Valimai () is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by H. Vinoth. It is produced by Boney Kapoor under Bayview Projects LLP in association with Zee Studios, as co-producer and distributor. The film stars Ajith Kumar, Karthikeya, Huma Qureshi and Gurbani Judge. The film score is composed by Ghibran and the songs are composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The cinematography is performed by Nirav Shah and the editing handled by Vijay Velukutty. It revolves around Arjun, a police officer, who is assigned to track down a group of outlaw bikers following their involvement in heinous crimes.
This film marked the second collaboration between Ajith, Vinoth and Kapoor after Nerkonda Paarvai (2019). Vinoth wrote the script in mid-2018, but Ajith initially declined it and asked him to work on it later. The idea was later pitched in January 2019 with Kapoor agreeing to fund the project and was officially launched in mid-October 2019, with its title. Principal photography began in December 2019 in Hyderabad and was completed in February 2021, irrespective of production being disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Major portions of the film were shot across Chennai and Hyderabad, in addition to a few sequences in Russia, which were filmed during late-August and early-September 2021.
The film was in the news for a long time, due to the persuasion of fans to launch an update regarding the project, leading to a campaign named #ValimaiUpdate, that influenced sports, politics and other events as well. It eventually led to being listed as one of the most-anticipated Tamil films according to trade circuits. After being delayed multiple times, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions being enforced in India, the film was released worldwide on 24 February 2022 to mixed reviews from critics.
Plot
In Chennai, an outlaw motorcycle gang called Satan's Slaves are involved in drug rackets, snatch theft and murders, which are headed by Naren aka Wolfranga. With the increase in such crimes getting out of hand, the city commissioner Vijayakumar assigns the case to ACP Arjun Kumar from Madurai, who is known for his peculiar way of handling justice; breaking one of the limbs of the convicted so that they never repeat their crimes, originating from the moral values instilled by his mother Lakshmi.
Arjun is the sole breadwinner in his family consisting of Lakshmi; his drunkard older brother Kothandam and his wife; his married younger sister; and his younger brother Ashok "Kutty", an unemployed graduate. Kutty is constantly looked down by his sisters-in-law, whose daughter he is in love with, for his unemployment, worrying Arjun and Lakshmi. Collaborating with his partner and friend Sophia, Arjun finds the corpse of Naveen, a man in a hostel whose friend Chinna had betrayed the gang and supplied drugs to him. However, Naveen had burned the drugs and committed suicide by hanging, while Chinna had been killed by the biker gang upon learning of his betrayal. Arjun finds Naveen's helmet in his room and finds out that he was a snatch thief who used a stolen motorcycle purchased from an online black marketeer. Arjun and Sophia both figure out the sequence of crimes done by Satan's Slaves.
The bikes used in the crimes had been bought from the same platform using stolen mobile phones via the dark web and that all of these crimes are done by the same organization. After sending one of his colleagues posing as a mercenary to thugs retired from the drug peddling business to find out the kingpin, Arjun learns about Wolfranga and a bike chase and close-combat ensues where Arjun manages to defeat Wolfranga and the gang and arrests them. To his shock, finds out that Kutty had also been involved with the gang. While taking them to prison, Satan's Slaves attacks the convoy, kills the policemen, and aids Wolfranga to escape. Arjun tries to corner Wolfranga, but he is knocked by Kutty, who escapes with the gang.
Arjun gets demoted from the case due to Kutty's involvement and the case is handed over to DCP Rajangam and IG Arasu, both of whom are envious of Arjun. Unknown to anyone, Rajangam and Arasu are moles of Wolfranga and do not pay heed to the case. Lakshmi refuses food and drink out of guilt of seeing Kutty going astray, prompting Arjun to take matters into his own hands and solve the case himself. With Sophia's help alongside a few trusted aides in the cybercrime department, Arjun captures one of the mules and asks him about the gang and how Kutty got entangled into the dirty business. Kutty had become acquainted to Wolfranga after he was humiliated in front of his family by his sister's in-laws due to his unemployment and refused to let their daughter marry him. Wolfranga indoctrinates him, saying that family are selfish individuals whose affection is a trick to make their children serve them in their old age.
Wolfranga runs his business using unemployed graduates who are outcast due to unemployment and as a result are motivated by money buys everything ideology. After fishing out the abandoned, stolen motorcycles from a derelict quarry, Arjun is reassigned the case where he and Sophia plan to expose Rajangam and Arasu's involvement with Wolfranga to Vijayakumar. Wolfranga kidnaps Arjun's family, holds them hostage, and blackmails Arjun to steal a metric ton of seized cocaine from the treasury to release them. However, Wolfranga also tells Rajangam to kill Arjun, pin it on Kutty, and hand him the seized cocaine to be incinerated. Wolfranga gives an empty gun to Kutty and tells him to pretend to shoot Lakshmi in order to shake her selflessness, while he secretly loaded a single bullet in the gun, but upon realizing Lakshmi's love and her readiness to die for him, Kutty inadvertently shoots Wolfranga's girlfriend Sarah dead.
