Vallamai showed signs of a good slow-burn social commentary when Boomika (Dhivadarshini), a victim of sexual assault, says, "It is not going to be different anywhere else, there will still be humans there." and shoots down her father's idea of leaving for another town to be safe and away from her trauma. Instead, she wants to face the situation boldly. But it turns out disappointing as we discover that the makers don’t seem to understand that they are handling a strong subject.
Sensitivity is one of the most important aspects in a film handling subjects like sexual assault. And Vallamai doesn't disappoint in that regard. However, it feels like the makers needed more confidence in their own story and the strong themes it handles. Vallamai begins with a drone shot extending for a long time before introducing us to Saravanan (Premgi) and his daughter Boomika (Dhivadarshini), who are visibly flustered by the expanse and populace of Chennai. They are in the city to leave behind their past misfortunes, including the demise of Saravanan's wife. Tragedy strikes again when Boomika is sexually assaulted. The father-daughter duo vow vengeance after failing to rouse the police into action. Whether they succeed in their revenge forms the central storyline of Vallamai.
The film's biggest problem is the soullessness of its narrative. Actors enter and exit scenes in a film that is supposed to be emotionally moving. Premgi does a great job of resisting his usual goofy on-screen persona. However, his Saravanan doesn't react sufficiently to the injustice his daughter has suffered. His mostly wooden expressions, while helping avoid his comedic instincts, pull down scenes where he should have emoted more. Some scenes are well-performed and leave a mark—I would have loved to see more of them. As a welcome departure, there's no over-the-top reaction from Saravanan when he learns of the crime. He listens, assuring Boomika that he will be with her through it all. To avoid demoralising his child, he sheds his repressed tears only after she goes to sleep. It becomes difficult to accept the coexistence of some brilliantly written scenes and others that feel completely disconnected.
Cast: Premgi, Dhivadarshini, CR Sajith, Vidhu
Director: Karuppaiyaa Murugan
This inconsistency is also seen in the dialogues. There are sharp lines, like when Premgi is advised to live by Thiruvalluvar's words, urging him to smile in troubled times, he hits back asking if Valluvar truly smiled during hard times. However, most of the other lines feel like recitals or orations. Deepa Shankar, who plays a doctor, talks about data on sexual violence in Tamil Nadu and India during a consultation—an unnecessary detour. Similarly, an auto driver who helps Saravanan and Boomika delivers monologues in response to simple queries. The dialogues often come across as stilted and inorganic.
Just as Premgi’s subdued expressions hurt his character, attempts to show Dhivadarshini’s Boomika as a strong girl who can’t be broken make her appear emotionally unaffected. While it’s refreshing to see a brave girl wanting to face her abuser, depicting her free of the vulnerabilities expected from a child and a human being undermines her character. She undergoes a traumatic experience, and the writing needed to reflect that more sensitively. Everything that works in the first half goes downhill in the second half. Saravanan and Boomika investigate the incident themselves. These scenes feel like obligatory nods to the investigative tropes of Tamil cinema. What could be cracked easily is deliberately made complicated. Saravanan taking instructions from Boomika to plot revenge feels like writing on autopilot. Red herrings register better when the narration allows them to emerge organically. In Vallamai, however, they lack real narrative purpose. The suspects' behaviour—both before and after the incident—fails to generate any ambiguity. They walk into every scene with ‘mere distraction’ written all over them.
Vallamai, to sum up, leaves much to be desired, especially after showing promise in the early scenes. The film falters by pushing the emotionally healthy responses of the victim and her family to an implausible extreme. The screenplay fails to craft a humanistic arc for its leads, and this shortcoming is only worsened by a poorly conceived revenge track. What could have been a moving vigilante drama ends up becoming an unconvincing investigative thriller. Films that remain flat throughout are easier to forgive than ones like this—which tease glimmers of hope, only to squander them repeatedly.