Kuttavum Shikshayum

In Kuttavum Shikshayum, the aim of Rajeev Ravi is not to present a thriller in front of the viewer. His movies have always been political and character-driven. In Kuttavum Shikshayum also, he focuses on the characters rather than the thriller element in the tale. If you are expecting a nail-biting climax, this isn’t that movie. The event-based structure of the film has its share of limitations in making the movie more impactful. Thus Kuttavum Shikshayum ended up being a creation that needed a thicker layer of system critique.

CI Sajan Philip is in charge of the investigation of a jewelry shop theft. His team of officers tracked all the possible suspects, and they finally found out that it was done by people from the North Indian village named Dhanaganj. The risky journey of these officers to get those criminals from a village where the police never interfered is what we see in Kuttavum Shikshayum.

The ultimate aim of Kuttavum Shikashayum is not to be a whodunit. The focus is on the investigation and that too on the emotional and personal aspects of the police officers involved in the operation. At one point, Alencier’s character talks about the uncertainty in his retired life. There is a point where Asif Ali’s CI Sajan talks about his depression phase by talking about how the “job” saved him even after killing another human being. By placing these personal dilemmas of the police officers in a straightforward investigation, Rajeev Ravi is exposing the side of the police that we rarely see in real life or cinema.

The signature style of Rajeev Ravi is evident in the making. Most of the shots are presented in that guerilla filmmaking way, and we get an onlooker perspective. He prefers natural light, and Suresh Rajan’s frames don’t even use lights inside the Scorpio in night shots. The issue with the script written by Sibi Thomas and Sreejith Divakaran is in presenting the intensity of those anxieties of the police officers. Even though you empathize with those characters for the kind of life they are living, it doesn’t stay with you for too long. The writing can’t initiate a debate inside your head.

Officer Sajan Philip was one of the most restrained performances of Asif Ali, and it was actually delightful to see him evolve into playing these roles with internalized trauma. Alencier, who usually gets these loud characters in films, gets to play a very mature police officer, and he was really good. Sunny Wayne and Sharaf U Dheen are in their typical zone even though Rajeev Ravi has reduced the pitch from their usual style.

One of the comparisons that came when the movie was announced was with H Vinoth’s Theeran. That movie focused on the thrills of an investigation, and there were villains in that film. There are no specific villains in Kuttavum Shikshayum, and looking at the way the movie ends, I felt the film was showing that this “crime and punishment” terminology can’t have a very simplistic interpretation.