Vallinam

If it was horror in his debut (Eeram), Arivazhagan tackles the sports movie genre in his sophomore effort Vallinam, which wants to highlight the fact that we should stop being a one-sport (read cricket-crazy) nation and encourage every sport and sportsperson in the country. It is an idealistic film, yes, but what makes Vallinam a commendable effort is that it doesn't resort to cricket-bashing to drive home its point.

The film begins with an prologue in which we see Krishna ( Nagulan, working hard), a gifted if self-centred basketball player. An on-court fatality involving his friend Shiva ( Kreshna, in a guest appearance) leaves him demoralized and he decides to give up the game and move to Chennai. But, as his coach ( Aadhi, another guest star) tells him, the game that he loves the most will definitely enter his life again. That happens in his new college, thanks to the college's egomaniacal cricket team captain Vamsi, who always belittles other sports and tries to scuttle the chances of the other sportsmen in the place. To put him in his place and defend his friends, Krishna challenges Vamsi that the college's basketball team will win a national tournament. But winning is not going to be easy, especially with an enraged Vamsi doing his best to foil the team's chances.

Vallinam uses most of the sports movie constructs — underdog protagonists who must first overcome their differences before taking to the court, a no-nonsense coach, an offbeat training montage, fearsome opponents in the final, and a motivational speech by the hero which helps snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The one interesting variation here is the adversary — here, it is someone who plays a different game and so, the clash is not exactly on the field but off the field. Arivazhagan divides the narrative into two distinct halves. The first involves Krishna's challenges in putting together a team while in the latter, he keeps throwing obstacles (official indifference, politics, match-fixi...