Director- Pramod Pappan
Cast- Kalabhavan Mani, Namitha, Bala
Music- Abhishek
Lyrics- M.D.Rajendran
Story- Pramod Pappan
Screenplay, dialogues- Rajesh Jayaraman
Review by : Unni/www.Kerala9.com
So, why in the first place would you opt to see a film like ‘Black Stallion’? No doubt, either for Namitha (who makes her debut in Malayalam) or for Kalabhavan Mani; or maybe for both. But the truth, the bitter truth to be precise, is that the film doesn’t satisfy you in any way; it appeals neither to fans of Kalabhavan Mani, nor does it satisfy those who come to see Namitha. ‘Black Stallion’ fails to leave any kind of impression on your hearts.
Black Stallion (Kalabhavan Mani), as he is known, had seen his father Irumban John (Ashish Vidyarthi) getting killed right in front of his eyes and had also spent his childhood behind bars. He was determined not to get beaten that easily and hence aspired to become ‘a criminal among cops and a cop among criminals’ (Well, what does that mean?!). And he becomes (or so the film tries to make us believe) what he wanted to become, a blend between a cop and a criminal. (His doings never betray his being a cop, while he acts more like a criminal, a hardcore one). It’s then that Black Stallion comes across Laura (Namitha), a bar dancer whom some lecherous rich guys wish to procure, at any cost. All of them approach Black Stallion and offer him big money to get for them Laura. But things take a turn and Black himself falls for Laura, whom he desires to marry. Laura hates Black, who had in fact killed her father for being a witness to a murder committed by Black. Anyway, Black and his followers follow and haunt Laura and finally force her to move on to his house. Laura stabs Black and flees, along with her crippled sister Sara. It’s after this that another guy, a photographer named Aamir Usman (Bala) makes his entry into Laura’s life. The story thus goes on.
The main problem with ‘Black Stallion’ is that the story (if there is any worth mention) is rather unimpressive and there are lots of loose ends too in the script. It all progresses in a mindless manner and bores you terribly.
Performances
Kalabhavan Mani is just so so, doing what he has been doing all these years. It can’t be said that his performance is not up to the mark. It’s no doubt good, but there’s nothing in it that would keep our interests sustained. Namitha is her usual self and OK as Laura. It’s the same about Bala, as Aamir Usman. The others in the cast are all so so.
Technical aspects
As has been seen in the earlier films by Pramod Pappan, every attempt has been made to make it stylish, with editing tricks and camera tricks. But that doesn’t in any way do good to the film, which has nothing much in it to speak about.
Music
There is nothing special about the music. It’s all mundane stuff; and the songs (there seems to be too many of them, all featuring Namitha) are quite unimpressive.
Script
Rajesh Jayaraman seems to be confused about the whole thing. The scenes are mostly all ill-conceived and could have been much much better.
Direction
Pramod Pappan, the director duo who had given films like ‘Vajram’, ‘Thaskaraveeran’ and ‘Abraham and Lincoln’, seem to be stuck at one place. It’s all the same thing, repeated again and again. They seem to be concentrating more on the technical aspects, neglecting the story aspect, which often turns out to be quite senseless. Hope Pramod and Pappan take care of the other aspects too in their future outings.
Overall verdict- Stylish, but senseless! Better avoid it!
Rating: 1.5/5
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