Pradhama Drishtya

Posted on October 15, 2026 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I had some hope about this movie even before watching it.

Vampire Bat: Yes, the actors chosen here point to the same.

Vampire Owl: We were very close to watching this in theatre and not OTT.

Vampire Bat: Yes, but then we got vampiric sadness and decided not to go out.

Vampire Owl: I would say that sadness is a basic trait of vampire nature.

Vampire Bat: What can centuries-old vampires do other than being sad?

Vampire Owl: Watching humans do all the nonsense makes anyone sad.

Vampire Bat: They still having their civilization makes me wonder.

Vampire Owl: They would only have a few years left till extinction; I am sure.

Vampire Bat: I am checking on the time left for human extinction already.

[Gets a paneer uthappam and three cups of Sikkim tea].

What is the movie about? :: Aleena (Parvathy Thiruvothu) who had lost her husband Abraham (Asif Ali) during an operation which was executed without enough backup, opts for the same job despite a safe, desk job offered to her by the Kerala Police. As she decides to follow the path of her husband, she faces difficulties, but passes the training camp overcoming all struggles. She gets her first appointment at a police station which seems to have lesser number of troubles than one would expect, and her fellow officers CPO Sreenath (Mathew Thomas), ASI Dasan (Sidharth Bharathan) and CPO Divya (Unnimaya Prasad), with whom she becomes good friends. But their superior officer SI Xavier (Azeez Nedumangad) is more of an angry and frustrated man who is facing divorce from his wife due to his behaviour and alleged relation outside marriage. Meanwhile, the station is led by a more respectful and dignified, but often confused Circle Inspector Prathap (Vinay Forrt) who is fasting as he is getting ready to visit Sabarimala.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: The four officers also struggle with their own problems, as Sreenath has his relationship in trouble due to caste and status differences, Dasan wishes to marry a teacher whom he met while on duty and Divya is hoping to finally have a child after years of marriage. A textile showroom manager Jayaprakash (Sirajudheen Nazar) who seems to be leading a normal life with his wife Shilpa (Jayashree Sivadas) is secretly targeting and robbing homes at night with the help of his partner Meera (Catherine Maria) who works at the same showroom. On a night when both Prathap and Xavier are not at the station, Dasan, Sreenath and Aleena who are on night patrol, Jayaprakash in a car tries to evade the officers, only to end up being caught and taken to a police station where Divya is almost ready to leave duty. He tells them that he was only trying to avoid getting caught for drunk driving, making them uncuff him, but when they try to check the boot space, there is a fight during which Jayaprakash gets hold of Divya’s gun and is fatally shot. This leads a situation of custody death, from which they wonder how to escape.

The defence of Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar :: The central conceit works like a dream here, as the group of cops trying to cover up evidence from their own department creates even higher stakes than Drishyam, which can be considered as having a less risky journey in comparison to this one. The fear and tension are so much there, never restricted to the background. The visuals are too good and we see the same elevate the tension during key procedural moments as well as the cover-up sequences. The moments are nicely arranged and the narrative strikes gold with ease. The movie’s best moments come out of nowhere when we least expect the same. While many sequels forget to keep the same level as original, this one brought some classic thrills which never goes down in level. The fights, when present, are also shown in a realistic manner, and we see the incidents unfolding in a believable manner. The assurance of a realistic journey can be seen at all times, and the success in achieving this much of twists and thrills with the same needs to be appreciated.

Positives and negatives :: The movie can feel like a little lengthier than needed, but as soon as the inciting incident happens, the same can be forgiven. There might be the feeling that too many liberties are taken, and the reliance on luck seems to be guiding the characters so much. There are moments when one feel that Drishyam-mode is activated, as even with finding of the corpse, there are more twists to follow, as the protagonist is as much well-planned as that particular family hero who has so much in mind. It is not easy to bring twist based on a twist, but that has been achieved. The emotional side also stays strong with the movie, and we stay in support of the main characters, even though the whole thing revolves more or less around one specific female character. Despite all of these, the movie has its own dose of humour. We also see dual-faced characters here who are not uncommon in any part of the world, and they remain the reflection of the society which keeps taking in pretenders as their champions.

