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Balram Vs Tara Das
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'Balram Vs Tara Das' - Worth a watch

By P. Sreekumaran
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

Whatever Malayalam megastar Mammootty touches turns to gold, these days!

Well, he has once again proved his firm grip on the box office with the latest flick ‘Balram Vs Taradas’. The film fully justifies the pre-release hype. And, as usual, Mammootty single-handedly carries the film on his powerful shoulders. This time it is a double role - as a smuggler king and as a super cop out to nab him. Mammootty fans could not have asked for more.

Incidentally,

Mammootty and famous director IV Sasi are coming together in ‘Balram Vs Taradas’ after a gap of 15 years. That the duo have not lost their surety of touch is clear from the enthusiastic reception the film is getting all over Kerala. After all, Sasi is a veteran director who knows what clicks with the Kerala audience. Not for nothing have Sasi and Mammootty done as many as 34 films together. A majority of them have been super hits, too.

Like in his earlier hit films, in ‘Balram Vs Taradas’ as well, Sasi has employed the cop taking on the smuggler formula with telling effect. The script by T.Damodaran and S.N.Swamy is crisp. And with Sasi's racy narration and Mammootty's electrifying performance, ‘Balram Vs Taradas’ is a sure-shot winner.

The film has another first to boast of. It is for the first time in Indian cinema that two immensely popular characters from two different films take on each other! Mammootty played inspector Balram in ‘Avanazhi’ and smuggler Taradas in ‘Athirathram’. The confrontationist ambience between the super cop and the smuggler makes the movie an edge-of-the seat affair for the audience. One wishes the climax scene could have been handled better.

Inspector Balram (Mammootty) is now a Deputy Superintendent of Police. A police team stumbles upon a huge cache of arms during the construction of a college. The land belongs to Hussain Sahib (Riza Bava). Balram is appointed to probe the case along with his assistant Varma (Mukesh).

The needle of suspicion points to international smuggler Taradas (Mammootty) who is settled in Dubai. Taradas is not only a notorious smuggler. He is now a key player in Kerala politics. In fact, Minister Mustafa is close confidant. He is also close to MLA Rani (Vani Viswanath) and a bunch of toughies (Rajmohan Unnithan, 'Spadikam' George and others).

Balram goes about his task with customary panache. And he tries to corner Taradas by targeting his weak point - film star Supriya (Katrina Kaif) who is in love with the smuggler king. Balram puts her in jail, hoping to ferret out Taradas from his hideout.

The rest of the film represents an absorbing cat and mouse encounter between the cop and the smuggler. It is also the Malayalam debut of Bollywood beauty Katrina Kaif. Though she does not have much footage, Kaif has done her job reasonably well. Of course, in the emotional scenes, she falters a bit.

The comedy department has been well handled by the husband and wife police officers team Jagadish and Kalpana. Sreenivasan as the editor of a yellow paper contributes his bit to add to the fun. ‘Balram Vs Taradas’ is also technically excellent with brilliant camera work by Sanjeev Sankar.

The stunt scenes picturised in Dubai are stunningly spectacular. Songs composed by Jassy Gift have also caught on. Mention must be made of the "Mathapoove…" sung by Afzal and Rimy Tomy. It may not be a top-grade movie. But ‘Balram Vs Taradas’ certainly won't disappoint you.

Worth a watch.

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