KODATHI SAMAKSHAM BALAN VAKEEL MOVIE REVIEW CLICK TO RATE THE MOVIE

In Kodathi Samaksham Balan Vakeel, Dileep plays a lawyer (irony unintended) with a stutter. He is deemed as a failure by his parents and colleagues. One expects a legal drama on the lines of Jolly LLB, an underdog story of sorts. But writer-director B. Unnikrishnan ensures that the film finds heroism not in that way but in a completely generic, least inspiring way.

The film tells the story of Balakrishnan aka Balan an underconfident advocate who gets entangled in a web of conspiracy (due to a woman, of course). The film wants to be another star vehicle, despite a promising start, where the makers try to give an analogy of puzzle-solving to the film, only if they decided to go more deeper into it. The film makes no mistake in introducing the characters early in the film, thereby giving us something to anticipate. But the first half really loses track when the film tries to be a generic star vehicle, these distractions don't provide any intrigue as they are unrelated to the film's third act.

But somehow, these distractions in the first half portrays Balan as a sympathetic figure, as the film milks a ton of jokes out of his condition. The second half plays out with a lot of fillers, in order to provide some flab to the plot that tends to lack suspension of disbelief as a procedural must have some semblance of detail, an aspect that is omitted by the film. The film's reveal also feels underwhelming as a result of sidetracks in the narrative. The intelligence of Balan and co is not used to provide us with some revelations but is seen as a lazy attempt to bring a "new" concept into the premise.

Dileep puts out a very consistent act, we really buy into his character and does his very best to be authentic on the screen. Aju Varghese's comedy initially starts on a tolerable note and becomes really annoying in the second half and does his best to completely diffuse the film's pace. The director ensures that fans of the actor have an emotional connect with the film's premise by throwing in a lot of self-referential moments. But those who are expecting to see some good storytelling are bound to feel disappointed. On the whole, Kodathi Samaksham Balan Vakeel is a mildly watchable star vehicle let down by inconsistent writing