'Vaalu' Review: Watch it for Simbu!

Rating: 2.5 / 5
Starring: Simbu, Hansika and Santhanam
Directed by: Vijay Chander

What's it about:

After a wait of three years, the audience finally gets to see a Simbu film. Vaalu was supposed to release in 2012 and has finally arrived in 2015.
The film opens with an exciting sequence of a group of youngsters wearing the face masks of popular actors. On one bike, you find two men donning the masks of Ajith and Vijay who turn out to be good friends Simbu and Santhanam. Sharp (Simbu), who has failed his 12th standard, wiles away his time roaming around with Santhanam and Kutti Paiyya (VTV Ganesh), while his dad sets up job interviews for him. One day, he catches a glimpse of Priya Mahalakshmi (Hansika) on a bus with her pet rabbit and falls in love with her. He pursues her and then finds out she is engaged to her mama’s son (Aditya) when he tells her he loves her. Despite this, Sharp pursues her and eventually gets into trouble with Aditya as he turns out to be thug in the city. How he gets himself out of this and ends up winning Hansika forms the rest of the story.

What’s Hot:

Despite the fact that Simbu had to wait three years for the release of Vaalu, the visuals in the film don’t look outdated. The presentation is quite contemporary and the locales in some of the songs are quite beautiful. As an actor, Simbu has performed his role well – effortlessly in fact – and the movie really revolves around him. Vaalu shows off Simbu’s comic timing, his ability to carry out action sequences and dancing and singing abilities as well. Most importantly, the role portrays Simbu in what he’s best known for – as a romantic hero.
Hansika also has tremendous footage in the film and essays her role quite well. There are fleeting moments through the film when Sharp and Santhanam’s banter and punch lines elicit a laugh from the audience. And being a Thala Ajith fan, Simbu has made maximum use of this in the film which the audience obviously loves.

What’s Not:

One of the main issues with Vaalu is its storyline which is as clichéd as it can get. Director Vijay Chander hasn’t offered anything new to the audience in terms of script and what he has offered is quite weak. This is one of the big let-downs in this film. Sharp is an idle guy and his parents hardly seem to be care that he has no career but are more interested in getting him married off. Simbu’s characterisation is also not strong – he’s made to act in a casual manner throughout the film, so much so that it doesn’t leave any strong impact on the audience.

It’s obvious that Santhanam and VTV Ganesh are there to just provide comic relief but some of their scenes seem a little disconnected with the whole film and frankly, unnecessary. For instance, the scene where Kutti Paiyya asks Santhanam for his help as his neighbour is eve-teasing his wife. It really doesn’t add much to the film.

As far as the soundtrack of the film goes, ‘You’re my darling’ and ‘Thaarumaaru’ are two good catchy numbers that really lift the film. Simbu has sung ‘You’re my darling’ and it’s been choreographed quite well like ‘Thaarumaaru’, another big boost to the film. But the other songs by music director Thaman aren’t numbers you’d really remember once you walk out of the theatre.

What to do:

Considering it’s Simbu’s first film release in three years, those who want to see if he still has his dashing on-screen charisma should watch the film. And Vaalu proves that he does.