Balti Review: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Unni Sivalingam’s debut blends Kabaddi, friendship, and gangland violence into an engaging Malayalam thriller led by a terrific Shane Nigam. Strong performances, grounded action, and a gritty border-town setting make Balti an engaging watch, even when the writing loses momentum.
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Director: Unni Sivalingam
Platform: SonyLIV
Language: Malayalam
Cast: Shane Nigam, Shanthanu Bhagyaraj, Preethi Asrani, Alphonse Puthren, Poornima Indrajith
Not many films open with a cold-blooded murder and then immediately cut to the same four men participating in a temple ritual, still catching their breath. Balti does exactly that in its first few minutes, and the move tells you everything you need to know about what kind of film this is going to be. Raw, unsentimental, and completely uninterested in making its characters look good.
Set on the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the story follows four friends — Kabaddi players at heart, gradually pulled into something far more dangerous. Udhayan, played by Shane Nigam, is the star player of his local team. Impulsive, physical, and the kind of person who acts before he thinks.
Kumar, played by Shanthanu Bhagyaraj, is the group’s captain — more measured, but quietly greedy in a way that proves far more dangerous in the long run. Their Kabaddi skills catch the attention of Bhairavan, a local moneylender and power figure, and what begins as a loose association slowly becomes something the four of them can no longer walk away from.
The first half of Balti is genuinely compelling.
Director Unni Sivalingam, making his debut, has a clear understanding of how to build energy on screen. The action sequences are choreographed with longer takes and fewer cuts, which gives the fights a physical credibility that most commercial action films sacrifice for speed. You feel the weight of each confrontation. The four friends are established quickly and distinctly, and the Kabaddi backdrop lends the film a specific texture that sets it apart from generic crime dramas set in similar worlds.
Shane Nigam is exactly where he belongs in this role. He has spent his career playing restless, combustible characters, and Udhayan is another strong entry in that space — but with something slightly different this time.
There are moments in the second half where Udhayan becomes the calm one, the person holding everyone else back from the edge, and Shane handles that quieter mode with convincing restraint. It suggests an actor consciously expanding his range rather than simply repeating what works.
Selvaraghavan, as the villain Bhairavan, is cold and effective without overdoing anything. Alphonse Puthren — the director of Premam — shows up in a supporting role as Soda Babu and delivers the film’s most entertaining performance, bringing a sardonic, irreverent energy that lights up every scene he appears in. Poornima Indrajith has limited screen time but carries the required swagger for her role effortlessly.
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The second half is where the film’s problems surface.
Once the setup is complete and the story shifts into political manipulation and betrayal between crime factions, Balti becomes significantly more predictable. The twists land without surprise. The emotional beats feel familiar. The pacing softens when the film most needs to maintain its grip, and a climax that should carry real weight ends up feeling rushed in places that deserved more room.
Sai Abhyankkar’s background score is one of the film’s most consistent pleasures — propulsive, atmospheric, and better than the material sometimes deserves. The cinematography maintains a warm, gritty visual tone that suits the world being depicted.
Balti is not a perfect film. But it is an honest and energetic one, made with real craft in the moments that matter most and genuine ambition for a debut feature. For fans of Malayalam crime drama looking for something gritty and grounded, it is a solid weekend watch on SonyLIV.
Balti is now streaming on SonyLIV.