Vaali

Vaali is a 1999 Indian romantic thriller directed by S. J. Suryah, who also wrote the screenplay. It marked his debut as a director, arriving before Kushi in 2000 and Ah Aah: Anbe Aaruyire in 2005. The premise centres on a man who is unable to accept his attraction to the woman his twin brother has married, and the conflict that grows out of his attempts to deny it. Ajith Kumar plays both brothers, Deva and Shiva, with Simran as Priya and Jyothika as Sona. The supporting cast includes Vivek, Pandu and Radha Bai. S. S. Chakravarthy produced the film for Nic Arts, and it runs 158 minutes.

The film pairs its romantic thread with suspense, drawing on the tension between the two brothers and the woman who comes between them. Ajith Kumar's double role places the story on the contrast between the twins, while the female leads anchor the relationships at the centre of the drama. Tamil cinema audiences responded strongly: on IMDb the film holds a rating of 8 out of 10 from around 4,500 votes, which for a title of this age indicates a durable and widely shared following. The smaller sample on TMDB, where it sits at 7 out of 10 from roughly 25 votes, points to far less attention from that site's users.

More than a quarter of a century after its release, Vaali remains the film that introduced Suryah as a director and gave Ajith Kumar one of his notable early roles.