When police stories turn Mollywood into Khakhi-wood

Police story is not a new phenomenon in Malayalam film industry as it has come up with many a notable film such as Inspector Balram, Avanazhi, Commissioner, Crime File, Mafia, etc. A major share of such films were released during the 1980s and 90s. All these super hit films were led by superhero cops, who broke all the concepts people had about a policeman and won their hearts.

Now, the industry is getting police stories after a huge gap, but this time, the filmmakers are trying to avoid cliched story lines, thank to Action Hero Biju. Four films — Mammootty-starrer Kasaba, Jayasurya-starrer IDI, Biju Menon’s Anuraga Karikkin Vellam and Meera Jasmine’s 10 Kalpanakal — are now gearing up to hit the screens, with police officers in the lead roles.    

Kasaba director Nithin Renji Panicker says that he is an ardent fan of Mammootty’s police roles in the 90s. “My favourite roles of Mammookka are Perumal in August 1 and Inspector Balram of Avanazhi, but both these characters had not influenced me while creating Rajan Zacharia for Kasaba. Rajan will be completely different from Mammookka’s former cop roles,” says the son of screenwriter-director Renji Panicker.

As a viewer, he likes to watch such powerful roles in the police stories. He points out that he does not feel there has been a big gap for such subjects in Malayalam. “Even during the era of Avanazhi and Commissioner, there was no overflow of police-oriented subjects. But the lion’s share of such subjects were crowd-pullers. Though many films released with police officers in the lead role, they failed to become a topic of discussion. This gives the audience an impression that there was such a gap,” says the director, adding, “In fact, my plan was to debut with a college-based subject. But that project failed to reach shooting floors and then I zeroed in on a new subject, which eventually became a police story. Kasaba will be a film that can entertain the audience who are fans of police-oriented stories.”

It was with the Shaji Kailas-directed investigation thriller The Tiger that Don Max started his career as an editor. Later, he did the editing for many cop stories in different languages. Now, in his debut directorial venture 10 Kalpanakal also, the editor, who rewrote the editing style of South Indian films, has placed a police officer in the lead. “In 10 Kalpanakal, Meera Jasmine essays the role of a police officer named Shaziya Akbar. When I sat for the scripting, I purposefully tried to bring out differences in the characterisation of each person. Shaziya has two phases—she is a Special Investigation Officer and also a common person, who can be related to many real officers,” he says.

Don says that he also used to follow yesteryear police films. “All we can take from such films is the investigation style and related subjects. But the gap of so many years had brought quite a few changes. For example, now we have many new technologies and gadgets to support our investigation. Apart from the CCTV cameras, even a mobile phone is enough to solve a crime. So we have to think deeply while placing a crime and directing onscreen investigation officers.”

Naveen Bhaskar, the screenwriter of Anuraga Karikkin Vellam in which Biju Menon appears as a police officer, says that this film cannot be included in the list of police films. “It is a light-hearted subject, which discusses the life of a family. Though Biju Menon’s character is an Assistant Sub Inspector, we are not discussing his official life. We focus on his personal life and family affairs. That is why we gave a tagline ‘a homemade love story’  to this film,” he sums up.