Jana Gana Mana

A lecturer is found dead at a university. Sabha Mathew has been burned to death and the case draws reaction across the country. Students take to the streets, the press carries it and politicians make statements. The police arrest four suspects. Then all four are killed in an operation; it is said they tried to escape. The public applauds. Sajjan Kumar, the officer running the investigation, is declared a hero. Then a lawyer appears. Aravind Swaminathan represents the families of the four dead and files a case. Dijo Jose Antony directs; Sharis Mohammed wrote the screenplay. Prithviraj Sukumaran, Suraj Venjaramoodu and Mamta Mohandas are in the cast. The language is Malayalam. The matter it treats is killing without trial made legitimate by public support; the film appears to celebrate it and then turns it around. The narrative splits in two; the first half is investigation, the second the courtroom. The film takes up caste discrimination, political pressure in universities and the role of the press at the same time. The speeches for the defence run long and the argument is stated outright. It took a strong result at the box office and opened a wide argument through its subject. At the end a sequel is signalled. Its limit is method; the narrative is didactic, it runs long, and the characters become carriers of an argument. Who it is for: viewers who like Malayalam cinema and political courtroom drama. Who it is not for: it is didactic, long, and the speeches lecture.