Vinod who works as a benign marketing executive in a mall, is surprised by a girl who proposes to him & then disappears. She continues to give him the run-around & takes a while before relenting and appearing before him. When Vinod proposes to her she throws him a challenge to be a man & beat an Olympic Silver Medalist Boxer.
Language:
Tamil
Running Time:
139 min
Rating:
U
Release date:
27 March 2015
Directed by:
M. Saravanan
Produced by:
K. Sampath
Written by:
M. Saravanan
Starring:
Jai
Andrea Jeremiah
Bala Saravanan
Azhagam Perumal
Anupama
Music by:
D. Imman
Shot by:
Dinesh Krishnan
Editing by:
Mohaideen Subarak
Distributed by:
SK Studios

What’s Hot

  • Jai is the perfect choice to play the innocent Vinod & he expectedly aces it. But the transformation into a boxer is where he scores in this film with his beefed-up body and menacing body-language. He emotes, dances & fights well in addition to attracting audiences with that unique crackling voice.
  • Andrea as Subhi looks smashing as the city-bred girl more so in Indian clothing rather than the Western costumes. Guess this has to be one of the few films where she does have considerable screen time & she delivers by her clarity in dialogue & expression.
  • Azhagam Perumal & Anupama as the parents of the protagonist have conducted themselves well in the role & are adequate. Bala Saravanan as ever delivers some good-liners & is conspicuous by his total absence towards the latter part of the film.
  • While the songs are average & pretty loud, Imman’s theme music is enthralling to say the least & lends the much needed X-Factor for the heroism to work. The sequences associated with Vinod training to be a boxer & the accompanying stunts prove the perfect collaboration that must have existed between Stunt choreographer Silva, cameraman Dinesh & the editor Subarak.

What’s Not

  • It is unethical to bifurcate a movie’s entertainment quotient based on the intermission but this particular film is such that it takes an entire half to get serious. Yes, the protagonist’s innocence needs to be established before making him the larger than life hero, but it is a taken a tad too far with a laborious first half peppered with plenty of unnecessary scenes & songs.
  • The late-night drive sequence featuring the inebriated Vinod being driven home by Subhi really tests the patience. It’s a pity so much time is invested in this sequence but only limited space is given to the boxing training. Only Jai’s physique makes the audience believe in the protagonist’s capability.
  • While his previous two Tamil films have had very strong woman characters it is startling to see the writer-director Saravanan resorting to few distasteful tactics to amp up proceedings, the prime examples being the characterization of heroine’s friend and suggestive camera angles throughout. The clincher is the utterly classless ‘Romeo’ song in the second half.

Badges

Verdict

Verdict Stamp

Valiyavan has some stunning boxing sequences, trippy theme music & a strong cast who perform to the best of their abilities but the average 'going-nowhere’ first-half & weak writing make it a laborious watch.