Kutty reunites with his family but is badly beaten and taken hostage as well. Arjun successfully steals the cocaine, exposing and capturing Rajangam, Arasu, and the remaining mules. Arjun arrives at the hideout and fights Wolfranga, defeating him. The team successfully hacks Satan's Slaves's server and lures the bikers to the hideout. Upon arrival, they find Wolfranga dead and are surrounded and arrested by the police force. At the station, Arjun convinces the bikers to work hard and solve the problems and mentions the importance of the parents' love for them and the pleasures they sacrificed for their children, releasing them. The case is successfully closed, while Arjun and the police force are applauded by the public. Owing to their efforts, the police organizes a program to rehabilitate youngsters from depression and drugs.
Cast
Additionally, a portrait of late actor Jaishankar as Arjun's late father is also featured in the film.
Production
Development
Soon after the release of director H. Vinoth's second film Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru (2017), he approached actor Ajith Kumar. However, Ajith declined the project and asked the director to work on the Tamil remake of the 2016 Hindi film Pink titled as Nerkonda Paarvai. In January 2019, Boney Kapoor announced the second collaboration with Ajith Kumar and director Vinoth for another Tamil film, titled as Thala 60. Kapoor also stated that, the film will have racing sequences, suggesting that the movie would be an action thriller genre that uses the actor's passion for speed. It was reported that Vinoth had written the script with another actor in mind, and with Ajith's involvement, he had to make changes in the script. The film's production was expected to launch on 29 August 2019, But delayed.
A formal launch ceremony for the film was held on 18 October 2019, at the office of Kapoor's production house. The makers also announced the title of the film as Valimai. Yuvan Shankar Raja was hired as the film's music director, and Nirav Shah was confirmed as the cinematographer. Art director Thota Tharani was reported to join the film's technical crew, but was replaced by K. Kathir. Editor Vijay Velukutty and stunt choreographer Dhilip Subbarayan too were a part of the technical team. Sources claimed that Ajith would portray a police officer, which was later confirmed by Kapoor.
On the release of the trailer glimpse on 23 September 2021, many cinephiles noted about the storyline revolving around the Satan's Slaves Motorcycle Club, which was founded in Shipley in the mid-1960s, and later spread on to various countries including Germany, North America, Scotland and Australia. Vinoth however revealed that the storyline will be loosely based on a group of outlaw motorcyclists involving in heinous crimes and how the protagonist tracks them down, hinting that the history behind Satan's Slaves Club gave its reference.
In an interview with Ananda Vikatan, Vinoth stated that he had partially re-written the script before the resumption of the film's shooting, being halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He stated that some of the actors were hesitant to shoot during the pandemic and the location owners denied permission to shoot on the sets that were constructed in the pre-pandemic times. As a result, he had to re-write the story and change the location and setting, due to practical difficulties.
Casting In an interview with Gopinath Rajendran of Cinema Express, Vinoth had stated that Ajith's character is modelled on a real life racer-turned-police officer. He said, "When Jayalalithaa ma'am was the Chief Minister, a bike racer was made an SI directly. We have taken that as an inspiration for this character, who is an ex-racing professional turned cop". The makers reportedly approached Janhvi Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra to play the female lead, thus marking their debuts in South Indian cinema, and both actresses declined due to call sheet issues. While there had been questions surrounding over the film's female lead, with Ileana D'Cruz and Yami Gautam reportedly under consideration, Huma Qureshi was cast as a lead, in her second Tamil film after the Rajinikanth-starrer Kaala (2018). She portrays Ajith's friend in the film and there were no romantic scenes with the lead actor, due to the scripting changes made by Vinoth.
Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn was reported to play the antagonist, and could not act in the film due to his commitments to RRR. Arvind Swamy also reportedly refused to be part of the film, since he was then shooting for Thalaivii. Prasanna was also approached to play a pivotal role in Valimai, but declined the offer. In late 2019, Telugu actor Kartikeya Gummakonda was speculated as the antagonist, making Valimai his Tamil debut, and was confirmed only a year later. Vinoth stated that the antagonist is "a strong character who believes in his ideology". Apart from Kartikeya, two other antagonists, were reported to be featured in the film, with Pavel Navageethan of V1: Murder Case (2019) fame, and Malayalam actor Dhruvan reportedly playing the respective roles. In October 2021, Vinoth said that Malayalam actor Tovino Thomas was the initial choice for the antagonist before Kartikeya was finalised.
Raj Ayyappa who played the antagonist in 100, plays Ajith Kumar's brother in the film. A leaked picture of the film in December 2020, features Achyuth Kumar and Sumithra in the film's cast, The latter was reported to play Ajith Kumar's mother in the film, which the makers stated her character as a crucial one in the film. Popular television actor Pugazh was reported to play a pivotal role in the film. G. M. Sundar, Selva, television actress Chaitra Reddy (in her film debut), Pearle Maaney (in her Tamil debut) and Dinesh Prabhakar, were other actors who appear in supporting roles in the film.
Filming