The latest from the rumour mill that has sprung up around Tamil star Ajith Kumar’s new movie Vivegam is a line that supposedly features in the August 10 release: “Enna thokadikkanumnu ellarum ninaikranga. Naa thokanuma illayanu naadhaan mudivu pannanum” (Everyone wants me to fail. But whether I will or not is really up to me.)
The line could well have been the theme song of Ajith’s life in 1999, when the actor starred in a movie that turned his career around just when he needed it.
Ajith Kumar arrived on the scene with Aasai (1995), directed by Vasanth and produced by Mani Ratnam. Aasai was Ajith’s seventh film, but it was the first to hit the sweet spot at the box office. Success didn’t last too long – the actor delivered five flops in a row, including Raasi and Rettai Jadai Vayasu, and was close to being written off.
That’s when Vaali (1999), his 23rd film, happened – a thriller in which he plays a double role despite sufficient warning that it was perhaps too early in his career to do so.
Vaali was followed by a slew of hits, including Ananda Poongatre, Amarkalam, Mugavaree and Kandukondain Kandukondain. Movies such as Dheena, Citizen and Villain further consolidated his image as a successful muscles-flexing action god, but it all began with Vaali, which offers Ajith a considerable platform to flex his acting muscle.
Directed by debutant filmmaker SJ Surya, Vaali features Ajith and Simran and several hit songs, including April Mathathil and Oh Sona. Ajith plays the twins Deva and Shiva. Deva, the elder brother, is a deaf-mute who runs a successful advertising firm. Everyone loves Deva and admires him for not making a big deal of his disabilities. Shiva worships his elder brother and will do anything to keep him happy. Predictably, it is a woman who comes between the twins – Priya (Simran).
From the word go, Deva lusts after Priya and wants to own her body. When Priya falls for Shiva, Deva is forced to be a mute spectator to their wedding. He embraces his villainous side and stalks Priya. In its second half, the film becomes a full-blown crime thriller shouldered by Deva, who does not stop short of unleashing his inner rage to conquer the woman he loves.
The first half, which focuses on Shiva and Priya’s love story – and even makes room for two scenes and a song featuring Jyothika – betrays no hint that the narrative is about to take a psychological thriller turn. This is perhaps why Vaali worked so well. The narrative, like Shiva and Priya, ignores Deva in the beginning and literally robs him of a voice. His torment, outrage and transformation in the second half therefore seems believable.
The movie is a rather obvious interpretation of Valmiki’s characters Vaali and Sugreeva, and is fashioned as the revenge of Ruma, Sugreeva’s wife. The question the movie seems to ask is, what if the brothers were mirror images of one another?
Stalker and crime thrillers weren’t new in 1999, but Vaali successfully explored the idea that the threat could emerge from within the family. Elderly authority figures are barely present, which heightens the threat faced by Priya, the only woman in the house.
The movie is ripe with drama and the potential for performance. Ajith could not have asked for a better turnaround script. His portrayal of the young persistent lover boy Shiva is spot on. Even though he is often over-the-top as Deva (which is every time he glimpses Priya’s waist), he makes for a perfectly creepy villain. Ajith recognises the oppressive power of silence, which is Deva’s only constant companion.
A hero choosing to play a negative older brother lusting after his younger brother’s wife is hardly a safe choice. And yet, similar choices have been made by other actors too. After Deewana, Chamatkar and Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Shah Rukh Khan played the full-blown anti-hero in Baazigar and Darr, and this was a gamble that worked too.
Ajith won the Filmfare award for Best Actor for Vaali. In an interview to Rediff.com, he explained his state of mind at the time: “I think I have stopped being nervous about the outcome of a film. The five consecutive flops in 1997 and the five consecutive hits in 1999 have mellowed me in many ways. I don’t get too excited or depressed these days. What is more important to me now is job satisfaction... If you read the interviews I gave before the release of Vaali, you will find that I was pretty sure about the success of the film. I knew Vaali would silence my critics.”