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

Officer On Duty: A gripping Malayalam police drama with flawed characters and intense investigation, showcasing emotional depth and action sequences.

Till a few years ago, one really had to struggle to pick out a flaw, personal or professional, in the police officers in Malayalam cinema. Right now, it would be hard to find an on-screen police officer without some baggage from the past, which gets almost as much focus as the investigation that the officer is pursuing. The picture is no different in Jithu Ashraf’s debut film Officer On Duty, but 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 curious about his past than the minor crime regarding a fake gold chain that he is after. The screenplay works its magic in upsetting our initial assumptions, regarding both the protagonist and the case that he is pursuing.

In penning yet another police story, after Joseph and Nayattu as well as his directorial debut Ela Veezha Poonchira, screenwriter Shahi Kabir again brings into play his own insights as a former police officer to the way the force functions. Although, when it comes to how the criminals think, his understanding appears to be of limited dimensions with the drug peddler gang of perpetually snarling villains in the film getting painted in a single shade without any nuance.

Just like it was evident in the otherwise commendable Joseph, Shahi Kabir’s writing hits below the mark when it comes to pinning a motive to the crime. While there is a very clear motive here, Kabir brings in another gruesome incident involving a police officer to bolster the motive, in a way partly justifying the acts of the criminal gang. But, to look at it another way, that little twist in the tale did add some weight to the drama, in hinting at the emotions driving the drug peddler gang.

The use of violence suffered by women as one of the major drivers of the plot to provide some cathartic release to the troubled hero is repeated in Officer on Duty, but the intelligent way in which the various strands of the connected incidents unravel somehow papers over this. The tension is dialled up quite a bit in the initial half, when the screenplay proceeds briskly from one incident to another, revealing the connections between each and leaving us hardly any space to breathe.

The same cannot be said of the last hour of the film, when the cards are all on the table and the plot is almost at a standstill. The film at these points chugs along mostly on the strength of its well-choreographed action sequences and the cat and mouse game that ensues. Kunchacko Boban gets a role with a lot of scope to showcase his emotional range, which he does quite well, but Priyamani only gets limited scope to perform.

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