Vaali (film)

Plot

Deva and Shiva (both played by Ajith Kumar) are the twins. Deva, the elder, is deaf and mute. But he is a genius, an expert at lip-reading and the head of a successful advertising company. Shiva loves and trusts his brother. Priya (Simran) wants to marry only someone who is an ex-smoker, an ex-drunkard and ditched by a girl but still pining for her. Learning this, Shiva invents an old romance between him and Sona (Jyothika) and finds his way into Priya's heart.

Deva meanwhile chances upon Priya and lusts for her. His obsession continues even after his younger brother gets married to the girl of his dreams and he devises various means of getting close to Priya and keeping Shiva and her separated. Some of the methods Deva uses to woo Priya are masochistic (wounding his hand by the running car engine to stop the couple’s first night) and psychotic (trying to kill his brother in so many ways).

Priya realises the not-so-honourable intentions Deva has towards her but Shiva refuses to believe her and has full faith in his brother. He even goes as far as to take Priya to a psychiatrist. To get away from it all, Shiva and Priya go on a long-delayed honeymoon. But Deva shows up there too. Shiva watches Deva kissing the photo of Priya and realises Priya was right all along. While Shiva is away, Priya has to take care of Deva. Deva beats Shiva mercilessly, packs the unconscious Shiva in a gunny bag and throws him in a lorry.

Deva disguises himself as Shiva and tries to seduce Priya. Priya comes to know he is Deva and escapes from him before shooting him with her revolver. Deva falls in pool and when Shiva comes she narrates the whole incident to him. Suddenly, Deva comes back to life, but Shiva immediately kills him with the revolver. Deva's soul talks about his inability to express his feeling as he was mute. His grave with lots of flowers grown on it is shown.

Cast

Production

S. J. Suryaah had worked as an assistant director in Vasanth's Aasai which featured Ajith Kumar as well as working with him during the making of Ullaasam. Ajith asked Suryaah to prepare a good script and promised he would give him a chance to make his directorial debut. Subsequently the pair approached S. S. Chakravarthy, a producer, to make a film. Keerthi Reddy was announced to be the lead actress in the film in December 1997, though she was replaced by Simran before filming began. It had also been reported that Roja would play another role, although this proved to be untrue. Jyothika, sister of actress Nagma, made her debut in the film as an imaginary character, Sona, narrated by Ajith's character.

About the making of the film, Ajith mentioned that Vaali "was very close to my heart and I gave it everything I had", revealing that he had initially received a lot of bad publicity and scepticism for doing a dual role too early in his career.

Release

Vaali received A certificate from Central Board of Film Certification. The Deccan Herald described it as "definitely worth seeing" saying it "has something for all tastes — a pleasant love angle, some suspense, complex psychological nuances, good acting, pleasing songs" while praising Ajith's performance. The reviewer from Indolink.com labelled the film as "a classic in its own right", praising the performances of Ajith Kumar and Simran while describing Suryaah as "a new young director to the cine field who can make Tamil Cinema be proud once again". The New Indian Express labelled Simran's portrayal as "outstanding" while mentioning Surya does a "fairly good job and succeeds". the film ran 215 days The film became a commercial success and provided a breakthrough for both Ajith and Simran's career. Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan dated 16 May 1999 appreciated the film by giving 45 marks and mentioned "Director SJ Suryah established his stamp of film-making in his very first film by taking up a straight line story with an engaging screenplay and realistic dialogues. Ajith has done a fantastic job in dual role and Simran also proved that she can act".

The film was later dubbed into Telugu with the same name. The film was remade in Kannada as Vaalee by S. Mahendar starring Sudeep in the lead role.

Awards

Filmfare Awards South

Cinema Express Awards

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Deva and lyrics were written by Vairamuthu. The song "Sona Sona" is based on "Susanna" by VOF de Kunst, and "Where Do I Begin?", the theme to Love Story composed by Francis Lai. G. Dhananjayan in his book Best of Tamil Cinema noted that the film's super hit songs helped in its success.