Oru CBI Diary Kurippu
Encyclopedia
Oru CBI Diary Kurippu is a 1988 Malayalam film directed by K. Madhu
, scripted by S. N. Swamy
, and starring Mammootty
, Suresh Gopi
and Jagathy Sreekumar
.
This film is the first in the series of the CBI investigative thrillers
featuring Mammootty
as CBI
officer Sethurama Iyer
. Sequels to the film are Jagratha
(1989), Sethurama Iyer CBI
(2004), and Nerariyan CBI
(2005). A fifth sequel in the franchise has been announced and is now in the pre-production stage.
The plot-line of the film, Oru CBI Diary Kurippu, was crafted around a real life incidence, the Polakkulam Case in which a hotel employee was murdered and dropped from the terrace to make it look like a suicide. The case was investigated by the CBI and it was in this case that a humanoid dummy experiment was first done in the state of Kerala
to prove a murder case.
The lead character, Sethurama Iyer is said to have been inspired by a police officer named Radhavinod Raju, who in 2009 was appointed as the first chief of India's National Investigation Agency
.
The movie was a huge box office success. The background score of the film became quite popular, and years after the release of the first two sequels, became popular as mobile phone ringtones. This was one of the reasons that led the filmmakers to plan a third sequel after 15 years. All the sequels use the same background score, composed by music director Shyam
.
Omana's cousin Chacko (Mukesh), a police officer working under Varma, finds this autopsy report suspicious and tells Varma and Officer Alex (K.P.A.C. Sunny) why he has doubts to its accuracy. He informs them that it rained severely until 9:30pm the night Omana allegedly committed suicide, and if she had died at 8pm, her corpse would have been wet, and the blood from her injury would have been mixed in with the rain water. Alex, who is taking bribes from Ouseppachan, warns Ouseppachan to do what he can to get Varma and Chacko off the case.
Sensing that Varma will cause him trouble, Ouseppachan implores his best friend, Narayanan (Prathapachandran), a local politician, to call his politician friends (including the Minister) to have Varma transferred off the case and onto Rural. They also managed to transfer Omana's cousin, Chacko to Traffic. A new Dy SP, Devadas (Sukumaran), takes over the case. Devadas, who is also being bribed by Ouseppachan, intimidates Omana's grieving family and any witnesses that may implicate Ouseppachan or Sunny. He quickly concludes the investigation stating that Omana committed suicide.
Omana's father Thomachan (Bahadur)and her sister Annie (Urvasi) are determined to seek justice for Omana. They implore the CBI (Central Bureau of Intelligence) to re-open the case and find the truth. The Director of the CBI assigns Sethuraman Iyer (Mammootty) to head the investigation. He is assisted by Sub-Inspector Harry (Suresh Gopi) and Sub-Inspector Vikram (Jagathy).
Iyer and his team find evidence of political interference in Omana's murder investigation, citing an increased amount of phone calls to Ministers and Party Leaders from Narayan's phone number, and thousands of rupees worth of cash withdrawals from Ouseppachan's bank that were never reported in the books. Iyer meets with Varma and Chacko who help him with his investigation by informing him of inconsistent testimony from suspects and the inconsistencies with the Regional Medical Examiner's autopsy report. Later that week, Iyer and his team bring two dummies the same height and weight as Omana to Ouseppachan's house. They take the dummies to roof and drop one straight down as if it jumped, and threw the other off the roof as if someone had thrown the body. They find that Omana's body landed approximately around the same place as the dummy that was thrown, and concluded that she could not have jumped that far off the roof on her own. Next, they decide to track down Ouseppachan's driver, Vasu, who has been missing since the morning after Omana's death. Harry finds out that Vasu had given a local banker some jewelry as collateral for a loan. Among the jewelry was a bracelet belonging to Omana, which immediately put all suspicion on Vasu. They finally find him and take him into custody, where he confesses that shortly after he got home after dropping off Ouseppachan the night of Omana's death, Narayan came to his house and told him that Sunny had accidentally killed Omana during a domestic dispute. Vasu then said Narayan and the others implored him to carry Omana's body from her bed to the roof and fling her off. It was during a moment alone with Omana's dead body that Vasu had noticed her gold bracelet and decided to steal it, before throwing her corpse of the roof.
