Vaalu Review

Tamil Cinema has seen a handful of delayed releases, coming down with huge expectations, so one might argue 'Vaalu' is just another such movie, but the fans of Simbu would beg to differ, as it's just not the movie that was delayed owing to various reasons, but Simbu has been missing for almost 3 years on the field and so 'Vaalu' indeed is special. The trailers and promotion looked to serve the audience with the rightful ingredients of Romance, action and comedy, Vaalu dwells majorly on these elements to serve a clean entertainer without much fuss. With Simbu, Santhanam, Hansika and VTV Ganesh in the cast, debutante Vijay Chander has carved out a simple commercial flick straight to the point.
 
The Movie:

It’s a known, obvious fact that Simbu is a die-hard fan of Thala Ajith and most of his movies feature Thala worship, but Vaalu is more than that, the hero's ringtone, his dialogue delivery, intro, the BGM rains around Ajith’s movies, more like multiple advertisements inserted in a single movie. Simbu is nick named as 'sharp' in his colony for his quick witted attitude, but never once we see the justice behind that, as in so many romcom flicks, he is the jobless jolly go guy falling head over heels for the bubbliest girl in the vicinity. Would not be an exaggeration to call Hansika, as the actress's appearance has changed over the last three years. 'Vaalu' does not try hard to entertain, does not have those ooh and wow moments, the director has put forward a simple storyline that comprises sentiments, love, hero buildup and fair enough comic elements to keep you entertained. Through the first half Simbu trots around Hansika, the luck favoring the hero to meet his love more than just once and so with the help of his loyal sidekicks Santhanam and VTV Ganesh does the hero get to win his love? And just when you see the plot getting interesting, comes a twist in the form of Kannada actor Aditya who plays the villain role Anbu who is also the fiancee of the heroine.
The plot is quite predictable, chugs along with the mix of comedy and Simbu’s screen presence. How Simbu wins the heart of Hansika amidst obstacles and goons forms the crux of the plot.

The good stuff:

The movie is a treat for Simbu fans, the actor's comic timing, those hero build up sequences, and versatility is intact and is indeed enjoyable to see the man back on screen. When it comes to love and the punch dialogues surrounding them, Simbu has always driven the front seat and does it pretty remarkably. Santhanam does a commendable job as the hero's friend, a role familiar a few years back until the talented actor went solo, and his onscreen timing with Simbu has always won rave reviews and he does it easily with help from VTV Ganesh. Hansika is as cute she used to be, looks dead drop gorgeous frame by frame. The BGM for hero worship, introduction are straight to the point servers what is intended except that at critical portions the music director has chosen to adopt Superstar's, Ajith’' and other superhit movies’ The director has done a pretty neat job entertaining wise, a neat commercial flick with few family sentiments and romance in the air aided by dialogues that suits the hero spot on.

The bad stuff:

The movie is no classic and does not get ambitious to become larger than life phenomenon, apart from being a simple entertainer. A commercial movie gets upped by strong screenplay that continues to make the film engaging, 'Vaalu' lacks the very fact to become a bigger movie. Apart from Simbu's screen presence and timely jokes with Santhanam it sadly falls into the category of an average commercial entertainer lacking the punch factor.

Verdict:Watch it for the lead pair Simbu and Hansika ably supported by Santhanam