Love works in mysterious ways! Vinoth’s various forms of love and effects of each one, is the crux of Valiyavan. While one valuable relationship is disturbed by a negative external force, the other love takes a different manifestation and drives Vinoth to avenge the casualty. In short, Valiyavan is the collective effect of various manifestations of love of a man.
Jai surprised all with his new look for the film. But he has also done well to match his performance with his new muscular looks. In the first half, he plays a role that he has explored well - that of an innocent, truthful and a romantic wannabe. His antics in the beginning of the story kindles laughs, here and there and quiet contrastingly he adapts very well to the intense, I-mean-business kind boxer, post interval.
Men love Andrea, like rabbits love carrots and in Valiyavan she gives more reasons for the men to drool over her! She makes a complete package with her impressive acting skills and curvy looks! Double thumbs up to the costume designer for making the leads and particularly, the background dancers so attractive.
The supporting characters Bala Saravanan, Azhagam Perumal and Anupama Kumar score full marks for their very natural performances. M Saravanan has a good pair of eyes for wiry villains and newcomer Aaran Chowdhary is no exception and is very convincing as a national boxer.
Cinematographer Dinesh Krishnan’s softness in the visuals involving Andrea and the ruggedness in the action sequences are evident and a treat to the visual senses. Along with the editor, Dinesh has provided the film with richness and gloss. Though the production designs in the songs look too colorful and clean to be real, it contributes well to the strong visual department. Also it is Dinesh Krishnan’s mastery in the end titles that glues the audiences to their seats until the very last frame.
Composer Imman delivers as usual. While his songs need no further praising, his background scores elevate particularly Jai’s performance, in terms of its emotional intensity. The electronics in the climax is a killer!
M Saravanan always finds a good story. His lines are simple, connect well with the people and he sticks to the basic day to day emotions. Valiyavan is no different. It has a good story and has love and anger as its core theme.
However, the major minuses lie with the over-exaggerations and song placements. The overly dramatic nature of events in Valiyavan, especially the first encounter between the hero and the villain, doesn’t really fit the trend. A few moments of the romance portions, which make the major part of the movie, are clichéd to its highest level. The excessive importance to the romance hasn’t provided enough screen space to convince the audience regarding the purpose of the conflict between the hero and the villain, which makes the movie a slow affair.
It looks like Saravanan had known about the exaggerations and his attempt at making the climax a metaphor to explain a message that has not much to do with the film, breaks the entire purpose of the 2 hour 20 minute long movie. But, the good thing is, it doesn’t kill the entertainment.
All that said, Valiyavan is still a commercially well packaged movie that caters to family audiences too.
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