Narivetta

Anuraj Manohar's 2025 Malayalam film follows a young man who becomes a policeman reluctantly and then witnesses state violence against villagers. Varghese, played by Tovino Thomas, took the job as a way of making a living; posted to a district where indigenous people are fighting over land, he has to face the question of which side he is on. The film draws on real events in Kerala and presents state violence not as individual wickedness but as a chain of institutional decisions. The senior officer played by Suraj Venjaramoodu is the most complicated figure in it, a man who does not object to the system but knows its price. The narrative weakness is a final section that summarises the argument too explicitly. Against that, it is notable for mainstream Malayalam cinema to take this subject on this plainly. Who it's for: viewers interested in Kerala's social history, films about police and state violence, and the new generation of Malayalam cinema. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding scenes of armed intervention and death, or who will find the directness of the political argument didactic.