VARMAA MOVIE REVIEW : BALA VERSION IS FAILED

The filmmaker seems to be totally detached an

uninterested — either with the subject material or the actors — resulting in a mess that is already messed up 

When the announcement came that Bala was going to remake that film, it was celebrated by a section of film buffs who may or may not have liked the Telugu original, but were remotely interested because of the name attached to it and the interpretation the filmmaker — traditionally known for dealing with violent characters — would give to a movie which could well be seen as a spiritual sister to his own Sethu. Pardon the cynicism, but I half-expected Bala to give a redemptive arc to this morally-wretched universe, and suspected it to be even more violent — in the manner in which it treats the heroine and everyone except the titular character — and therefore more “problematic”.

But the Bala Cut, as it would come to be known, is surprisingly cold and lifeless — even by the standards set by Adithya Varma — and edits out the dramatic bits of the Telugu original, only limiting to its plot points. The filmmaker seems to be totally detached and uninterested — either with the subject material or the actors — here and gives a reinterpretation to his own Sethu, with regard to the way the heroine is written and coached to perform. Megha Vasudevan (Megha Chowdhury) is the most submissive of all versions put together; she comes from an upper caste family from Kerala, wears traditional clothes and flowers in her hair, in the introduction scene, and is God-fearing (sings ‘Harivarasanam’ before switching to ‘Jimikki Kammal’). In short, she is the Abitha Kujalambal (from Sethu) that the original failed to define in the first place. She, like Abitha of that film, is possessed and harassed by the hero.