Despite Vasu's testimony implicating Sunny as the killer, Iyer is not convinced. Sunny had left the house at 8pm after hitting Omana and that would mean that she died at 8pm. However, Iyer examines photographs of the crime scene and finds that Omana still bled when she was dropped off the roof some 2 hours later, and since dead bodies do not retain heat thus causing the blood to clot, she could not have died at 8pm. Upon scrutinizing the photographs further, Iyer notices a small blood stain on Omana's saree below the waist. Since the autopsy report stated that she sustained no injuries below the waist, Iyer is convinced that the blood was left behind by the real killer.
After testing the blood they find that it is O-negative, a rare blood type. Remembering that the town had imposed mandatory blood tests on all its citizens recently by the local authorities to combat malaria, Iyer goes to the Malaria Research Center and finds that the blood type was so rare that only two people in the entire town had it.
In the final scene, Iyer arrives at Ouseppachan's house with a large police backup unit and places Ouseppachan under arrest for the murder of Omana. Shocked, Ouseppachan vehemently denies killing her, but Iyer would not relent. Seeing his father being arrested for a crime he committed, a guilt-ridden Sunny confesses to Iyer that he killed Omana accidentally by hitting her too hard when they fought. Iyer tells Sunny that Omana did not die when he hit her, that she only fainted. Iyer then goes on to explain the blood on Omana's saree, which did not match her own, was left behind by the real killer. He informs them that only two people in the entire town were O-negative and one of those two people is Johny, Ouseppachan's son-law. Confronted with evidence for his involvement, Johny confesses that he had come to the house the night Omana had died. Finding her passed out on the bed, he attempted to rape her, but when she woke up and started screaming, he suffocated her to death. In the process he accidentally cut himself and left his blood on her saree.
Thomachan and Annie thank Iyer, Harry and Vikram for their hard work and dedication and bringing Omana's killer to justice. The movie ends with a reference to Sukumaran Kurup, a real life notorious fugitive wanted in India for murder, who to this day is still on the run.
K. Madhu
K. Madhu is a Malayalam film director.Popular for his suspense and investigation thrillers, K.Madhu has a long list of hits in his kitty.-Career:...
, scripted by S. N. Swamy
S. N. Swamy
S. N. Swamy is an Indian screenwriter who works in Malayalam cinema. Particularly known for scripting films in the thriller genre, he has scripted some of the biggest hits in Malayalam film history including the CBI film series , Koodum Thedi, Irupatham Noottandu, Moonnam Mura, August 1,...
, and starring Mammootty
Mammootty
Mammootty is an Indian film actor and producer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. He has also acted in a few Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada films. During a career spanning more than three decades, he has acted in more than 360 films, and is only next to Prem Nazir in the number of lead roles...
, Suresh Gopi
Suresh Gopi
Suresh Gopinathan Nair , often credited as Suresh Gopi , is an Indian film actor who works mainly in Malayalam cinema; he is famous for his roles in police dramas. He is noted for his leading roles as much as his character roles...
and Jagathy Sreekumar
Jagathy Sreekumar
Sreekumar Achary, better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar, is an Indian film actor who has performed in more than 1,000 Malayalam films. He has also directed two films and has written screenplays for two films...
.
