All Sports in India is ruined by the power of capitalist and political interference. Very few privileged people get the opportunity to represent their country. Sport depicts struggle of each sportsman in their respective sports and hardly get recgnised anytime and some don't even get an opportunity, this also highlights the discrimination between sports and sportsmen and shows how a certain sport like cricket has been glorified, Although it might not be as powerfully engaging as Bollywood movie "Chak De! India", the film has the spirit to celebrate sportsmanship.
Director Arivazhagan's second directorial "Vallinam", which while addressing the aforementioned points. It turns out with an accident basket-ball player Krishna(forces) in an inter-collegiate basketball tournament, this leads to quit playing the game for good and relocate to another city. In short he moves from Trichy to Chennai, hoping to forget the past incident and exercise himself to perfect life. But call it destiny or fate; he's forced to play again, but this time to stop his college management from destroying their basketball court to make way for the extension of the cricket ground for the upcoming national level cricket championship, to be hosted by the college.
The tension that's accentuated through these moments is testimonial to the fact that the film has succeeded in entertaining the audience. But what's worrisome is whether the film will be embraced by all, irrespective of the fact that it has a college campus as backdrop and it's quite natural to assume it's made for college students. You can find inspiration from films such as "Lagaan", "Chak De! India" and several sports-based dramas of the recent past in "Vallinam", but it manages to maintain some originality in the execution. It might not be a great film, but considering the fact that we don't have many sports-based films in Tamil, this is a great effort. Even with a jagged screenplay that only gains momentum in the second half, the film manage keeps you hooked for the most part of the running time.
In this process, it gets little preachy at regular intervals with dialogues that are purposely written for commercial reasons, but it is understandable from the point of a view of catering to the masses. "Vallinam" never tries to convince us that basketball is a better game than cricket. It reminds us that cricket is not the only sport that deserves to be celebrated in a country where we have other equally popular sports as well. You root for the film when you realize that the actors took the effort to get trained in basketball, portraying the commitment with which they have prepared. Some of the best moments of the film unfold in the court, in between the game and when the ball spins in slow motion on the rim of the basket.
For a change, Thaman's music doesn't make you cringe in your seats. His background score syncs well with the second half, while Bhaskaran's celluloid captures the best shots during the basketball games. Nakul gives his career's best performance. He proves himselfs to hero can step out of the commercial zone and take up roles that can still be liked by audience. Debutant Mrudhula will shine with proper guidance while the rest of the cast members are good in their respective roles.
Overall, "Vallinam" attempts to galore the classifiation of one sport from another in our country.
Rating:***
Director Arivazhagan's second directorial "Vallinam", which while addressing the aforementioned points. It turns out with an accident basket-ball player Krishna(forces) in an inter-collegiate basketball tournament, this leads to quit playing the game for good and relocate to another city. In short he moves from Trichy to Chennai, hoping to forget the past incident and exercise himself to perfect life. But call it destiny or fate; he's forced to play again, but this time to stop his college management from destroying their basketball court to make way for the extension of the cricket ground for the upcoming national level cricket championship, to be hosted by the college.
The tension that's accentuated through these moments is testimonial to the fact that the film has succeeded in entertaining the audience. But what's worrisome is whether the film will be embraced by all, irrespective of the fact that it has a college campus as backdrop and it's quite natural to assume it's made for college students. You can find inspiration from films such as "Lagaan", "Chak De! India" and several sports-based dramas of the recent past in "Vallinam", but it manages to maintain some originality in the execution. It might not be a great film, but considering the fact that we don't have many sports-based films in Tamil, this is a great effort. Even with a jagged screenplay that only gains momentum in the second half, the film manage keeps you hooked for the most part of the running time.
In this process, it gets little preachy at regular intervals with dialogues that are purposely written for commercial reasons, but it is understandable from the point of a view of catering to the masses. "Vallinam" never tries to convince us that basketball is a better game than cricket. It reminds us that cricket is not the only sport that deserves to be celebrated in a country where we have other equally popular sports as well. You root for the film when you realize that the actors took the effort to get trained in basketball, portraying the commitment with which they have prepared. Some of the best moments of the film unfold in the court, in between the game and when the ball spins in slow motion on the rim of the basket.
For a change, Thaman's music doesn't make you cringe in your seats. His background score syncs well with the second half, while Bhaskaran's celluloid captures the best shots during the basketball games. Nakul gives his career's best performance. He proves himselfs to hero can step out of the commercial zone and take up roles that can still be liked by audience. Debutant Mrudhula will shine with proper guidance while the rest of the cast members are good in their respective roles.
Overall, "Vallinam" attempts to galore the classifiation of one sport from another in our country.
Rating:***
