Amidst a lot of meaningless ventures, debutant director G Anantha Narayanan has tried to make a meaningful film keeping a Chennai slum as backdrop. He has presented a touchy tale of a youth, who gets reformed in his life. Remember the Saint Vaalmiki, who wrote the great epic Ramayana, was once a thief. He later reformed in his life only to be remembered forever for his literary work.

Pandi (Akhil), born and brought up in a Chennai slum, is an orphan, who makes a living robbing others. His jovial ways wins him the admiration of many. He meets a Good Samaritan Vandhana (Meera Nandan), who runs a crèche. She falls for Pandi without knowing his background.

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Vandhana however, comes to know about Pandi’s profession but still believes that she could reform him. She could succeed in her mission only after a disaster, which leads to a touchy climax.

In the meantime, we get to see Kanaka (Devika), a flower vendor, who is impressed by Pandi. She moves away with a heavy heart after knowing his love for Vandhana.

Akhil, who debuted in Balaji Sakthivel’s Kallori, has come out with a good show. He has commendably worked on his body language and diction to suit a Chennai slum youth. Meera Nandan impresses with her spontaneous expressions but her role fails to impress, as it is quite clichéd. Newcomer Devika makes a mark as Kanaka.

Though Ilayaraja’s tunes remind his earlier ones, a couple of songs sound good and his background score adds value to the narrative.

Vaalmiki, manages to sustain interest in parts, but the script is full of predictable twists and clichéd developments. The characterization lacks depth. Narayanan has chosen a different background but he hasn’t come out with a gripping tale with the backdrop.

Vaalmiki fails to impress just because of its clichés and predictability.