‘Officer on Duty’ movie evaluate: Shahi Kabir conjures up yet another gripping police tale

Kunchacko Boban in ‘Officer on Duty’

Till just a few years in the past, one actually needed to wrestle to select a flaw, private or skilled, within the police officers in Malayalam cinema. Right now, it will be exhausting to search out an on-screen police officer with out some baggage from the previous, which will get virtually as a lot focus because the investigation that the officer is pursuing. The image isn’t any totally different in Jithu Ashraf’s debut movie Officer On Duty, however for a change, circle inspector Harishankar (Kunchacko Boban)‘s troubled history does not seem forced but something which organically gels in with the rest of the plot.

The man comes across as borderline repulsive in his introduction scene, barking at his subordinates and violently attacking women suspects, so much so that we are more intrigued by the officer’s behaviour and are inquisitive about his previous than the minor crime concerning a pretend gold chain that he’s after. The screenplay works its magic in upsetting our preliminary assumptions, concerning each the protagonist and the case that he’s pursuing.

In penning yet another police story, after Joseph and Nayattu in addition to his directorial debut Ela Veezha Poonchira, screenwriter Shahi Kabir once more brings into play his personal insights as a former police officer to the best way the drive capabilities. Although, in the case of how the criminals suppose, his understanding seems to be of restricted dimensions with the drug peddler gang of perpetually snarling villains within the movie getting painted in a single shade with none nuance.

Just prefer it was evident within the in any other case commendable Joseph, Shahi Kabir’s writing hits under the mark in the case of pinning a motive to the crime. While there’s a very clear motive right here, Kabir brings in another grotesque incident involving a police officer to bolster the motive, in a manner partly justifying the acts of the prison gang. But, to have a look at it another manner, that little twist within the tale did add some weight to the drama, in hinting on the feelings driving the drug peddler gang.

The use of violence suffered by girls as one of many main drivers of the plot to offer some cathartic launch to the troubled hero is repeated in Officer on Duty, however the clever manner wherein the varied strands of the linked incidents unravel one way or the other papers over this. The rigidity is dialled up fairly a bit within the preliminary half, when the screenplay proceeds briskly from one incident to another, revealing the connections between every and leaving us hardly any area to breathe.

The similar can’t be mentioned of the final hour of the movie, when the playing cards are all on the desk and the plot is nearly at a standstill. The movie at these factors chugs alongside principally on the energy of its well-choreographed motion sequences and the cat and mouse sport that ensues. Kunchacko Boban will get a task with numerous scope to showcase his emotional vary, which he does fairly effectively, however Priyamani solely will get restricted scope to carry out.

With Officer On Duty, Shahi Kabir conjures up yet another gripping police tale which works regardless of faltering at some factors.