After two movies as a romantic lead, Shaam gets to play the part of a rowdy - a part that every other young hero worth his salt has already played recently - in Bala. With a grim face, flexed-up muscles and good dance and stunt skills, Shaam acquits himself creditably. But he has done so in a movie that adds nothing new to the standard story of a rowdy with a sad past, a lover who wants him to reform and other dadas out to get him.

Bala(Shaam) is a rowdy working for Pasupathy(Rajan.P.Dev), who is at loggerheads with Jayamani(Raghuvaran), the other 'dada' in town. Pasupathy and Jayamani had been united under Parandhaman(Thilakan), who only wishes to see them together again. Meanwhile Bala falls in love with Aarthi(Meera Jasmine) without realising that she is Jayamani's daughter. Predictably, when Aarthi comes to know that Bala is a rowdy, she wants him to give up his violent lifestyle.

While movies revolving around rowdies have been dime a dozen recently, this is probably the movie with the most number of dadas and rowdies inhabiting it. While we normally get the hero and a dada who is the villain, here we have 4 dadas apart from Shaam! And with each of them having their own set of henchmen, it frequently becomes difficult to identify who one of them belongs to. But director Deepak manages to maintain interest by making none of the dadas obviously bad. While all of them do indulge in violent acts, either directly or indirectly, their characters possess shades of gray instead of being all black and white. This results in some suspense being generated about loyalties and ultimate showdowns.

The other two aspects of any rowdy movie - the romance and the sad past that initiated his life of violence - have been handled capably but not exceptionally. The romance starts out well with the scene in the hospital but then the shift into full-fledged romance seems too sudden. Shaam's past, based on a high-profile, headline-grabbing news item that rocked TamilNadu recently, is sad enough to induce a sniffle or two. While we know that a tragedy is coming, the initial portrayal of Shaam's family and the characterisation of his family members ensures that the tragedy touches our hearts. His first foray into violence is ferociously picturised with the final shot being particularly shocking.

With Thilakan's attempts to unite Raghuvaran and Rajan.P.Dev, the movie moves into high gear. Some of the acts of the characters are quite unexpected, leading to a few surprises along the way. The last few scenes are littered into violence but the screenplay has been fashioned quite cleverly to bring about closure.

Shaam succeeds as an action hero, proving that has the dance and fight skills needed for the role. Meera Jasmine, once again cast as the relative of a dada(in Run, she was the sister of one), is more on the sidelines, not getting quite as many chances to charm us. Raghuvaran and Rajan.P.Dev are good as the clashing dadas, both of them managing to bring out all sides of their characters. Thilakan, appearing in Tamil after a while, is impressive while Nagesh, curiously cast as another dada, manages to elicit some smiles with some well-timed comments. Yuvan Shankar Raja provides good support with some pleasing tunes.