This film is the first in the series of the CBI investigative thrillers
CBI film series
The CBI film series is a series of four Malayalam films directed by K. Madhu and written by S. N. Swami featuring Mammootty as Sethurama Iyer, a Central Bureau of Investigation officer. The series started off in 1988 with the block buster Oru CBI Diary Kurippu.The films depicts a team of three CBI...
featuring Mammootty
Mammootty
Mammootty is an Indian film actor and producer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. He has also acted in a few Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada films. During a career spanning more than three decades, he has acted in more than 360 films, and is only next to Prem Nazir in the number of lead roles...
as CBI
Central Bureau of Investigation
The Central Bureau of Investigation is a government agency of India that serves as a criminal investigation body, national security agency and intelligence agency. It was established on 1 April 1963 and evolved from the Special Police Establishment founded in 1941...
officer Sethurama Iyer
Sethurama Iyer
Sethurama Iyer is a fictional character, and the protagonist of the CBI investigative thriller series of films in Malayalam directed by K. Madhu...
. Sequels to the film are Jagratha
Jagratha
Jagratha is a 1989 Malayalam film directed by K. Madhu, starring Mammootty, Mukesh and Jagathy Sreekumar.This film is the second in the series of the CBI investigative thrillers featuring Mammootty as CBI officer Sethurama Iyer. Oru CBI Diary Kurippu is the prequel to this film and sequels are...
(1989), Sethurama Iyer CBI
Sethurama Iyer CBI
Sethurama Iyer CBI is a 2004 Malayalam film directed by K Madhu, written by S. N. Swami, and starring Mammootty, Mukesh and Jagathy Sreekumar....
(2004), and Nerariyan CBI
Nerariyan CBI
Nerariyan CBI is a 2005 Malayalam film directed by K Madhu, written by S. N. Swami, and starring Mammootty, Mukesh and Jagathy Sreekumar....
(2005). A fifth sequel in the franchise has been announced and is now in the pre-production stage.
The plot-line of the film, Oru CBI Diary Kurippu, was crafted around a real life incidence, the Polakkulam Case in which a hotel employee was murdered and dropped from the terrace to make it look like a suicide. The case was investigated by the CBI and it was in this case that a humanoid dummy experiment was first done in the state of Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
to prove a murder case.
The lead character, Sethurama Iyer is said to have been inspired by a police officer named Radhavinod Raju, who in 2009 was appointed as the first chief of India's National Investigation Agency
National Investigation Agency (India)
National Investigation Agency is a federal agency approved by the Indian Government to combat terror in India. The agency is empowered to deal with terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states. The National Investigation Agency Bill 2008 to create the agency was...
.
The movie was a huge box office success. The background score of the film became quite popular, and years after the release of the first two sequels, became popular as mobile phone ringtones. This was one of the reasons that led the filmmakers to plan a third sequel after 15 years. All the sequels use the same background score, composed by music director Shyam
Shyam (composer)
Samuel Joseph alias Shyam is a popular Malayalam music director from Tamil Nadu, India. He has scored music for over 300 films including Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi languages. He also composed many Christian devotional songs...
.
Plot
The movie opens with DySP Prabhakara Varma (Capt. Raju) observing the local police force during a training drill. Another officer approaches him and informs him that he is needed at a recent crime scene, and they depart immediately. Varma arrives at the home of Ouseppachan (Janardanan), a local businessman, and sees the body of Ouseppachan's daughter-in-law, Omana (Lissy) on the grounds behind the house, in an apparent suicide. He is then introduced to Omana's husband Sunny, her father-in-law Ouseppachan, Ouseppachan's son-in-law Johny (Vijayaraghavan), Ouseppachan's best friend Narayan, and several of the household servants and neighbors. The initial report conducted by the first responders concluded that Omana had committed suicide by flinging herself from the roof of the two-story house onto the stone pavement below. Varma questions the members of the household as well as neighbors and servants about Omana's relaionship with her husband Sunny (Sreenath). Sunny admits to arguing with Omana the night she died and throwing her onto their bed before leaving to drink, but swears he never hit her. He also tells Varma that Omana had attempted suicide before. Ouseppachan claims he came home from a business trip that night, dropped off by his driver, Vasu (Johny), only to find himself locked out of the house. He decided to go around the back to where the cook's quarters were located when he stumbled upon Omana's body. Dissatisfied with inconsistent testimonies from several suspects, Varma immediately suspects foul play and is determined to find the truth. The next morning, the Regional Medical Officer (Kollam Thulasi) concludes concludes that Omana died from head trauma at 8pm the previous night.Omana's cousin Chacko (Mukesh), a police officer working under Varma, finds this autopsy report suspicious and tells Varma and Officer Alex (K.P.A.C. Sunny) why he has doubts to its accuracy. He informs them that it rained severely until 9:30pm the night Omana allegedly committed suicide, and if she had died at 8pm, her corpse would have been wet, and the blood from her injury would have been mixed in with the rain water. Alex, who is taking bribes from Ouseppachan, warns Ouseppachan to do what he can to get Varma and Chacko off the case.
