The movie is set into motion when a large cache of arms is discovered in the land belonging to the local businessman Hussein Sahib (Risabava). On investigation, Inspector Varma (Mukesh) finds that Hussein Sahib has no idea about this, but the land was used by someone called Anali Bhaskaran. The Inspector, along with his colleagues Sudhakaran (Jagadeesh) go to arrest Bhaskaran, but they are given a good fight. As the police are being beaten, the screen alternates between a police jeep appearing on the scene and Anali Bhaskaran trying to knife people. Suddenly a hand appears in the scene and beats Bhaskaran. The camera, in a ritual symbolic of us doing pradakshniam around the deity goes around the body to which the hand is attached and reveals the face of Inspector Balram.

He is still the same no-nonsense, arrogant person who follows his heterodox ways of investigation. The only difference is that he does not use much four letter words, or in the case of Malayalam, two letter words much. Anali Bhaskaran reveals under interrogation that Hussein Sahib’s son Salim is involved in this. Hussein Sahib says that his son left the house sometime back and he has no idea where he is. Then at this point it starts raining characters as if it is the start of monsoon season.

In a span of few minutes we get three villains, MLA Rani (Vani Vishwanath), a DGP, Balram’s boss (Devan), DYSP George (Siddique), Policewoman Dakshayani (Kalpana), a Chief Minister, a minister called Mustafa, Srini (Srinivasan), the editor of a yellow journal, and a policeman called Ummar (Augustine). While were were figuring out who was who in this, Balram concludes that Tharadas was behind all this and the scene switches to Dubai.

If Balram got a Rajnikanth style introduction, then according to the Newton’s third law, Tharadas too has to get one. So we see one of his associates insulting a person, bad mouthing Tharadas and walking away. Then in the corridor he sees a faint human figure far away. The camera jerks and jerks and reveals Tharadas, dressed so well that we would think he was on his way to a photo shoot when he decided abruptly to beat a few people. As if this visual was not suffice, there was an electric guitar playing loudly in the background as if someone old the guitar player that he would get paid based on the number of random sounds he could make from the instrument.

After beating his associate, Tharadas meets the minister Mustafa (who seems like a Kunjalikutti clone) and does some business. He also wants a favor from the minister. He wants a ring to be passed to his girlfriend Supriya (Katrina Khaif) who is an actress. Once the people and linkages are established, the game is set in motion in an even faster pace. Balram concludes that the only way to trap Tharadas is to arrest Supriya. As expected Tharadas lands in Kerala and takes on Balram and it drives rest of the story.

The film has two script writers, S N Swamy and T Damodaran. Both these people famous for writing many block busters in the eighties seem to be still living in that era where heroes and villains shouted at each other pointing guns at each others head. When Tharadas first lands his Kerala, he walks straight into the police station looking for Balram. They both stare at each other and then Balram takes his gun and points at Tharadas. Tharadas in a scene, seen only in cartoon films, puts his hands on the barrel of the gun to block the bullet and says some hard hitting dialogue. Luckily the intermission was announced at this time, else the movie would have been over by the middle.

It is not just this one encounter they have. Both Balram and Tharadas meet many times in the second half and scream at each others face. Once Balram walks into Tharadas’ house and shouts, “You are a bloody murderer and arms dealer and…” of that sort. They meet in airports, jails and all the time they talk and part. The aim for both it seems is to subdue the other with dialogue, a la Suresh Gopi style. All this would look great in a temple festival stage drama, but not in a movie. In this whole movie, except for a couple of action scenes, you could turn of the visual and listen to it as a radio drama.

And what happened to Tharadas, the man who smilingly said his occupation was “Smuggling” in Athirathram. It turns out he is a nice guy in this movie and he was wronged by the villains. He is not vicious or dangerous. He is just a romantic who loves to wear designer clothes and ride trendy bikes. Oh! what a let down. His wig, which seems to have a life of its own in various scenes has more personality than Tharadas.

One of the interesting points in Athirathram was the relationship between the characters played by Mohanlal, Seema and Mammotty. There is no such emotional twist in this plot. There is no suspense, no twists or anything in the story and it is a plain straightforward narration.

Since there are too many characters and due to the fast cutting, there is no time to establish any character in the movie. . Some people like Kunjan and Srinivasan probably got less than 3 minutes of screen time, much less than the wig. The characters in the movie don’t have any depth and it looks like a bunch of cardboard characters moving on screen. Then when you complain of such lack of depth, it is shown that Inspector Varma’s family is in poverty and we are like what has that to do with the story?

The only character which is interesting in the movie is Balram, but still he comes nowhere close to the Balram in Avanazhi and Inspector Balram. He too has toned down. But he gets lot of screen time to display his anger against everyone and everything. Mammotty has performed well as this character to make up for a lackluster Tharadas.

I.V.Sasi’s concept of big blockbuster movie seems to be to fill in with all possible actors on screen and have a few car and boat chases. It does not work in 2006. When Athirathram was released the only channel on TV was Doordarshan. Now people have options to see well made Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and English movie and the expectations have gone up for action movies. There is a boat chase in the movie where Blaram chases Salim in the ocean. They both start in one location, circle the bay and park back in the shore like two tourists on a sightseeing trip. The boat chase in Athirathram had more punch.

