Raju Mavani's Balwaan was a launchpad for Sunil Shetty who had already acted in one shelved film, Ek Aur Faulad. When Pahlaj Nihalani's Ek Aur Faulad was canned, Sunil had not lose hope completely because his Balwaan was being filmed. This typical action film was panned by critics but the masses loved it. Balwaan's success was Sunil's victorious entry into the Indian Film Industry.
The film has an age old story which has been narrated ample amount of times. It has a man who cannot stand any form of injustice. This protagonist has been brutalizing all those who torment and harass innocents ever since he was a child. The hero has a widowed mother and a young sister who will fall into trouble after our hero is wrongly imprisoned. The first chunk of this humdrum consists of several college scenes which are supposed to be light moments. Most of these are monotonous barring a few funny lines. The romance is sweet but jarring and it takes some time for the real plot to kick in. The real fun arises when the villain and his nefarious activities are introduced. The film is good until the part when Sunil's loved ones are eradicated. The drag continues with Sunil's failed escape, torture, and successful escape from prison. What follows are a bunch of action sequences which entertain.
The director,Deepak Anand, has attempted to recycle the same old done to death formula used excessively in the 1980s. He does handle some scenes well but some scenes are too overdone. For instance, Tinnu Annand's character did not need to lose his arms. That brutality was unnecessary and preposterous. The very last scene in which Sunil hastily dodges the bullets fired by Danny to kill him is pretty overdone. Another problem is some pointless songs which just lengthen the film. However, the film has one bearable romantic track crooned by Kumar Sanu-Kya Cheez Hai Mohabbat Ye. The action scenes are mostly decent but the climax is slightly overdone.
Sunil Shetty was incredibly raw in his first lead role as the mainstream action hero. He was effective in the action scenes but he lacked the spark in several scenes. Whenever he has to shout, he messes up due to the overdone hamming. Initially, Sunil was not that good at emoting as well. Nevertheless, a successful debut. The late Divya Bharti was decent in a blink and miss role. She was not given much scope in this heavy duty action film. Danny Denzongpa is awesome as the typical unsympathetic villain. His dialogues were good and his expressions were truly effective. Tinnu Anand is good as the supportive cop but his character is violently subdued which definitely irritates. Vikram Gokhale's character is shown as a corrupt cop but his sudden change of mind before his death is weird. Arun Bakshi is annoying as the negative jailer who enjoys torturing Sunil Shetty in prison. The rest provide decent support.
On the whole, Balwaan is an average film which heavily relies on it's action sequences. It was Sunil's successful debut which got him noticed by some other directors. Thankfully, Sunil improved his dialogue delivery and expressions eventually.
The film has an age old story which has been narrated ample amount of times. It has a man who cannot stand any form of injustice. This protagonist has been brutalizing all those who torment and harass innocents ever since he was a child. The hero has a widowed mother and a young sister who will fall into trouble after our hero is wrongly imprisoned. The first chunk of this humdrum consists of several college scenes which are supposed to be light moments. Most of these are monotonous barring a few funny lines. The romance is sweet but jarring and it takes some time for the real plot to kick in. The real fun arises when the villain and his nefarious activities are introduced. The film is good until the part when Sunil's loved ones are eradicated. The drag continues with Sunil's failed escape, torture, and successful escape from prison. What follows are a bunch of action sequences which entertain.
The director,Deepak Anand, has attempted to recycle the same old done to death formula used excessively in the 1980s. He does handle some scenes well but some scenes are too overdone. For instance, Tinnu Annand's character did not need to lose his arms. That brutality was unnecessary and preposterous. The very last scene in which Sunil hastily dodges the bullets fired by Danny to kill him is pretty overdone. Another problem is some pointless songs which just lengthen the film. However, the film has one bearable romantic track crooned by Kumar Sanu-Kya Cheez Hai Mohabbat Ye. The action scenes are mostly decent but the climax is slightly overdone.
Sunil Shetty was incredibly raw in his first lead role as the mainstream action hero. He was effective in the action scenes but he lacked the spark in several scenes. Whenever he has to shout, he messes up due to the overdone hamming. Initially, Sunil was not that good at emoting as well. Nevertheless, a successful debut. The late Divya Bharti was decent in a blink and miss role. She was not given much scope in this heavy duty action film. Danny Denzongpa is awesome as the typical unsympathetic villain. His dialogues were good and his expressions were truly effective. Tinnu Anand is good as the supportive cop but his character is violently subdued which definitely irritates. Vikram Gokhale's character is shown as a corrupt cop but his sudden change of mind before his death is weird. Arun Bakshi is annoying as the negative jailer who enjoys torturing Sunil Shetty in prison. The rest provide decent support.
On the whole, Balwaan is an average film which heavily relies on it's action sequences. It was Sunil's successful debut which got him noticed by some other directors. Thankfully, Sunil improved his dialogue delivery and expressions eventually.
