Vaalee is a 1999 IndianTamil-languagepsychologicalromantic thriller film written and directed byS. J. Suryah in his directorial debut. The film starsAjith Kumar in dual roles withSimran andJyothika (in her Tamil debut) whileVivek,Rajeev,Pandu andSujitha appear in supporting roles. A modern-day adaptation of the story ofVali from theRamayana, it revolves around identical twins Shiva and Deva, with Deva beingdeaf-mute. When Shiva marries Priya, Deva becomes obsessed with, and lusts for her.

Vaalee
Poster
Directed by	S. J. Suryah
Written by	S. J. Suryah
Produced by	S. S. Chakravarthy
Starring	Ajith Kumar Simran Jyothika
Cinematography	Jeeva
Edited by	B. Lenin V. T. Vijayan
Music by	Deva
Production company	NIC Arts
Release date	30 April 1999 (1999-04-30)
Running time	167 minutes[1]
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Suryah completed the script forVaalee in 60 days, and the project was picked up for production byS. S. Chakravarthy of NIC Arts. The soundtrack was composed byDeva, and the lyrics were written byVairamuthu. The cinematography was handled by Jeeva, while the editing was done by the duoB. Lenin andV. T. Vijayan.

Vaalee was released on 30 April 1999 to positive reviews from critics. The film became a commercial success, running for over 270 days at the box office in theatres. Ajith won theFilmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil and Jyothika wonBest Female Debut – South at thesame ceremony. The film was remade inKannada underthe same title in 2001.

Shiva and Deva are identical twin brothers. Deva, the elder, isdeaf-mute; but he is an expert atlip reading, and the head of a successful advertising company. Shiva loves and trusts his brother. Shiva falls in love with Priya, who wants to marry someone who is an ex-smoker, ex-drunkard, and got ditched by a girl but is pining for her. Learning this, Shiva, with the help of his friend Vicky, invents a romance between him and a certain Sona, and wins Priya's love. Soon Priya realises Shiva's trick and breaks up with him. He tries to tell her that he only cheated and lied to her in the old romance story, but he truly loved her. One day, Priya comes to Shiva's house and slaps him, but eventually she reciprocates his love.

Meanwhile, Deva chances upon Priya and lusts for her. His obsession continues even after his brother marries her and he devises various means of getting close to Priya and keeping Shiva and her apart. Some of the methods Deva uses to woo Priya are masochistic (wounding his hand by the running car engine to stop the couple'swedding night) and psychotic (repeated attempts to murder his brother).

While Shiva is away at work as a substitute for his injured brother, Priya looks after Deva. Priya soon realises the intentions Deva has towards her, but Shiva refuses to believe her and has complete trust in his brother. He even goes as far as to take Priya to a psychiatrist. To get away from it all, Shiva and Priya go on a long-delayed honeymoon, but Deva shows up there. Shiva watches Deva touching Priya's dress and kissing her photo and he realises that she was right all along. Deva beats up Shiva, packs him in a gunny bag, and throws him into a lorry.

Deva disguises himself as Shiva and tries to seduce Priya. Shiva calls her to warn her that Deva is there but Deva picks up the call. She thinks that Shiva told Deva where they are and the one on the phone is Deva's assistant Sudha who called her to tell that Deva might injure himself to disturb their honeymoon. She takes off the phone's wire so that he will not call them back. Shiva then hastens to the house to save Priya from Deva.

Soon, Priya learns that he is Deva and escapes from him, then shoots him with a revolver. Deva falls into the nearby pool unconscious, and when Shiva comes, Priya narrates the whole incident to him. He hugs and apologises to her for not believing her earlier, for taking her to the psychiatrist without knowing the truth and for trusting Deva without knowing his intentions towards her. Suddenly, Deva regains consciousness, but Shiva kills him with the revolver. In the afterlife, Deva talks about his inability to express his feelings for Priya because he was mute.

S. J. Suryah had worked as an assistant director inVasanth'sAasai (1995) which featuredAjith Kumar in the main lead as well as working with him during the making ofUllaasam (1997). Ajith asked Suryah to prepare a good script and promised he would give him a chance to make his directorial debut. After Suryah completed the script ofVaalee in 60 days, the pair approachedS. S. Chakravarthy to produce the film.^[6][7][8] The film is a modern-day adaptation of the legend ofVali from theRamayana.^[9] The film's comedy track was credited toVivek.^[10]

Keerthi Reddy was announced to be the lead actress in the film in December 1997, though she was replaced bySimran before filming began.^[11]Roja andMeena also were approached to play the female lead but both of them could not allocate the dates.^[12]Jyothika, sister of actressNagma, made her Tamil debut in the film as an imaginary character, Sona.^[13] She said she was initially offered the female lead role, but declined due to scheduling conflicts withDoli Saja Ke Rakhna (1998).^[14]Livingston made a guest appearance as it was Suryah's wish that he appear in at least one scene.^[15] This is the first film where Ajith played two characters.^[2][16] Ajith mentioned thatVaalee "was very close to my heart and I gave it everything I had", adding that he had initially received widespread negative publicity and scepticism for doing a dual role too early in his career.^[17] A stand-in that looked similar to Ajith was used in the film.^[5] This was the second film that television actress Devipriya signed but ended up releasing third afterUyirodu Uyiraga (1998).^[5]G. Marimuthu, who worked as an assistant director for the film, also played a minor role.^[18][19]

