Kerala Crime Files was the first OTT web series in Malayalam and was a bit of a novelty for the same reason. The procedural itself was a bit of a slow burn and not one which followed the usual path of bombastic reveals and twists. But I loved the way they took on the case of the murder of an unassuming and sadly oft-neglected member of society (a prostitute found in a derelict lodge)and used it to form a no-nonsense procedural about some quietly commited police officers just going about their job. It wasn’t extraordinary though, I guess.


But the second season definitely is. A remarkable police procedural that redefines the genre as far as mainstream Indian cop shows go. The cases of both seasons are not connected, apart from a couple of recurring actors, so this one can be seen even if you’re not familiar with the first season. This time the focus is on a bunch of cops trying to solve the enigma of what happened or one of their own, CPO Ambili (played with revelatory brilliance by Indrans). I love what the Malayalam cinema space has been doing with the crime thriller but wasn’t expecting it to translate to the digital space with the same levels of verve and ingenuity. This series is amongst the best I’ve seen from the Indian web streaming space and deserves huge plaudits.

The case of CPO Ambili’s disappearance builds up slowly as we are exposed to the workings of the world he belongs to and to the police officers who will play a significant role in unraveling his case. The cops are led by Arjun Radhakrishnan’s character, a reassignment from a sports quota who has a point to prove to everyone who thinks he’s only good for a volleyball match or two. An under-utilised but promising actor, it’s a great choice of lead for a show like this. Unassuming but with the gravitas needed to carry off the primary investigator, he is ably supported by a remarkable supporting cast made up of not just familiar faces like Lal and Aju Varghese but also some lesser known faces. Indrans as the titular character on whom the case focuses is excellent. His resurgence as an actor of formidable range is another testament to this brilliant generation of Malayali directors and writers who are untapping amazing levels of performances from previously typecast actors; anyone familiar with the Malayalam film scene of the 90’s will recall him as the usual sidekick roped in for comic buffoonery. The same goes for Harisree Asokan, who plays a vital supporting role as the inscrutable Ayyappan. In fact, the mental make-up and the relationships between these characters are refreshingly left open to ambiguity and shroudes in complexity. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that this is written by Bahul Ramesh, the writer-cinematographer of Kishkinda Kaanadam (2024), one of the most remarkable films i have seen in the recent past.

There are hardly any eureka moments which come out of the blue here, just a process of sustained reasoning and getting closer to the truth step by step. But what a way to do it. There is a particular sequence of trying to trace the actions of a certain party of interest to the case through an intricate surveillance of the CCTV cameras in the vicinity, towards the end of the six episodes, and it is genuinely different from anything I’ve seen before. The best thing about the briskly paced show is the honesty with which it shows the gruntwork that the police officers go through to get to the bottom of the case, a trait it carries over from the first season. The cops may have their vulnerabilities and fallibilities but at the end of the day they are doing a tough job which not many choose to do and trying to do it to the best of their limited and draining resources.

This is a must watch.