The performers of the soul :: Parvathy Thiruvothu as Aleena Abraham serves as the one emotional and intellectual anchor to the proceedings, and we would remember her for a full-lead performance after a very long time here. Playing a junior police officer thrown into highly complicated situation, she goes from panic to stabilizer of the situation in no time. She blends into the situation like no other, and this might be the character we would remember her the most from now on, as works in movies like Ennu Ninte Moideen and Uyare pales in comparison. Vijayaraghavan stands tall on the other side, and instead of going through an aggressive mode following the usual cliches, he moves forward as a weary investigator whose patience is far more intimidating than anger. The slow, methodical dialogue delivery and classic observation rises above the rest with ease. Vinay Forrt plays the witness to all of these very well, while Sidharth Bharathan remains a fine likable character. Mathew Thomas plays his character in a convincing manner while Unnimaya Prasad could have had more to do in proceedings. Azees Nedumangad shines again in a police role different from that remarkable Kannur Squad.

How it finishes :: Pradhama Drishtya Kuttakkar is that kind of a thriller which has a crime coverup thriller very well done. While its overstretched total run-time and reliance on convenience keep us wondering if more could have been done, the film remains consistently watchable with strength in performances. Focusing on Parvathy Thiruvothu’s restrained intensity and Vijayaraghavan’s quiet menace, it deals with institutional guilt as much as survival panic, bringing twists and thrills as it keeps moving forward. Coming out of nowhere to get to that fifty-crore mark, this one can be counted as the silent assassin on low-budget rising above those higher budget thrillers which seemingly have tried more. One thing about the later Malayalam crime thrillers is that they have remained realistic, with or without a serial killer, and there are some of those investigations which surely deserve sequels. One cannot be sure about this particular movie which seems to have come to a fine end though.

Release date: 11 September 2026
Running time: 158 minutes
Directed by: Shahad Nilambur
Starring: Parvathy Thiruvothu, Mathew Thomas, Sidharth Bharathan, Vijayaraghavan, Vinay Forrt, Unnimaya Prasad, Azees Nedumangad, Balaji Sharma, Catherine Maria, Sirajudheen Nazar, Jayashree Sivadas, Midhun Venugopal, Suparna S, Jaya Shankar, Vrindha Menon, Bibin Joseph Vettukattil, Rini K Rajan, Jayarajan Kozhikode, Anusha Aravindakshan, Kalabhavan Niyas, Nandini Gopalakrishnan, Salman Kuttikode, Dinesh Prabhakar, Lal Jose, Praveen Selvam, Shifa Badusha, R Parthiban, Asif Ali (cameo)

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✠ The Vampire Bat.

Prathichaya

Posted on June 10, 2026 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl: We have had some high expectation about this movie.

Vampire Bat: We never really had high expectations from political thrillers.

Vampire Owl: I am not sure about calling this one under that label though.

Vampire Bat: Well, labels are part of life and some divisions are necessary.

Vampire Owl: Yes, even vampires use different types of labels towards infinity.

Vampire Bat: Labels are forever, even after death and burial.

Vampire Owl: Everyone knows that death is only the beginning.

Vampire Bat: Only the humans do not realize the same caught in the waves of chaos.

Vampire Owl: Maybe they need to make a call from the dead to the living.

Vampire Bat: There are no connections to the living’s identity in the realms past death.

[Gets a chilli paneer dosa and three cups of Darjeeling tea].

What is the movie about? :: K N Varghese (Balachandra Menon) serves as the Chief Minister of Kerala, and has been proving his governing skills which has taken him to new heights, even rising above all those tough allegations raised against him by the opposition. His elder son Tobin Varghese (Nishanth Sagar) is a Member of Parliament, a position asserted by Varghese’s influence, and is married to Rani Tobin (Vijitha Vijayakumar) who is hoping that her husband would one day become a minister. His younger son John Varghese (Nivin Pauly) is a tech entrepreneur who keeps away from politics and is married to Rosa John (Neethu Krishna) with whom he was involved in left-wing politics during college days. Varghese wished to have John involved in his politics, but he had remained elusive, as he had fallen in love with communist leader N P Jayadevan’s (Saikumar) daughter, who became his wife and had decided to not let any more politics in their lives. Varghese, despite his busy life as Chief Minister, has remained a loving husband to Annamma Varghese (Sabitha Anand) and spent time with his children.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Varghese has his new struggles as the minister, as people within his party and coalition also have problems with his method of working, especially with his closeness to common people and the quick decision-making without involving other elected members or even veterans or ministers. A case of approving bars and closing them according to situation also angers the coalition members, especially who are in charge of particular departments. But things change when a woman named Nisha Chandrakumar (Ann Augustine) comes up with an interview to a reporter Elizabeth Jacob (Aneena Mariya), which is telecasted on the television channel owned by the business tycoon Ravi Madhavan (Sharaf U Dheen). This brings a new scandal to the scene, as Nisha claims that she was called to the minister’s home, and was sexually exploited in his room when she visited him for a favour when nobody else was present at her home.

