Valimai

 

Theatrical release poster
Directed by	H. Vinoth
Written by	H.Vinoth
Produced by	Boney Kapoor
Starring	Ajith Kumar Kartikeya Gummakonda Huma Qureshi Gurbani Judge
Cinematography	Nirav Shah
Edited by	Vijay Velukutty
Music by	Score: Ghibran Songs: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Production companies	Zee Studios Bayview Projects LLP
Distributed by	Zee Studios Romeo Pictures Gopuram Cinemas
Release date	24 February 2022
Running time	179 minutes[1] 167 minutes (edited version)[2]
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	₹150 crore[3]
Box office	est. ₹110–150 crore (4 days)[4][5]

Valimai (transl. Strength)^[6] is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by H. Vinoth, and produced by Boney Kapoor under Bayview Projects LLP in collaboration with Zee Studios, as co-producer and distributor. The film stars Ajith Kumar, Karthikeya, Huma Qureshi and Gurbani Judge. The film score is composed by Ghibran and the songs are composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The cinematography is performed by Nirav Shah and editing by Vijay Velukutty. It revolves around Arjun, a police officer, who is assigned to track down a group of outlaw bikers following their involvement in heinous crimes.

This film marked the second collaboration between Ajith, Vinoth and Kapoor after Nerkonda Paarvai (2019). Vinoth wrote the script in mid-2018, but Ajith initially declined it and asked him to work on it later. The idea was later pitched in January 2019 with Kapoor agreeing to fund the project and was launched officially in mid-October 2019, announcing its title as well. Principal photography began in December 2019 in Hyderabad and was completed with February 2021, irrespective of production being disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Major portions of the film were shot across Chennai and Hyderabad, in addition to a few sequences in Russia, which was filmed during late-August and early-September 2021.

The film was in the news for a long time, due to the persuasion of fans to launch an update regarding the project, leading to a campaign named #ValimaiUpdate, that influenced sports, politics and other events as well. It eventually led to being listed as one of the most-anticipated Tamil films according to trade circuits.^[7] After being delayed multiple times, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions being prevailed in India, the film released worldwide on 24 February 2022 and opened to mixed reviews from critics.