Sensing that Varma will cause him trouble, Ouseppachan implores his best friend, Narayanan (Prathapachandran), a local politician, to call his politician friends (including the Minister) to have Varma transferred off the case and onto Rural. They also managed to transfer Omana's cousin, Chacko to Traffic. A new Dy SP, Devadas (Sukumaran), takes over the case. Devadas, who is also being bribed by Ouseppachan, intimidates Omana's grieving family and any witnesses that may implicate Ouseppachan or Sunny. He quickly concludes the investigation stating that Omana committed suicide.
Omana's father Thomachan (Bahadur)and her sister Annie (Urvasi) are determined to seek justice for Omana. They implore the CBI (Central Bureau of Intelligence) to re-open the case and find the truth. The Director of the CBI assigns Sethuraman Iyer (Mammootty) to head the investigation. He is assisted by Sub-Inspector Harry (Suresh Gopi) and Sub-Inspector Vikram (Jagathy).
Iyer and his team find evidence of political interference in Omana's murder investigation, citing an increased amount of phone calls to Ministers and Party Leaders from Narayan's phone number, and thousands of rupees worth of cash withdrawals from Ouseppachan's bank that were never reported in the books. Iyer meets with Varma and Chacko who help him with his investigation by informing him of inconsistent testimony from suspects and the inconsistencies with the Regional Medical Examiner's autopsy report. Later that week, Iyer and his team bring two dummies the same height and weight as Omana to Ouseppachan's house. They take the dummies to roof and drop one straight down as if it jumped, and threw the other off the roof as if someone had thrown the body. They find that Omana's body landed approximately around the same place as the dummy that was thrown, and concluded that she could not have jumped that far off the roof on her own. Next, they decide to track down Ouseppachan's driver, Vasu, who has been missing since the morning after Omana's death. Harry finds out that Vasu had given a local banker some jewelry as collateral for a loan. Among the jewelry was a bracelet belonging to Omana, which immediately put all suspicion on Vasu. They finally find him and take him into custody, where he confesses that shortly after he got home after dropping off Ouseppachan the night of Omana's death, Narayan came to his house and told him that Sunny had accidentally killed Omana during a domestic dispute. Vasu then said Narayan and the others implored him to carry Omana's body from her bed to the roof and fling her off. It was during a moment alone with Omana's dead body that Vasu had noticed her gold bracelet and decided to steal it, before throwing her corpse of the roof.
Despite Vasu's testimony implicating Sunny as the killer, Iyer is not convinced. Sunny had left the house at 8pm after hitting Omana and that would mean that she died at 8pm. However, Iyer examines photographs of the crime scene and finds that Omana still bled when she was dropped off the roof some 2 hours later, and since dead bodies do not retain heat thus causing the blood to clot, she could not have died at 8pm. Upon scrutinizing the photographs further, Iyer notices a small blood stain on Omana's saree below the waist. Since the autopsy report stated that she sustained no injuries below the waist, Iyer is convinced that the blood was left behind by the real killer.
