Keep your shortlist together and see where it’s streaming
2024 · Tamil · 2h 14m · Drama · CBFC U
Keep your shortlist together and see where it’s streaming
Filmi Score
Exceptional
4 reviews · provisional
83
3 exceptional1 very good
What the critics say
Critics call Vaazhai Mari Selvaraj's most personal and powerful film, praising the performances, Santhosh Narayanan's music and the cinematography, though one critic feels it lacks the resistance theme central to Karnan.
Audience Score · not yet · appears once three readers have written a review
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Summary
Vaazhai (2024, Tamil) has a Filmi Score of 83 from 4 critic reviews, is rated 10+ by Filmi (CBFC: U), and streams on Hulu in the US.
A twelve-year-old bright schoolboy, Sivanandhan, his mother, sister, and with his friend Sekhar works during his school holidays carrying banana stalks, a task he dreads. As he navigates life's challenges, poverty, friendship, and the challenges of growing up, Sivanandhan’s determination is tested by the harsh realities of life.
Where to watchAvailability by JustWatch · some watch links pay filmi.ai a small commission; it never changes what we show or how we score.
A twelve-year-old bright schoolboy, Sivanandhan, his mother, sister, and with his friend Sekhar works during his school holidays carrying banana stalks, a task he dreads. As he navigates life's challenges, poverty, friendship, and the challenges of growing up, Sivanandhan’s determination is tested by the harsh realities of life.
Where to watch
Availability by JustWatch · some watch links pay filmi.ai a small commission; it never changes what we show or how we score.
Unni Narayanan · YouTube, Malayalam · transcript read · 30 Aug 2024
The vlogger calls Vaazhai a deeply personal, emotionally devastating film, praising its screenplay logic, sound design, cinematography and… Watch it there →
The critic praises Vaazhai's performances, music and visuals as achingly beautiful, calling it a film that makes you laugh, cry and think, and… Read it there →
The critic praises Ponvel's performance and Santhosh Narayanan's music but notes autobiographical stories are hard to render as fiction, and feels… Read it there →
Derived by Filmi
65
How this number was made. We read every review and derive a 0–100 reading from each — including where the critic printed a number, which stays first on its row, because it’s theirs. The Filmi Score is the mean of 4 readings; 1 of those rows also carry the critic’s own rating, shown beside ours. Rubric v2.1, computed 26 Oct 2026. Any critic can ask us to remove a derived reading.
PublishedStated in videoDerived by FilmiNo score
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Vaazhai: quick answers
Box office, where to watch and what critics said — from the same data as the page.
What is Vaazhai's box office collection?
Vaazhai has a box office collection of ₹39.50 Cr worldwide (gross), made up of ₹33.40 Cr India gross and ₹6.10 Cr overseas gross. Figures are Sacnilk's, as of 4 Jan 2025, day 52. Grosses are contested in India, and money never feeds the Filmi Score.
How much has Vaazhai collected at the box office?
Vaazhai has collected ₹39.50 Cr worldwide in 52 days, as of 4 Jan 2025, according to Sacnilk.
Where can I watch Vaazhai?
Vaazhai is streaming on OTT: JioHotstar (India) and Hulu (the US). Availability comes from JustWatch and is checked every Friday.
What did critics say about Vaazhai?
Vaazhai has a Filmi Score of 83 (Exceptional), the mean of 4 readings of critic reviews, one per review. The score is provisional until at least five reviews are read. Readings run from 65 (Deccan Herald) to 92 (Unni Vlogs Cinephile). Every review and how it was scored is listed below.
What readers say
The Audience Score appears once three readers’ reviews have been read under the rubric — built from what people write, never from the rating numbers.