Lot of money was blown up on this movie and it would have been better if the screenplay which they filmed was thrown out and a new one written. The concept of the movie was interesting, but the execution was poor. The other saving grace of the movie are the two songs by Jassie Gift.

Now we hear that they are planning a sequel called Balraminte Makan with Prithviraj in the title role. We hope the film makers make a short tight movie instead of such wasteful extravaganzas or get new script writers like Padmakumar, Renjith or Ranjan Pramod.

In the old K.G.George movie Panchavadipalam, there is a scene where one party tries to kidnap a politician from the opposition in a basket. This was a time in India when political kidnappings were common. In Mithunam, there is a similar scene where Mohanlal and Sreenivasan kidnap Urvashi from her house in a mattress. (Before this scene Srinivasan asks that classic dialogue, “Ee panthrandu vayassu kariye aano, muthalali kazhinja pathimoonu kollamayi premichathu?”

The current trend in Malayalam cinema is kidnapping of successful directors by actors. Fresh from the success of Balram Vs Taradas, Suresh Gopi wants his next movie to be directed by I.V.Sasi. Suresh Gopi tasted success with Shaji Kailas’s Chintamani Kola case. So Dileep is having his next movie directed by Shaji Kailas. Mammootty, who had loaned Joshiey to everyone else has got Joshiey back for his Pothan Vava. (In between he “took” Johnny Antony from Dileep). And Mohanlal, who “returned” Joshiey (after Naran) is going to have a movie directed by Anwar Rashid of Raja Manickyam fame. Out of this lot, Dileep seems to carrying a bigger basket as he has got Sathyan Anthikkad also for one his forthcoming movies.

If you are a successful director, then beware of stars walking around with baskets and matresses.

We had a good time watching the drama behind this expensive movie and wrote many articles in jest about the behind the scenes activity. In our preview we expressed concern that I.V.Sasi and T.Damodaran have not shown any magic for a decade. Now the movie has been released and the verdict is that it is a thriller. It seems I.V.Sasi has not lost his touch and Mammotty is still on a roll.
Sify writes:

On the down side, there is basically no story and the climax is a bit of letdown as Taradas is glorified as he has a change of heart. Actually the film is a clash between the two protagonists with different images. It is difficult to say who is better- Balram or Taradas, as Mammootty makes both the characters come alive. Katrina is perfect as Supriya the petite, touch-me-not film actress and has been well presented by Sasi. The comedy track of Jagadish and Kalpana as husband and wife police officers is funny along with Sreenivasan as the editor of a yellow rag.

On the whole, Sasi has made a comeback with a racy entertainer. So go ahead and make your matinee.

India Glitz writes

It is Mammootty as Balram, okay make it Taradas, who delivers a memorable performance. He has retained the links with the old characters to ensure continuity. Yet, he has given polish to them to give a contemporary relevance. Only a first-rate performer can do this. And Mammootty is one. What is important is that he seems to have enjoyed the challenge. Sasi has used his all histrionic ability (to do that in a commercial movie is great). He also looks very debonair in those designer outfits in Dubai.

The other plus point is that the film has a very contemporary chic look. The technical and production values certainly get high grades. Sanjeev Sankar camera work belongs to the top drawer. Jassie Gift’s rhythm-based music fits the bill almost perfectly.

Sasi shows that he has not lost his touch. The director, wielding the megaphone after a considerable gap, shows class is permanent.

(Picture courtesy : Nowrunning.com)

Usually when movies are released on DVD, there is a separate disc which tells the details about making the movie. If such a DVD were to be released for Balram vs Taradas, the special disc would have more material than the original movie.

This movie was originally set to release during Republic Day. Then it was postponed to March 9th. Then it was postponed again. Hopefully it will be released this Friday.

The reasons for postponement range from various difference of opinions between the star and the director and the producer. Should a song be filmed in London? Should the Mammotty with the wig speak in a different voice? These were the existential questions the film makers were trying to grapple with.

The movie is something different for characters from two different movies are coming together for the first time in Malayalam movies. Inspector Balram from Avanazhi meets Taradas from Athirathram. The director and the script writers are also from the same team – I. V.Sasi and T.Damodaran. They have also roped in S.N.Swami to co-write this thriller.

The last movie made by I.V.Sasi was the terrible Symphony, in which he inflicted his daughter on us. Even though the movie had terrific music by Deepak Dev, the movie was a violation of human rights and will be used only for torturing criminals. Probably the last movie of his which was excellent was Devasuram.

The multi-colored and multi-faceted Mammootty plays both Balram and Taradas. Currently Mammootty is on a roll. Actually he has been on a roll since 2005. He’s in a phase of career in which he can’t do anything wrong. He’s an actor who does the police roles the best, so that takes care of the half of the cast’s performance and for the rest of the cast there’s Mammooty with the wig and Katrina Kaif. We don’t expect much from these two. Probably the wig will get more attention than Ms. Kaif.

