Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar Review: Smart, Gripping Thriller

Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar is a gripping cat-and-mouse game that benefits from smart writing, declares Sreeju Sudhakaran.

IMAGE: Mathew Thomas and Parvathy Thiruvothu in Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar.

The bad news for Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar is that its plotline and twists, particularly the initial conflict and the conclusion, are bound to draw direct comparisons with Drishyam.

The good news is that it trumps those comparisons.

Despite the obvious parallels, the screenplay is tightly knit with some incredibly smart writing that knows what it is doing.

The only real worry here is that, much like how Drishyam ended up inspiring real-life crimes and cover-ups, you have to wonder if Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar might inspire a few criminals to expertly hide their tracks. We live in a twisted world, do we not?

Nevertheless, Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar stands out as the most solid work yet from Director Shahad Nilambur and Screenwriters P S Subramanian and Vijesh Thottungal. It could use some minor tweaks and fine-tuning, particularly in the editing, but otherwise, it is an arresting cop procedural and another fine entry in Malayalam cinema’s ongoing love affair with the genre.

 

The Crime That Should Have Never Happened

Since we are talking about Drishyam, perhaps someone needs to check Georgekutty’s family tree because Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar‘s protagonist Aleena (Parvathy Thiruvothu) might just be his long-lost cousin.

Both characters are brilliantly diabolical in how they assess future risks to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, and both draw that sheer intellect from outside their actual line of work.

If Georgekutty found his genius ideas from the movies, Aleena finds her inspiration in the investigation chronicles written by Harris Meeran (Vijayaraghavan), a brilliant and experienced Crime Branch officer.

Aleena, inducted into the police force after her husband dies on duty, joins as a constable at a station filled with mostly friendly colleagues. There is fellow constable Divya (Unnimaya Prasad), who is desperate for a child.

There is police driver Sreenath (Mathew Thomas), feeling helpless about his girlfriend being trapped in her house.

We also have Dasan (Sidharth Bharathan), a middle-aged bachelor drawn to a local school teacher.

The lives of these cops change forever during a fateful night shift when they arrest a shifty man (Sirajudheen Nazar) for drunk driving. The cover-up of what happens next and how suspicion eventually tracks back to them will strongly remind you of Drishyam.

Except unlike Georgekutty, who is ultimately a common man (albeit with an extraordinary brilliance that took a brief nap in the third film), the people doing the covering up here are actual police personnel. Naturally, they have the distinct advantage of knowing crime scene procedures.

We have seen this before in another Mohanlal film, Thudarum, which dealt with corrupt cops hiding a crime and dragging an unfortunate protagonist into their conspiracy.

The big difference here is that we are supposed to root for the guilty cops in Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar (also Thudarum later turns out to be a revenge drama).

I was also reminded of yet another Mohanlal movie, this time from the ’80s. Uyarangalil similarly involves three central characters covering up a crime and a couple of them struggling to live with the consequences. Unnimaya Prasad’s character, who feels the most stress among the quintet, reminded me of Nedumudi Venu’s role in that classic I V Sasi film.

The Thrilling Cat-and-Mouse Game

From the very beginning, Aleena grabs your interest. She chooses to join the force rather than take up a comparatively tamer clerical job in the department.

Her induction into the station and her interactions with the specific personnel we meet there are also captivating to watch. This includes that one stereotypically moradhan cop, Xavier (Azeez Nedumangad), and the bumbling, egoistic SHO Prathap Mohan (Vinay Forrt), who is strictly observing his Sabarimala oath.

When the unexpected crime occurs, it is Aleena who instantly takes charge of the situation, rather than her senior colleagues. Her true brilliance lies in clever little manipulations, like psychologically pushing the SHO into sending their annoying senior officer elsewhere, while meticulously thinking through every possible scenario to safeguard their ‘innocence’.

While Georgekutty functions entirely alone to protect his family (or rather, refuses to trust them with secrets), the multiple people involved in this crime create a dangerous possibility for distrust and fatal loose ends. After all, it is Aleena who is single-handedly driving their escape plan.

The movie even throws in a ticking clock scenario involving CCTV footage as an added layer of tension for the main characters, before that tension sharply shifts to other aspects of the investigation.

There are several solid, thrilling sequences that keep the tempo high, beginning with the fateful night of the crime and moving smoothly into Aleena leading the frantic cleanup of their mess. When Harris Meeran enters the investigation, inevitably turning his sharp attention to Aleena’s station, Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar becomes even more enthralling.

What truly stands out are the strategic mind games where Harris’ experience and expertise are pitted directly against Aleena’s natural brilliance, which is ironically aided by reading his own writings.

Without wanting to spoil anything, the screenplay delivers plenty of riveting moments, particularly in a second half packed with nail-biting suspense.

Little details are smartly incorporated to build up the big reveal later on: Aleena’s father-in-law’s workshop, an acquaintance she casually chatted with earlier, specific items in the evidence room, and a sudden drug raid.

Mujeeb Majeed’s score brings a pressure-cooker tension to several key scenes, going appropriately loud and powerful during the final rain-drenched sequence.

Minor Flaws, Overall Impact

On the downside, Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar could have been tweaked to tighten the runtime. R Parthiban makes a cameo and is given a fight scene that needed trimming. That is just one example. There is another scene of a character trying to use a drug to escape a situation that could easily have been shortened, purely because the point was already made a few seconds earlier.

The movie also does not focus much on the guilt playing on the minds of the main characters, save to some extent for Divya. I guess a desperate need for self-preservation can trump the attacks of conscience regarding the gravity of their wrongdoing.

We saw something similar in Mohiniyattam earlier this year, where a simple family showed little to no remorse after accidentally killing a man and chopping up his body for disposal.

Interestingly, both movies feature Vinay Forrt playing a cop. Which makes you wonder if the actor has taken a solemn oath to appear in every major film he can get his hands on. In just one month, I have seen him in three major separate releases: Bethlehem Kudumba Unit, I’m Game, and now Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar. In all three, he plays light-hearted, bumbling characters.

While he is certainly entertaining to watch here (his scene with the memory card is quite funny), it remains a strictly comical role with no huge investment in the actual plot.

Parvathy The Showrunner

Parvathy is simply splendid to watch here, taking total command of each scene and firmly establishing exactly why she is among the best in the business at holding an audience’s attention.

Vijayaraghavan is equally, and expectedly, enthralling as her formidable rival, and their tense scenes together effortlessly lift the entire third act.

Sidharth Bharathan, Mathew Thomas and Unnimaya Prasad each get enough space to shine, as do Vinay Forrt and Azeez Nedumangad. There is also a star cameo, featuring an actor who coincidentally made a special appearance in another major release just a few days ago.

Even with the obvious comparisons, Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar succeeds by knowing how to keep you invested. It fuels its tense cat-and-mouse game with clever thrills and sharp twists. A few trims could have made the pacing tighter, but Shahad Nilambur and his writers have delivered a smart, gripping cop thriller that stands comfortably on its own.

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