After testing the blood they find that it is O-negative, a rare blood type. Remembering that the town had imposed mandatory blood tests on all its citizens recently by the local authorities to combat malaria, Iyer goes to the Malaria Research Center and finds that the blood type was so rare that only two people in the entire town had it.
In the final scene, Iyer arrives at Ouseppachan's house with a large police backup unit and places Ouseppachan under arrest for the murder of Omana. Shocked, Ouseppachan vehemently denies killing her, but Iyer would not relent. Seeing his father being arrested for a crime he committed, a guilt-ridden Sunny confesses to Iyer that he killed Omana accidentally by hitting her too hard when they fought. Iyer tells Sunny that Omana did not die when he hit her, that she only fainted. Iyer then goes on to explain the blood on Omana's saree, which did not match her own, was left behind by the real killer. He informs them that only two people in the entire town were O-negative and one of those two people is Johny, Ouseppachan's son-law. Confronted with evidence for his involvement, Johny confesses that he had come to the house the night Omana had died. Finding her passed out on the bed, he attempted to rape her, but when she woke up and started screaming, he suffocated her to death. In the process he accidentally cut himself and left his blood on her saree.
Thomachan and Annie thank Iyer, Harry and Vikram for their hard work and dedication and bringing Omana's killer to justice. The movie ends with a reference to Sukumaran Kurup, a real life notorious fugitive wanted in India for murder, who to this day is still on the run.
Conception
- Mammootty's character Sethurama IyerSethurama IyerSethurama Iyer is a fictional character, and the protagonist of the CBI investigative thriller series of films in Malayalam directed by K. Madhu...
was initially conceived as a Muslim character, but Mammootty suggested an Iyer character in order to incorporate jibes of Devadas (Sukumaran) about vegetarianism and lack of Iyer's to do physical work. This resulted in one of the most popular two-character confrontation scenes between Sethuraman Iyer (Mammootty) and Devadas (Sukumaran). Because of the popularity, this was repeated in the sequels, JagrathaJagrathaJagratha is a 1989 Malayalam film directed by K. Madhu, starring Mammootty, Mukesh and Jagathy Sreekumar.This film is the second in the series of the CBI investigative thrillers featuring Mammootty as CBI officer Sethurama Iyer. Oru CBI Diary Kurippu is the prequel to this film and sequels are...
and Sethurama Iyer CBISethurama Iyer CBISethurama Iyer CBI is a 2004 Malayalam film directed by K Madhu, written by S. N. Swami, and starring Mammootty, Mukesh and Jagathy Sreekumar....
. The third sequel was released 15 years after the second movie Jagratha. By this time the actor SukumaranSukumaranEdappal Ponnamkuzhi Veettil Sukumaran Nair , popularly known as Sukumaran, was an Indian film actor, and producer....
, who had portrayed Devadas, had died. Thus, Saikumar was cast as the son of Devadas; he was required to mimic Sukumaran's style of performance. - The movie was one of the first of its kind to concentrate on the central investigative story only, without the songs and dances generally associated with popular Indian commercial films.
Cast
- MammoottyMammoottyMammootty is an Indian film actor and producer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. He has also acted in a few Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada films. During a career spanning more than three decades, he has acted in more than 360 films, and is only next to Prem Nazir in the number of lead roles...
as Sethurama IyerSethurama IyerSethurama Iyer is a fictional character, and the protagonist of the CBI investigative thriller series of films in Malayalam directed by K. Madhu...