There has been dozen of movies with cop-underworld stories and it’s a well beaten theme. This movie’s uniqueness is that cop and underworld don are played by the same actor and that these two characters are from two different succesful movies. T.Damodaran, one of the writers, if he’s in form, might spice up the story with current political affairs and recent real life underworld stories. But the problem is that he’s out of form for a while. Last movie he did was Kalapaani. The other writer, S.N.Swami, is known for his CBI series, investigative stories. We expect this movie to have all the ingredients of movies of this genre including guns,speedboats, fast car chases.

The music of the film is by Jassie Gift and the two songs bear his signature. The first song Mathapoo is very peppy with orchestration similar to Lajjavathiye. The second song Neelathakadam sung by Yesudas is much decent, except towards then end where there is a reggae signature which actually sounds like a goat giving birth.

This expensive movie is produced by Liberty Basheer. There are lot of expectations about this movie, and this movie has to be in theatres for a long time for Mr.Bashir to recover costs.

(Picture courtesy: Nowrunning.com)

Some movies are publicised as action movies before release, some are declared as action movies after people see it, some movies provide action before release.

The movie Balram vs Taradas was supposed to take on Lion and in jest we wrote an article on how it takes two Mammotty’s to tackle one Dileep. The Lion came, Lion saw and Lion Conquered, but both Balram and Taradas were nowhere to be seen. Then the movie was set to release in March. By that time Dileep cloned himself to another Dileep in Pachakuthira and that movie is set to release soon. Then came a news that send waves of tremor in trade circles (no relation to crop circles) that Balram Vs Taradas was postponed again. The tremor was caused by the thought that if the movie is postponed again, Dileep might clone himself, like Agent Smith in Matrix and act in another movie in which he is the hero, heroine and villain.

The problem for the delay in Balram vs Taradas was with the dates. Balram was available for filming while Taradas was busy. Finally to complete the schedule, Balram had to act as Taradas in some scenes. We are just kidding here.

While newspapers are creating all sorts of hype around the movie for having two characters from two different movies come together with the same director/actor combination, this movie is creating history by having the largest number of postponements.

First Mammotty wanted to picturize a song in London. If Dileep and Kavya Madhavan could embarass everyone in New Zealand and Thailand, why couldn’t Mammotty? This idea did not fly with the producer.

Then I V Sasi wanted the Mammotty with the wig to dub with a different voice that the Mammotty without the wig. This idea was canned after the wig puked on hearing the idea.

The movie has got postponed four times already, for technical reasons and for avoiding competition. For an expensive movie of this proportions, lack of self belief from people behind the scenes is ominous. Keralites have proven again and again that content is the king, without that movie would fail, no matter what date it is released and how many heroines act without clothes.

Finally the film makers have settled for a release date in May. They are betting that only five or six Suresh Gopi movies might get released that month and it is ok. Still, the movie could get postponed for the flimsiest reasons such as which direction the wind is blowing or how many seats the Communists win in the elections.

This week there are two interesting releases: Balram Vs Taradas starring Mammotty and Lion starring Dileep. Last time when Mammotty and Dileep had their movies released together, Dileep was the winner. The earlier competition was between Nerariyan CBI and Chanthupottu.

After losing to Dileep, Mammotty camp had to come up with a strategy to tackle Dileep’s Lion and so they have chosen to let loose two Mammotty’s against one Dileep. With Mammotty’s current winning form, you cannot go wrong by having many instances of Mammotty in a movie.

As we understand from news reports Balram Vs Taradas is a Cop-Underworld drama. Inspector Balram (from Avanazhi and Inspector Balram) and smuggler Taradas (from Athirathram) are the main protagonists. Another attraction is bollywood actress Katrina Kaif. Directed by I.V.Sasi, the script is handled by the duo T.Damodaran and S.N.Swamy.

Lion on the other hand is a political thriller with Dileep donning the role of a young politician. He potrays the role of a straight forward politician (ha ha) fighting his father who is also a politician, but corrupt to the core. Lion is Dileep’s party’s election symbol (just in case you were worried about any Narasimham like morphing). Kavya Madhavan plays Dileep’s love interest and the movie is directed by Joshiy (formerly Joshi) with the script by the duo Siby K Thomas and Udayakrishnan. Following Hindi/Tamil/Telugu movie trends, this movie has a song picturised in New Zealand

Looking at people behind the scenes of these two movies we think that Lion will come out as the winner. I.V.Sasi has lost touch (no hits after Devasuram, which was released 10 years back), so has T.Damodaran. Another factor is the budget of this movie which has gone north of 5 crore rupees. Lion, which is a political thriller is directed by Joshiy, boosted by the success of Naran and confident by the name change. The writers Siby K Thomas and Udayakrishnan of Lion also have few successes behind them. The risk factor is that they have not done a political thriller before, but that’s something which we’ll have to wait see.

Update: The release of Balram Vs Taradas has been postponed to March 16^th (Thanks: Unnikrishnan G Nair)