Ravi Varman initially worked as the film's cinematographer but left the film after facing issues from theFilm Employees Federation of South India.^[20] The scene where Shiva answers a phone call was shot at abungalow in Boat Club Road, Chennai. According to Suryah, this scene was the first shot he composed and it involved meticulous planning.^[21] Another scene was planned to show Shiva having shaved his moustache to differentiate from Deva, only to see he has shaved as well. The scene went unfilmed due to Ajith's refusal to shave his moustache which he needed for another film.^[22] Simran's voice was dubbed bySavitha Radhakrishnan.^[23]

Suryah wanted the dual roles in the film to be different from other films likeNeerum Neruppum (1971) andApoorva Sagodharargal (1989), in which the two roles were physically distinct. He made both the characters look physically the same, with one being normal and one being deaf-mute. Suryah said the positive and negative contrast between both characters were supposed to signify thesplit personality that everyone inherently has.^[7]

The soundtrack was composed byDeva and lyrics were written byVairamuthu.^[24] The song "Oh Sona" is based on "Susanna" byVOF de Kunst, and "Where Do I Begin?", the theme toLove Story composed byFrancis Lai.^[25][26] "Oh Sona" and "April Maadathil" were well received upon release.^[27]

Vaalee was released on 30 April 1999.^[28] The film became a huge commercial success, and was also successful in Kerala where it ran for over 100 days in theatres.^[29] It provided a major breakthrough for Ajith, Simran and Jyothika's careers.^{[30][31][32][33]} The film was dubbed and released in Telugu under the same title later that year.^[34]

Vaalee received positive reviews from critics.^[35] Lakshmi ofDeccan Herald described the film as "definitely worth seeing", saying it "has something for all tastes – a pleasant love angle, some suspense, complex psychological nuances, good acting, pleasing songs" while praising Ajith's performance.^[36]The New Indian Express labelled Simran's portrayal as "outstanding" while mentioning Suryah does a "fairly good job and succeeds".^[37] K. P. S. ofKalki appreciated Deva's music, the performances of Ajith and Simran, and Jeeva's cinematography, adding that Suryah's future as a director seemed bright.^[38]

Ananda Vikatan appreciated the film by giving 45 marks and mentioned "Director SJ Suryah established his stamp of film-making in his very first film by taking up a straight line story with an engaging screenplay and realistic dialogues. Ajith Kumar has done a fantastic job in dual role and Simran also proved that she can act".^[3] K. N. Vijiyan ofNew Straits Times wrote, "It is amazing what fresh ideas new directors can come out with [...] Using a simple story, Suryah has come out with a winner".^[39] D. S. Ramanujam ofThe Hindu wrote, "Rich production values, fine performances by Ajit Kumar (playing the dual role of brothers) and Simran, bold and powerful dialogue by S. J. Surya, who has directed the movie based on his story and screenplay, are the major contributing factor[s]" in the film.^[40] Reviewing the Telugu-dubbed version, Griddaluru Gopalrao ofZamin Ryot wrote that the director's style of narration sets a good pace for a simple story. The reviewer also praised the effort put into the dubbing and Ajith and Simran's performance.^[34]

Mahesh Babu had shown interest in remaking the film in Telugu; however, the remake did not reach fruition after the Telugu dub was released.^[45]Vaalee was remade inKannada underthe same title (2001).^[46]Boney Kapoor entered negotiations with Chakravarthy to acquire the remake rights forHindi and other languages. In response, Suryah attempted to block Chakravarthy from selling the remake rights by filing a case to theMadras High Court, but his plea was rejected. Kapoor and Chakravarthy's deal was closed around July/August 2020. In November 2021, Suryah appealed to theSupreme Court of India, using a 2017 verdict by the Madras High Court that only the screenwriter holds the remake rights to his own film,^[47][48] but on 25 April 2022, the Supreme Court rejected his plea: "There can be no dispute that in respect of a cinematograph film, it is the producer of the film who is the owner of the copyright in the cinematograph film itself".^[49]

AfterA. M. Rathnam watched the premier show ofVaalee, he decided to produce Suryah's next filmKushi (2000).^[50] The plot of the 2007 Telugu filmHello Premistara was noted by some critics for its similarities withVaalee.^[51] The sub-plot involving the photograpg of an imaginary person named Sona and the fact that she actually exists in real life inspired the plot of the Telugu filmMaska (2009).^[52] Simran reprised her role as Priya in a cameo appearance inGood Bad Ugly (2025).^[53]

• Dhananjayan, G. (2011).The Best of Tamil Cinema, 1931 to 2010: 1977–2010. Galatta Media.OCLC 733724281.

• Vaalee atIMDb  
• Vaalee atRotten Tomatoes