotham. Exploiting the rampant unemployment and substance abuse, an organised syndicate of bikers ravages the city with the holy triumvirate of crimes -- theft, drugs, and murder. A worried commissioner looks for a ‘super cop’ and finds a khaki crusader in biker turned police officer Arjun (Ajith Kumar). His investigation leads us into a world of stolen bikes, the dark web, drugs, and hitmen.
H Vinoth’s narratives are known to be information-heavy. Both Theeran Adhigaram Ondru and Sathuranga Vettai took us into new worlds. In a way, Valimai completes his ‘crime trilogy’ -- three stories of creative criminals who use unique methods to achieve their means. But Vinoth exchanges the grounded authenticity of Theeran and Sathuranga Vettai for glitzy, gimmicky action in Valimai. With Ajith’s history as a racer, Valimai’s stunts were pegged to be the film’s biggest trump card. And they don’t fail. Elaborate and innovatively staged and shot, Valimai’s action sequences are gloriously over-the-top.
Valimai does subvert some of the star vehicle tropes of Tamil cinema. First, it has a solid villain capable enough to engage the hero in a serious battle; Kartikeya is quite effective. Second, the women are not as romantic interests or sources of dramatic relief. And thankfully, this treatment is not restricted to the female lead. But the most significant of all is the protagonist himself. Arjun is a refreshing mix of brain and brawn. Arjun’s understated persona suits Ajith well -- the film has enough parallels to make the character feel like an extension of his real-life persona.
But it’s the emotional narrative that fails to impress. The first half plays out like a montage -- doling out information at break-neck speed. There’s no space to breathe, and even lesser time to understand its people. The information keeps the viewer engaged but not invested. Even the visuals choose to not linger on faces, and focus more on their actions, robbing any notion of sentimentality.
While this is effective for a spy thriller, it becomes an issue when Valimai transforms into an emotional drama in the second half. The interpersonal relationships and dynamics feel like generic placeholders, and it doesn’t help that the dialogues sound equally contrived.
This is despite having a fascinating clash of ideologies at the centre. The leader of Satan Slaves, commonly referred to as Chief (Kartikeya), is a rational egotist. He believes that pursuing one’s happiness, at any cost, is the true purpose in life. He places the individual at the forefront -- not the society or any other collective. Chief argues that if someone loses something, they are not worthy of possession in the first place -- survival of the fittest in the literal sense of strength. (It makes sense that H Vinoth wanted Kartikeya to read Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead to understand Chief’s ideology.)
With Arjun, Vinoth reminds us that there is an evolutionary reason for man to be a social animal. It’s a pity that Valimai doesn’t explore this in embellished detail and is content with dishing out platitudes. Not to mention, it falls prey to one of Tamil cinema’s most common and outdated trope -- pesiye thirutharadhu -- where the hero manages to reform the bad guys with just one monologue.
As I walked out of Valimai, I couldn’t help but wonder how it would have been if it was conceived as a web series. Stripped of the commercial necessities, the format would have also provided Vinoth to delve deeply into the world of the dark web and narcissistic cults. The commentary on police justice and custodial torture could have also been more intricate. But as a film, Valimai bites more than it can chew.
Valimai is playing in Indian cinemas.
Ashameera Aiyappan is a film journalist who writes about Indian cinema with a focus on South Indian films.
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