Valimai is the biggest pre-release hype for an Ajith Kumar film in recent times. The main reason for this was that Ajith's film is hitting the theaters after a gap of two and a half years due to the covid situation. Ajith's last film was Nerkonda Parvai, a remake of the Bollywood film Pink.Valimai is a great entertainment package that will not only satisfy those expectations but also be enjoyed by moviegoers who are not Ajith fans.

When a big superstar plays the lead role, that stardom shakes the overall balance of the film and hurts the totality of the film, it is natural in Indian mainstream cinema, not in Tamil cinema.The achievement of the director H Vinod is that despite casting Ajith Kumar, the most popular actor in Tamil Nadu as the lead, he did not suffer the above-mentioned injuries. Even though the audience is sure that it will be a hero's success story, Vinod has managed to make the paths to that success lively and engaging.Valimai doesn't just fit into the category of action thriller. On the contrary, the racing, chasing and fighting scenes are the highlight of the film.Ajith will be seen on screen as ACP Arjun Kumar. Arjun's mission is to catch a young gang that is efficiently marketing drugs worth crores from an international mafia in Colombia in the city and suburbs of Chennai.Backed by sophisticated technologies, this gang uses a group of young bikers for drug dealing and other criminal activities. The plot of Valimai revolves around the challenges that ACP Arjun Kumar faces in his professional and personal life and how he overcomes them.The director has presented the main plot to the audience in a simple manner. An international mafia's Chennai connection, a city gripped by a drug gang, and the entry of a police officer tasked with saving the city from it, is sure to be a must-see encounter. It is his confidence in his visual language that gives the director the confidence to present the story without any unnecessary twists.Although it is a highly anticipated story, the film has a visual language that makes the audience fall in love with staring at the screen without experiencing any lag. Bike racing and chasing scenes are the highlight of Valimai's visual language. Cinematographer Nirav Shah has also shot the other scenes in a manner that keeps the occasional bike riding scenes lively as the protagonists are bike riders.Vijay Velukkutty is the editor of the film. Vijay's clever cuts do nothing to help the director maintain this overall tempo of the film.The screenplay of the film is by H Vinod. He has handled a mission that a police officer has to solve in his official life without going into melodrama and affecting his personal life. So are the actors' performances. The background score given by Gibran is strong for the director in maintaining the overall thriller mode of the film.Apart from a few standout punch notes, Gibran's soundtrack throughout the film matches Valimai's visual narrative.

After Yennai Arinthal, the film in which Ajith Kumar plays the role of a policeman was also a factor that raised interest in Valimai among Ajith fans. Even though he doesn't wear police uniform, Ajith stirs the fans with his screen presence.The director has skillfully incorporated Ajith's identity as a bike racer in the script. So Valimai is a film that Ajith fans can connect with a lot. Although the totality of the film is not hurt by Ajith's stardom, there are no other strong characters in the film. Telugu actor Karthikeya Gummakonda will play the role of Wolf Ranga aka Naren.The director tries to give buildups but this villain fails to make much of an impact. Heroine Huma Qureshi also has little to do except for some action scenes. Malayalam actors like Dhruvan, Pearli Mani and Dinesh Prabhakar have also played the lead roles in the film.A constant sight in Indian films of any language is that the epithets action thrillers become mere epithets. But the viewing experience of Valimai is a mainstream Tamil film that has done justice to the genre. Valimai is the result of Ajith, who does not hesitate to sweat for action scenes, acting in a full-length action thriller.Valimai is also a good reference of how to make a mass film up-to-date with a superstar as the lead.