Originally Posted by Brazil

By Moviebuzz


After 15 years I.V.Sasi and Mammootty who have done a record 34 films together are back in Balram Vs Taradas. It is vintage Sasi and after a long gap Mammootty is outstanding as Balram the cynical, frustrated, honest cop and Taradas the suave, romantic, cunning smuggler
The film works due to the Sasi formula of the 80’s-cop Vs robbers who are hand-in-glove with corrupt politicians and senior police officers. The scriptwriters T.Damodaran and S.N.Swamy’s kallanum poleesum katha is well-etched out and what makes the film worth watching is the racy manner in which it is presented along with Mammootty’s fire-brand performance.

For the first time in Indian cinema two popular characters Balram (Avanazhi, Inspector Balram) and Taradas (Athirathram) from two different films by the same director-actor combo are coming face to face. The USP of the film is the chemistry between the predator (cop Balram) and prey (smuggler Taradas) which crackles with energy as both are daggers drawn. There are some interesting confrontation scenes though the climax has not been worked out well.

The plot- Now Inspector Balram (Mammootty) has become Deputy Superintendent of Police. During the construction of a College, a huge cache of weapons is unearthed from the land belonging to Hussain Sahib (Riza Bava). The Chief Minister appoints Balram to investigate the case along with Varma (Mukesh). The leads all points to the International smuggler Taradas (Mammootty) who is settled in Dubai. Taradas is the king maker of Kerala politics and has a state minister Mustafa as his right-hand man along with a local MLA Rani (Vani Viswanath) and a bunch of baddies ( Rajmohan Unnithan, ‘Spadikam’ George and others).

However, the ruthless Taradas has only one weakness-Film star Supriya (Katrina Kaif) who is deeply in love with the don. Balram works on this weakness and frames her up and puts her in jail. Taradas loses cool as he says – “Supriya is more precious than anything else in the world”. This leads to the confrontation between the cop and the don who has also the support from the government and a highly corrupt cop George (Siddique). And what follows is a cat and mouse game leading to a tame climax.

Analysis - 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.

Technically - Balram Vs Taradas is savvy with good camerawork by Sanjeev Sankar. The film has a rich look with some stunning scenes in Dubai including Taradas driving a Hummer SUV, designer suits and posh villas. Songs tuned by Jassie Gift are peppy especially the “Mathapoove…” song sung and picturised on Afzal and Rimy Tomy. Thanks God Mammooty does not shake a leg this time!

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

Verdict: Paisa Vasool


Ee review-um nalla kidilamaayirunnu...ennitenthaayii

Originally Posted by chandru

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Review


Roudram

Movie
Roudram
Director
Renji Pannikkar
Producer
Anto Joseph
Cast
Mammootty, Sai Kumar, Vijayaraghavan, Rajan P.Dev




By Moviebuzz


When the big daddy of political masala films laced with hard-hitting punchlines makes a comeback to movie halls, its time to sit back and get engrossed. Renji Panikkar is back with Mammootty playing a cop for the 26th time inRoudram.
Panikkar’s film as usual is the latest update on the socio-political scene in Kerala, as seen through the eyes of his protagonist. An upright, honest and fearless cop who is fighting the system from within. There is nothing new in story or presentation but what makes Roudram work is Mammootty’s characterization of the cop ‘Nari’. He steers this uneven high-on-punchlines film to the winning post.

The plot definitely evokes a sense of déjà vu, like a cop ‘Dirty Harry’ Narendran who is a one-man army who grapples with a corrupt society run by mafia’s with political support, inefficient and rotten police administration and a chief minister who is more concerned about his whealer-dealer son than the people who voted him and his party to power.

Well it may be old wine in new ‘tetra pack’ from Renji, but the writer director through his hero is able to deftly capture the guts and gory goings-on in the Kerala police. The much reviled police force has enough to rejoice. Ranji outlines the good and bad within the cop land, with a fair amount of credibility.

Narendran(Mammootty) is ACP in Ernakulam. He is not an IPS officer, but a non-cadre police officer, who is frustrated about how things takes place in the government machinery and gets frequently transferred when he has run-in’s with his superiors. He is called by his nickname ‘Nari’ or ‘Puli’ in the force and is married to a nice girl Prabha (Manju) and has a seven year old son. Nari is a left sympathizer and is always fighting a loosing battle to salvage the reputation of the force who he feels should be for the common man.

His superior officers in the Ernakulam, Shahabuddin the D.I.G (Rajan.P.Dev) and SP Thomas Antony (Lalu Alex) are his protectors in the force, though IG Balagopalan (Ramu) and other officers hate him. One day his superiors on the special request of the Chief Minister (Janardanan) are entrusted to investigate the hit and run case of Kamblikandam Jose (Subair), a notorious history sheeter and a Ganja planter. Nari’s investigation opens a can of worms that leads to the kingpins in drug mafia in the state- Purushothaman Pillai or Appachye (Vijayraghavan) a land grabber from Idukki and his foster son Sethu (Sai Kumar) a high flying mafia chief with drug links in Goa, and they are protected by IG Balagopalan and the Chief Ministers son! How Nari using his brains, brawn and dare-devilry demolishes the bad guys and once again brings honour to the force is what the rest of the film is about.

The highlight of the film is Mammootty’s introduction scene, as he takes on another cop who is trying to make “mamool” in a public place. But what takes the cake is the scene before the interval, when he confronts the IG who is trying to buy him over, with the punchline in English-“ Prove your balls, if you dare! I will hunt you down like ‘Nari’, an animal!!”Mammootty is mesmerizing as ‘Nari’ and he reinvents the idiom of “acting once more with feeling”. He sure is the best cop in Malayalam films, with a powerful screen presence.

The canvas of ‘Roudram’ is big, as it encompasses a host of characters and situations, much bigger than Panikkar’s earlier movies and have specific roles to play and Sai Kumar plays a cantankerous villain, Vijayaraghavan has a meaty role. All the actors in the cast, like Lalu Alex, Rajan P. Dev, Urmila Unni, Sona and new girl Manju, who plays Mammooty’s wife,are aptly cast and thank god there are no songs. Sanjeev Sankar’s cranks the camera effectively underlining the tension. The second half of the film needs trimming and on the whole it is too long at 2 hours 45 minutes.

Although Roudram is certainly not in the league of Ranji Panikkar’s earlier works, however the director does construct an engrossing actor-driven political action adventure with panache.

Verdict: Racy Actioner

Originally Posted by Brazil

Korangante kayyil poomala kiyyiyathum ninte kayyil computer kittiyathum orupolaadaa BIG MANDAAAA..