Officer on Duty

<p>In , Joseph Chembola of the hangs himself in his house after leaving a suicide note orchestrated by a group of drug addicts led by Christy Savio. Eight months later, in , Harishankar alias Hari is a hot-headed and impulsive officer who was recently demoted from his rank to after assaulting his superior officer by accident. Hari is subsequently assigned as the of the . He receives a complaint about a conductor named Chandrababu attempting to mortgage an imitation gold chain. This seemingly minor case leads him to investigate a series of gruesome crimes, which are revealed to be connected to his own past personal tragedy. Hari suffers from which causes him to express his trauma violently, particularly toward his wife, Geetha. One day, Chandrababu reports to the police station that his gold chain was replaced with fake gold when he attempted to pawn it for his wife’s surgery. Upon investigation, Hari discovers that Chandrababu’s daughter Krishnapriya had switched the chain herself after being sexually exploited by an unknown perpetrator. Hari attempts to file a case, but before he can proceed, Krishnapriya commits suicide by . Chandrababu blames Hari for his rude behavior and his daughter’s death. Witnessing her death triggers Hari’s buried trauma, revealing that Hari’s elder daughter, Nila had also been sexually exploited in the same way as Krishnapriya. In a fit of rage, Hari kills a drug addict named Shyam in custody after discovering a sex tape of Nila on his laptop. Overcome with grief, Hari attempts to confront Nila, but she had already hung herself to death. The trauma causes him to suffer amnesia regarding the incident. In the present, Christy and his gang go to Thomas, a recently released policeman who had taken the blame for Shyam’s . Thomas had done so in an attempt to protect Hari since his own daughter had also been exploited by Shyam. To avenge Shyam’s death, Christy and his gang murder Thomas and his wife, but before dying, Thomas’ wife reveals to them that Hari was the one who actually killed Shyam. Meanwhile, Hari investigates and tracks down Anna, a member of Christy’s gang, following her to . A chase ensues, and Anna is fatally struck by a truck, killing her on the spot. Later, Christy and his gang attempt to ambush Hari in the , but he successfully fends them off. As the investigation unfolds, Hari discovers that Joseph had once arrested Shyam, Celine, Anna, after catching them for using drugs and slapping a girl’s mother on a bus where Chandrababu was the conductor. While in custody, Joseph raped both Anna and Celine, leading Christy’s gang to seek revenge on those responsible. Their revenge plan involved exploiting the women closest to those who contributed to their arrest. They began by targeting Joseph’s daughter Angel, Krishnapriya and also Nila. It is revealed that Geetha and Nila were the mother and daughter, who had been slapped by them and Geetha was the one who initially confronted the gang, making them a target. Christy stabs Chandrababu and eventually tracks down Geetha and her younger daughter, Minnu, at her father’s farmhouse. Christy and his gang attempts to kill them, but Geetha’s father, a former soldier, fights back, however, he is ultimately killed by Christy. Geetha and Minnu try to escape from them but Christy follows them alone and he stabs Geetha. Minnu escapes from him but he follows her and reaches a small building in the woods. His gang also arrives and before they can make a move, Hari arrives and a final showdown ensues where he brutally overpowers them. He nearly kills Christy for what he did to his and Chandrababu’s family. A few months later, Hari got back to his normal life and began to focus more on his family. Meanwhile, Christy and his gang are released on bail and plan their next attempt to kill Hari. However, Hari anticipates their move and laces their drugs with poison, ultimately killing them and avenging Nila’s death. ‘s untitled film was announced on 27 April 2024. will be starring as the leading actress. The film marks the directorial debut of Jithu Ashraf, who previously served as an assistant director on films including , , and and noted for his acting performances in and It is produced by Martin Prakkat Films and Siby Chavara and Ranjith Nair’s The Green Room. The film is scripted by Shahi Kabir. Jithu and Shahi were earlier supposed to work on a project titled , which was reportedly based on the snake boat race in Kerala and lives of the boat race community with Tovino Thomas, but it got dropped due to some unknown reasons and instead they went on with a different project. It has Roby Varghese Raj as the cinematographer, Jakes Bejoy as the music director and Chaman Chakko as the editor. The film was titled “Officer on Duty” which was announced on November 2, 2024. The principal photography commenced with a puja ceremony held at Lions Community Hall , on 27 April 2024. , , , , Manoj KU, , , Jay Kurup, Vysakh Shankar, Ramzan, Vishnu G Nair, Anunath, Laiyam Mamman, Aishwarya and Amit Eapan will also be seen in pivotal roles in the film. In August 2024, it was reported that was selected to play the villain role in the film. The soundtrack was composed by . was released theatrically on 20 February 2025. The post theatrical digital streaming rights of the film was acquired by . The film started streaming from 20 March 2025. Sajin Shrijith of rated the film four out of five stars and noted that “After and , writer Shahi Kabir delivers another haunting investigative thriller, but this time with the slight trappings of a mass entertainer — a good one at that!” Rohit Panikker of gave the film three-and-a-half out of five stars and wrote, ” is a well-crafted investigative thriller that tries to be different but still relies on quite a lot of the genre’s established templates. The film is worth a watch for its technical superiority, gripping performances, and a tight screenplay that offers an interesting experience even though it may not be something entirely new.” Anjana George of gave it three out of five stars and wrote, “While is a gripping, well-crafted thriller that keeps viewers on edge, it also serves as a stark reminder of how crime films continue to exploit the suffering of women for shock value.” Vignesh Madhu of gave it three out of five stars and wrote, ” could have been among the riveting cop thrillers in recent times, if not for the ‘commercial compromises’ it settles for.” Anandu Suresh of gave it two out of five stars and stated that “One of the film’s biggest shortcomings is its inability to fully explore its emotional and dramatic moments. While the subject matter is undeniably serious and holds immense potential, Shahi Kabir’s writing only scratches the surface, leaving many key moments feeling half-cooked”. Cris of wrote, “Where the script lacks is in expanding it into a package and writing the ‘bad’ characters. As soon as the ‘villain’ gang appears on screen, you realise the film has gone back decades, bringing alive forgotten stereotypes of wrongful youngsters, by the way they look, behave and indulge in vices.” S. R. Praveen of wrote, “With , Shahi Kabir conjures up yet another gripping police tale which works despite faltering at some points.” Swathi P. Ajith of wrote, “The movie doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it delivers a solid, well-packaged thriller. It doesn’t go overboard and keeps things as grounded as possible. For those who enjoy a good investigative drama, ‘Officer on Duty’ is definitely worth a watch on the big screen.” On its first day the film grossed ₹2.60 crore globally and ₹1.25 crore in Kerala. In 2 days, it grossed around ₹6 crore at the worldwide box office. In its first four-day opening weekend it grossed ₹10.65 crore in India out of which ₹9.15 crore came from home state and ₹1.50 crore from ROI and ₹10 crore from overseas, to a worldwide gross of ₹20 crore. As of 2 March 2025, the film grossed 41 crore worldwide with Kerala standing at ₹20.75 crore. On 11 March 2025 the film’s worldwide gross reached 50 crore. In 21 days, the film grossed ₹25.95 crore from Kerala. In its final run, it grossed ₹29.75 crore from Kerala, ₹4 crore from other states and ₹20.5 crore from overseas to a worldwide gross of ₹ 54.25 crore.</p>