Balti
Action Drama Romance Malayalam
A star kabaddi player's life takes a dangerous turn when he's pulled into the criminal underworld.
| Cast: | Shane Nigam, Shanthanu Bhagyaraj, Preethi Asrani, Shiva Hariharan, Alphonse Puthren, Selvaraghavan, Poornima Indrajith, Jeckson Johnson, Asha Madathil Sreekanth, Akshay Radhakrishnan, Dev Habibullah |
|---|---|
| Director: | Unni Sivalingam |
| Writer: | Unni Sivalingam |
| Editor: | Shivkumar V. Panicker |
| Camera: | Alex J. Pulickal |
All Guild Reviews of Balti
Blockbuster Moments In A Surprisingly Well-Done Tamil-Malayalam Hybrid
With excellent performances from the ensemble cast, 'Balti' is the work of a director who lives and breathes masala cinema in Unni Sivalingam
Set in the one of the border towns of Palakkad, bang in the middle of both Kerala and Tamil Nadu, is a surprising film that borrows its sensibilities from both Malayalam and Tamil cinema. The writing, about four young kabaddi players and how they’re slowly absorbed into the world of crime and corruption, feels planted and subtle, like a solid Malayalam slowburn. But the colours of these scenes are dynamic, the sounds loud, and its treatment a lot like that of the rooted Tamil cinema of the 2000s.
Shane Nigam, Shanthanu's promising crime drama drowns in cliches
'Balti' is an action drama starring Shane Nigam and Shanthanu Bhagyaraj. While its dynamic characters are intriguing, the film ultimately suffers from overused cliches and a predictable storyline.
‘Balti’ opens with a gory murder and the four friends, who meticulously plan and commit the crime. Minutes after the crime, they quickly change their outfits and take part in a temple ritual. With pulsating music from the find of this decade, Sai Abhyankkar, the film grabs your attention from the first frame. But, does it hold your attention throughout? Let’s find out!
Action papers over clichés and patchy writing
In ‘Balti,’ starring Shane Nigam, Shanthnu Bhagyaraj, and Preethi Asrani, an unending stream of well-staged action sequences barely keeps afloat a plot lacking any novelty
Balti comes accompanied with the tag of a ‘sports action film’, with Kabaddi being the sport in the spotlight. For a while in the beginning, debutant filmmaker Unni Sivalingam appears to be keen on living up to this tag, serving us some intensely fought and tastefully shot Kabaddi matches. But by the halfway point, Kabaddi gets firmly pushed to the background, only for a glimpse of it to be shown in the epilogue.
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