Do not bother watching this series if you're going to be looking at your phone every five minutes in the middle of it or if you intend to put it "in the background" while you're cooking, washing clothes, or playing with your dog. (That's not the right way to watch any well-written show.) Kerala Crime Files: Season 2, streaming on JioHotstar, is a show that requires your complete, undivided attention.
Writer Bahul Ramesh ("Kishkindha Kaandam") conjures up multiple plot strands in such a way that even missing a line or a glimpse or any other little detail might meddle with your grasp of how all of it ties together. And Bahul Ramesh is a writer that I would go to the extent of comparing to Christopher Nolan, in terms of not resorting to spoonfeeding the audience and trusting them to figure everything out without relying on constant exposition. I would simply tell you to do what Aju Varghese, who reprises his character from the first season, says during a crucial point: "Focus, focus..."
Focus. Let me explain why I dropped Nolan's name before. Because like that time-obsessed filmmaker, Bahul Ramesh toys with timelines and narrative threads in the same way pieces of a jigsaw puzzle are scattered. I predicted this show would contain an emotionally overpowering heartbreak moment when the first episode began with a certain sequence involving a police dog. And it doesn't immediately tell you what really happened there. It then takes a significant leap forward in time, to another setting, after deeply imprinting the image of that dog in your brain. Within only a few minutes, director Ahammed Khabeer (who also directed the first season) and his team manage to get us so attached to this dog that you badly want to know what really happened in that opening scene.
Dogs are an important part of the show, a recurring element. Arjun Radhakrishnan, who plays Sub-Inspector Noble, the show's newly introduced lead investigator, has a dog. And in the middle of the show, we get a flashback out of nowhere, with the story of a child and a stray puppy. Again, the makers don't immediately reveal who it is. And then, in another situation, a completely different stray dog becomes an unwitting participant in the central investigation involving a Civil Police Officer, Ambili Raju, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
Sure, finding him is the goal, but then Bahul Ramesh's script, as I said earlier, weaves together multiple developments in such a short amount of time that you know there's much more to a simple man-missing case. It's way more engrossing than its relatively basic first season. The second season, however, boasts stronger themes and more emotional depth than its predecessor. It reshapes the way we think about investigative stories, particularly with regard to how some motives are far more complex than we imagine.
For me, one of the primary indicators of a show's exceptional quality is its ability to linger in your mind for a longer duration. The more hours it takes, the better the quality. I saw Season 2 last night, and it took me a while to get to sleep because I was so emotionally overwhelmed with that ending — I literally sobbed! I did not expect to get so deeply moved by a crime series of all things. That was certainly a first! As I said earlier, this is a show that throws so many things at you that, once the whole thing is done, your mind slowly begins to go in reverse — as they do with the CCTV footage in one episode, the same place where Aju yells, "Focus!" — trying to remember how it all began. What compelled one particular individual to go to such a cruel extent? Had the circumstances been different, would that person have opted for a different course? Many questions. Good sign.
Kerala Crime Files: Season 2 ventures into a much darker direction unlike the former. Thankfully, much of the gore is kept offscreen. The approach is to register a haunting effect by making you imagine the unseen rather than showing it explicitly. In some cases, that's better than the alternative. One of the reasons it's more gripping is because unlike the first, it doesn't delve into the personal lives of the police officers much. But despite this, I was impressed by how it manages to convey the personalities of all the key characters, beginning with Arjun Radhakrishnan's relatable portrayal of a cop who doesn't care for ego or hierarchy. But at the same time, there is no attempt to paint him as a "mass hero" either.
Just as we see in the films of Shahi Kabir ("Nayattu", "Ronth"), they are presented as ordinary, flawed individuals who have witnessed some of the worst things that human beings do to each other and are still battling past demons. There was a moment in the series where an officer mentions the world crime stats, which made me briefly reflect on all the cruelty in this world, and, then immediately, I experienced something strange: I took momentary comfort in the fact that there also exist tough cops who have seen a lot of horrifying and saddening events and yet carry on with their duties without letting those weaken their spirits — or, worse, turn them to the dark side. I'm glad they exist.
I guess a certain measure of detachment is necessary to survive in this profession, a point that Arjun Radhakrishnan's portrayal conveys, along with a sense of empowerment. The presence of his character, along with that of the senior cops played by Lal and Aju Varghese, have what I'd like to call a "tranquillizing" effect amidst all the darkness.
Hesham Abdul Wahab's music evokes the necessary emotions in the right places without trying to force them out of us. At times, it carries occasional whiffs of Hans Zimmer's score for The Dark Knight. Cinematographer Jithin Stanislaus brings significant contributions to keeping the focus firmly on characters and objects regardless of their positioning in fairly busy public spaces, in addition to giving a clear sense of geography. (Being a Kochi resident, I was pleasantly surprised to find that some portions were shot close to my home.)
There's so much more to say about this series, but I don't think a single review can capture everything. So, I've decided to conclude by saying this: It's the best investigative series to come out of Malayalam cinema yet. If there's going to be a new season, I hope they'll find something that tops this one.
Series: Kerala Crime Files: Season 2
Director: Ahammed Khabeer
Writer: Bahul Ramesh
Cast: Arjun Radhakrishnan, Lal, Aju Varghese, Jeo Baby, Harishree Ashokan, Indrans, Renjit Sekhar
Rating: 4/5
