Released: 11 Sep, 2026
MalayalamDrama
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Pradhama Drishtya Kuttakkar Movie Review: Passable cop drama, that falters for lack of layering
Anna Mathews
Sep 11, 2026, 4:51 PM IST
Story: Four cops find themselves on the wrong side of the law, following a scuffle with a criminal. Will they be able to protect themselves?Review: Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar has a premise that could disturb and provoke, but with an unfocussed script, that fails to convey guilt and panic over the right issues, the film falters.A few nights before Christmas, a driver who tried to scoot a police patrol is brought into the station. The cops are not aware that the guy, Jayaprakash, is also a hardened criminal. At the station, he gets into a scuffle with the four on-duty cops – played by Parvathy Thiruvothu, Sidharth Bharathan, Mathew Thomas and Unnimaya Prasad. <a href="https://cinemamix360.com/2026/09/11/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-four/” title=”Five things you need to know about the new four”>Things get out of hand, a gun is fired and the criminal dies.In panic, the cops – who were all holding the gun when the shot was fired – decide to cover up the crime, rather than tell their seniors that they had acted in self-defence. They erase the night’s CCTV footage and a 14-day wait begins till the backup is permanently deleted, and all evidence of their “crime” is lost. Things go out of their hands when senior Crime Branch officer Harris Meeran, played by Vijayaraghavan, starts an investigation to track down Jayaprakash for another crime. He had, with his woman accomplice, killed a decorated retired Army officer, amid an attempted robbery at his house, earlier on in the night that he had been caught by the patrolling cops. This puts Meeran on the tail of the four cops and Aleena, played by Parvathy, uses Meeran’s own skills, that she picks up from a book he has written, to counter his investigation tactics. Will she prove successful and be able to protect her team forms the rest of the story.The movie, directed by Shahad Nilambur, creates an emotional bond with the four cops, so that the audience is on their side; it is almost black and white, and it is stated a couple of times that Jayaprakash was a hardened criminal and it was not a bad thing that he died. And the killing of the Armyman, while he was trying to rescue his puppy, seals his fate as a hated antagonist.And maybe this lack of layering is the problem. The screenplay by PS Subramanian and Vijesh Thottingal falls short in delving into the disturbing greys that the narrative could have discussed, such as the emotional upheaval of the police finding themselves now as criminals. Here, the four are mostly shown as just being concerned about just crossing the 14-day threshold when the evidence is destroyed. Also, after they accidentally shoot Jayaprakash, there is not even a discussion among the four about what would happen if they say this happened in self-defense. This was a lost opportunity to show the fear and stress that the police work under, even while their lives might be in danger. It’s difficult not to look back at 2021 police drama Nayattu, which also looks at cops who are mistakenly caught on the wrong side of the law, and feel that this film lacks the same gripping intensity because of these shortcomings.The acting is good. The four cops, led by Parvathy are able to evoke sympathy, without over dramatising their situation. She seamlessly carries off a range of emotions, from being scared to standing up to Meeran. Vinay Forrt does a good job with his comic timing, in his role as the CI. Also, Shahad skillfully builds tempo and creates ‘edge of the seat’ moments, like when Jayaprakash breaks into the Armyman’s house or in Meeran’s attempts to find the criminal’s body. He’s aided well in this through Roby Varghese Raj’s cinematography, which is complemented well by Chaman Chakko’s editing.Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar feels like a lost opportunity to raise some questions about the conditions that cops work under and ethical questions about criminals, though it succeeds in creating an emotional narrative.
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