The movies written by Shahi Kabir have always been around police investigations, and his professional experience has definitely helped those movies have an authentic nature in the presentation of those investigations. The latest from Shahi Kabir, Officer on Duty, starring Kunchako Boban and directed by debutant Jithu Ashraf, is a much more cinematic thriller from him, and what works here, along with the realistic making, is the way it deceives the audience into believing that it is the usual thriller we may have imagined seeing the trailer.
A police officer named Harishankar, who got demoted recently for physically assaulting his senior, is our central character. The short-tempered guy gets a fake gold chain case on the day he rejoined the force, and the investigation leads him to the possibility of this case having a pattern. Certain unprecedented events happen around this case, and Harishankar gets accused of things he has no involvement in. We see how he solves the mystery around this case in Officer on Duty.
This review comes immediately after watching the movie, and the scripting’s way of distracting us into assuming a certain trajectory to the film was so effective that you will have to think hard and backtrack to understand how they misguided us. From actually looking like a possible serial killer story that revolves around gold chains to evolving into a usual revenge thriller, it is funny how a conceptual downgrade felt like a scripting upgrade. I had queries when I backtracked the script, and when I discussed with someone who saw the film, we both sort of cracked how Shahi Kabir pulled it off, and I guess that’s what well-made movies do to you.
The foundation of this thriller is how it deconstructs the story in a non-linear way to hide the main event. How we perceive certain characters when we first see them gets a different take as the story progresses. Even though the bad guys in the movie have psychopathic traits, there is a solid reason why they did all this. And it is not like all the abusers are completely wrong and all the victims are completely right. When a police officer like Shahi Kabir writes a story, it is quite obvious that he will try to make us empathize with the police. But much like his other creations, he is showing what makes some police officers behave in a certain way, and in the case of some characters, he is not even justifying. Apart from the slightly cinematic ending, everything else about Officer on Duty is thoroughly gripping.
The script does not focus on stylizing any of the elements, and Jithu Ashraf complements that style with a making that focuses on the rawness of the visuals. The movie has a lot of brutality, but it was never presented as a desperate gore-fest. The chase sequences on multiple occasions in the film were captured pretty neatly, and the edits of Chaman Chacko in all those pulsating moments gave us clarity on what all happens on the screen. Coupled with impressive sound design, the action sequences, especially the mortuary fight looked terrific on screen. Roby Raj Varghese’s cinematography also captures the intensity of this thriller with the help of tight frames, and there were some cool light experiments in a scene that featured Kunchako Boban and director Jithu Ashraf. The background score from Jakes Bejoy also had a really good impact.
If I am not wrong, the last time we saw Kunchako Boban as a grumpy police officer was on Allu Ramendran, and in Officer on Duty, when we hear his voice for the first time, there is a sense of forced ruggedness (borderline Tovino Thomas from Kalki). But as the story progresses, we get used to seeing him like that, and the voice modulation starts to feel pretty natural. The character’s graph is actually offering him space to flex his abilities as an actor. Priyamani, as the hero’s wife, was a good choice, and towards the end, the character has some significant scenes. Jagadish gets a good role in the film. The antagonists, led by Vishak Nair, felt a bit too eccentric when I saw their portions in the trailer, but when it comes to the movie, the madness out of anger made sense. Ramzan Muhammed, Unni Lalu, Manoj KU, Vaisakh Shankar, Meenakshi, etc., are the other names in the star cast.
There is a tense moment in the movie’s climax where a small kid is being chased by the bad guys. We usually assume the kid to react in a certain way. But this film gives a tweak to that treatment, and the script appreciates the presence of mind of that character. Officer on Duty is not a film driven by shocking twists. By consistently tweaking a lot of the established styles of storytelling, the film manages to become a thriller that would impress you with its efforts to be novel.
By consistently tweaking a lot of the established styles of storytelling, the film manages to become a thriller that would impress you with its efforts to be novel.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