, DySP, CBI. - Suresh GopiSuresh GopiSuresh Gopinathan Nair , often credited as Suresh Gopi , is an Indian film actor who works mainly in Malayalam cinema; he is famous for his roles in police dramas. He is noted for his leading roles as much as his character roles...
as Harry, Sub Inspector, CBI. - Jagathy SreekumarJagathy SreekumarSreekumar Achary, better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar, is an Indian film actor who has performed in more than 1,000 Malayalam films. He has also directed two films and has written screenplays for two films...
as Vikram, Sub Inspector, CBI. - MukeshMukesh (actor)Mukesh , born Mukesh Babu, is an Indian film actor and producer known for his work in Malayalam cinema.- Personal Life :...
as Chacko, Police Constable. - SukumaranSukumaranEdappal Ponnamkuzhi Veettil Sukumaran Nair , popularly known as Sukumaran, was an Indian film actor, and producer....
as Devadas, DySP, Kerala Police. - LizyLizy (actress)Lissy Priyadarshan is a popular South Indian film actress of 1980s. She is popularly known by the mononym Lissy. Though, was a leading heroine in Malayalam, she had also acted in several Tamil and Telugu. She gave up acting after her marriage with famous film director Priyadarshan in 1990...
as Omana, the murdered woman. - JanardhananJanardhanan (actor)Janardhanan is a Malayalam film actor. He is known for his peculiar style of handling humor and his quaint voice. He started his career playing brusque villains in the 1970s but later went on to establish himself as a highly sought-after comedian. The turning point of his career was the role of...
as Ouseppachan, a businessman. - UrvasiUrvashi (actress)Kavitha Ranjini, better known by her stage name Urvashi , is an Indian film actress and producer. She was a prominent lead actress during the 1980s and 1990s in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu films. She has dubbed in her own voice in all these languages. And she produced the film Pidakkozhi...
as Annie, sister of Omana. - BahadoorBahadoorBahadoor , born P. K. Kunjalu, was a Malayalam film comedian who, along with Adoor Bhasi, redefined the way in which comedy and funny scenes were perceived in Malayalam cinema. They made a significant contribution toward establishing comedy as the predominant genre of Malayalam cinema...
as Thomachan, father of Omana. - PrathapachandranPrathapachandranPrathapachandran was a Malayalam film actor who left a vivid impression through his dramatic portrayal of villainous and character roles in over 300 movies. He was born in 1941 at Omallur in Pathanamthitta District, Kerala, India. He died on December 16, 2004. He was 63.-Biography:Prathapachandran...
as Narayanan, friend of Ouseppachan. - K. P. A. C. Sunny as Alex, CI of Police.
- Kollam ThulasiKollam ThulasiKollam Kanjaveli Kuttilazhikathu Thulasidharan Nair is an actor in Malayalam cinema who is better known as Kollam Thulasi relating the name of his birth place Kollam to his first name as customary in Kerala. His first appearance was in Ezhuthappurangal . He is also a poet.-Personal life:He was born...
as Police Surgeon. - Jagannatha VarmaJagannatha VarmaK. N. Jagannatha Varma is a Malayalam film and seriel actor. He is also an accomplished Kathakali artist.his son Manu Varma also a recoganized artist and his son in law Viji Thampi is a well known Film Director. He acted in a number of Malayalam movies performing stereo typical roles of a senior...
as SP, CBI. - Captain RajuCaptain RajuCaptain Raju is a Malayalam film actor. He was born at Omallur in Pathanamthitta District, Kerala.After finishing his graduation in Zoology, Raju joined the Indian Army as a first class officer at the age of 21. He started acting in films after leaving the army service. He has acted in more than...
as DySP Prabhakara Varma, Local Police. - Vijayaraghavan as Johnny, son in law of Ouseppachan.
- SreenathSreenathSreenath was a popular Malayalam film and television actor. He acted in many hit films, including Shalini Ente Koottukari, Ithu Njangalude Katha, Oru CBI Diary Kurippu, and Kireedam....
as Sunny, husband of Omana. - Adoor BhavaniAdoor BhavaniAdoor Bhavani was an Indian actress in Malayalam movies, best-known for her appearance in the National Award-winning film Chemmeen , directed by Ramu Kariat. She had acted in about 450 films, including Mudiyanaya Puthran, Thulabharam, Kallichellamma, and Anubhavangal Paalichakal. Her last film...
as servant. - C. I. Paul as Bhargavan, Minister.
- Kundara Johnny as Driver Vasu.