Bala (2002 film)

Bala is the favourite hitman of gangster Pasupathi. When Bala is not zooming around in jeeps with a wild-looking gang, parading down lanes with the same gang faithfully following a step behind him, or knocking down one person or another, he is successfully wooing Aarthi, the girl he has fallen for at first sight. Aarthi is the daughter of Jayamani, a rival gangster. Ailing don Paranthaman, the mentor of the two rivals, seeing his protégés at each other's throats, brings a compromise by suggesting that Aarthi will be married to Pasupathi's wayward son. Bala naturally becomes a unwanted person in both camps, till it's all's well that ends well.

Deepak, who worked as an assistant director to Gandhi Krishna (of Engineer) and as an editor made his directorial debut with this film. Yuvan Shankar Raja was signed to compose the music for the film.^[1] Vidya Balan, the original choice for lead actress, was replaced by Meera Jasmine in the film.^[2] Shaam departed from his romantic hero role and portrayed an action oriented role in the film.^[3]

Some scenes were shot on a boat about fifteen kilometers from the harbour, in Chennai whereas at the Vauhini Studios, Chennai, a lavish set was erected where Shaam and Meera Jasmine danced to the beat of a song.^[4]

The soundtrack, featuring 5 songs, was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja and released on 20 October 2002.^[5] The song "Bailamo Bailamo" was originally composed for the Srikanth-starrer April Maadhathil, but eventually used in this film.^[6] The song "Theendi Theendi" is based on "Rim Jhim Rim Jhim" from Mahaadev (1989), which was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, Yuvan's father.^[7]

A critic from The Hindu stated that "'Bala' is another of those typical action flicks that flood the cinema scene today".^[8] Malini Mannath of Chennai Online opined that "It's yet again a gangster film, the scenes flowing albeit smoothly, but expectantly through clichéd situations giving one a sense of deja vu throughout".^[9] Visual Dasan of Kalki criticised the age old story and called the film boring, while praised the dialogues, background score, and cinematography.^[10] Sify wrote "There is nothing new in the story as it looks like a rehash of several films. The flashback of how Bala became a hatchet man for Pasupathi is long winded and tame. Even the music of Yuvan Shankar Raja fails to impress. Shaam looks totally uncomfortable and he needs to put in more effort in emotional scenes. Meera Jasmine has the screen presence though she has nothing much to do. On the whole the film fails to impress as director Deepak could not package the film as an entertainer".^[11] Cinesouth wrote "The film was a lifeline for Shyam who had been having only failures and for debut director Deepak. Sorry to say this, but a wishy-washy plot and weak narration made the film a disaster".^[12] Despite the failure of Shaam's previous films, this film managed to average business.^[13]

• Bala at IMDb