It must be ungrudgingly said that
Malayalam cinema offers greater variation and imagination to the cineaste. So,
a dubbed version is preferable to the run of the mill stuff from Tollywood. It
is not difficult to guess that the viewer is starved for a while and is
obviously on a rigorous diet, before he is going to be set with the mega dish
on the last Friday of the month. In the interregnum, it is not a bad idea to
dare the heat and watch the Telugu version of the Malayalam starter Run Baby
Run. This is not Avant Garde by any stretch of imagination. This is pure, and
unadulterated commercial cinema – with its ups and downs. It is not even a
bilingual that adapts to be any local variation. Yet engaging for a good part
of its needlessly lengthy 141 minutes.
Not surprisingly the film banks heavily on heavy Mohanlal who again predictably
delivers deftly. The political thriller has one too many twists and turns,
needlessly curvaceous and convoluted. Yet it is so different from the fare
served locally that you can go for it.
Venu (Mohanlal) a renowned photo journalist and a local TV anchor Renu (Amala
Paul) are out to expose the unhealthy nexus between industrialist Aadi Narayan
(Siddique) and the Minister Bhavani Prasad (Sai Kumar). However, things go
awry. Venu is double crossed by his fiancé Renu and she sells the exclusive
story to a rival TV channel. So, we have the TV channels battling it out.
Circumstances compel the twosome to come together yet again and work on
exposing the unholy nexus. Yet again they fail. Will they be third time lucky?
Those familiar with the law of averages will wager in their favour. So will
film buffs. Also, they would want to know why the heroine would cheat the hero
and how after that they would get back to romantic times.
Black Money is a typical pot boiler but far removed from the think pool of
Tollywood. Thus, this far from perfect product, still makes for good viewing to
an audience that is so starved of any offering outside the known formula. It is
not so much the content as the novelty that makes the effort with the trouble.
More importantly, it’s a treat watching Mohanlal, effortlessly works through
the convoluted script. The postscript does not in any manner the rail his
commitment and in fact his sheer presence makes for compulsive viewing. Also,
coming up with a fine performance, is Sai Kumar as the Minister. I wonder if it
is the Kerala Minister who is most suave and realistic when compared to his
other counterparts or whether it is Sai Kumar who gives that designed dimension
to the role. The results have ever is a lot many villains in their regular
outings would do failed to notice this role and think of replicating it.
This is one black money that is worth circulating, notwithstanding its
shortcomings.
Rating: 2.5 stars
+ Mohanlal and idea.
– Convoluted script
L. Ravichander.