And what more follows here as a crisis unfolds in a world of chaos and distrust? :: Nisha had also recorded herself entering the house and the video was provided as a evidence, which quickly means trouble as he had already told the media that she did not come to his house at all. This brings an organized attack against Varghese, and the leftist groups arrange huge rallies to attack him, even injuring him despite being stopped by the police. Tobin finds himself in trouble as he is also considered to be a silent partner in all deeds of Varghese. No longer at peace with himself, Varghese has a heart attack and is pronounced death on the very next morning. John who was supposed to reach St. Pietersburg for a new project cancels his trip and returns. Tobin is considered to be the forerunner for the next Chief Minister of Kerala, but the senior members of the party and coalition seem to disagree. At the same time, John gets in the act to save his father’s name, but can he really do that as political games continue in a world without righteousness? There will be more political secrets and conspiracies involving political rivals – is he good enough to go beyond?

The defence of Prathichaya :: Nivin Pauly as John Varghese leads the way, and holds the movie strong, while Balachandra Menon in a solid role, could nicely manage a character that needed quite some effort. Sharaf U Dheen’s antagonist, Harisree Ashokan’s serious manipulator also works. Nishant Sagar comes up with another underrated performance and Vishnu Agasthya has something more than that direct villainy in RDX. Neethu Krishna’s debut is well-received while other female characters by Megha Thomas, Aneena Mariya, Vijitha Vijayakumar and Sabitha Anand remains effective. With some good performances, the movie shows media manipulation, corporate influence and fake image-building which have been part of politics these days instead of the genuine desire to serve people. The father-son emotional mode remains effective throughout the run. This also remains a visually good movie with nice background score. There are some twists in between related to the proceedings. We feel that there are some reflections of the politics of Kerala in the past.

The claws of flaw :: People might still have their expectations too high after Sarvam Maya, even though Baby Girl had attracted less attention in comparison. There is also a lot of predictability associated with this movie, and people might think that the ending is just usual, quick and too easy to expect from this kind of a film. One can also feel that there are too many cliched dialogues which comes in here and there. The movie is a bit too long, and some of these extended dialogues add to slowing down the overall pace. Even with the new technological ideas added here, the movie can feel like belonging to a past at times, that too with new political situations already seen and explored in real life. There were many opportunities to take it out of that expected corporate level extension to the usual, but the movie never takes them, as it seems to be trying to make the protagonist as too smart a person who can go through all of these with ease and come up with flying colours. Yet, being a little too dramatic remains a weak point – after all, the hero is to focus on the family audience more these days, I guess.

How it finishes :: This is the movie which had some hype associated with it, but never really rising that much when we look at the expectation. Now, available in Jio Hotstar in multiple languages, the movie might get better attention as there is a certain amount of tidiness associated with it, never really going out into that clueless chaos. As a clean movie, a political thriller for the families asserted by its cast, there is not more than what meets the eye, but what is suitable for all eyes. As an emotionally strong one, it tries to bank on the family audience and therefore forgets the rest of the audience, which might have led to its downfall as this genre is not that of everyone from home. Maybe, next Nivin Pauly would go back directly to the family audience with their own kind of genre rather than any other. This is still the best movie from B Unnikrishnan in some time, and it does not overdo what seems to go out of control and twisting out of the usual. One can only say that the political thriller forces could come again with more divergence, for Kerala surely has scope for a lot of the same.

Release date: 26th March 2026
Running time: 162 minutes
Directed by: B Unnikrishnan
Starring: Nivin Pauly, Balachandra Menon, Sharaf U Dheen, Harisree Ashokan, Sabitha Anand, Neethu Krishna, Ann Augustine, Saikumar, Maniyanpilla Raju, Chirag Jani, Nishanth Sagar, Vishnu Agasthya, Vijitha Vijayakumar, Megha Thomas, Nandini Gopalakrishnan, Baby Dhwani, Vyshakh, Aneena, Baby Fyza