Balti

Story: Udhayan and his gang are talented kabbadi players, but get caught up with the crime of the local loan sharks. How will the story end for them?

Review: Balti, directed by newbie Unni Sivalingam, starts out strong as a story of four young kabbadi sportsmen friends, who get roped into a life of crime. The first half, with Shane Nigam and Shanthanu Bhagyaraj in the lead, starts with building an emotional connection with the talented players, who live in a colony and get tied up with the three powerful and utterly villainous loan sharks in the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border region.

The latter half loses this emotional grip that the story had on the audience. Post-interval, with a focus on lengthy action and fight sequences, and even a romance that doesn’t really strike a chord, the film feels like a wasted opportunity. The angle about the loan sharks could have been better explored to make for an interesting story. The early kabbadi sequences were quite grippingly shot and it is a shame that the second half didn’t continue to weave the sport into the script.

Balti could have worked as a sports movie with its well-shot and exciting kabbadi scenes. Also, Sai Abhayankar makes a striking debut as a film composer.