Roby Varghese Raj’s Kannur Squad (co-written with Muhammed Shafi) begins with the case of a decayed corpse found hanging from a tree in a jungle. From the time and detail invested in setting up this case, Raj makes you believe it’s an integral part of the plot. But this is merely a prologue to the rest of the film – introducing us to the team of officers, the rigours of police work, and the hard decisions that they often have to make. In hindsight, it is the perfect Ground Zero for the film to take off. It enables us to see the Kannur Squad as ordinary men who go to extraordinary lengths to solve a case, however big or small.
Mammootty is magnificent as George Martin, the leader of this intrepid squad that’s built itself a reputation for cracking tough cases. He’s a supercop but also human and vulnerable. At 72, the superstar kicks and throws punches like a man half his age. That isn’t the most remarkable aspect of his performance though. In one scene, Mammootty makes you feel bad for an overturned car – that he can manipulate an audience’s emotions with such ease is what makes him such a special actor. In another scene, he issues a threat to a colleague with a good-natured grin on his face, provoking spontaneous laughter from the audience.
Like many cop films, Kannur Squad too takes a sympathetic view of custodial torture, implying that the police cannot do without it. But it still shows some restraint in glorifying these scenes, choosing to zoom out rather than zoom in on the violence. Mammootty completely surrenders himself to the role, bringing likeability and compelling realism to George. This makes you understand the character and the flawed system within which he has to operate.
Working under George are Jayan (Rony David), Shafi (Shabareesh Varma) and Jose (Azees Nedumangad). The four of them are together for almost the entire runtime of the film as they go on a seemingly impossible hunt, travelling from Kerala to Mumbai, a remote village in Uttar Pradesh and beyond. As a police procedural, Kannur Squad is meticulous in its attention to detail, never slackening in pace and maintaining a balance between high action and lulls in the investigation. The men they’re chasing are wanted in a brutal murder, assault and robbery case, and with political and financial pressure piling on them, the squad has to stick its neck out the farthest it can.
The non-linear plot feeds us information about the case as the police discover it, first hinting at the horror that unfolded at the crime scene and then giving us the full picture. This is an interesting and effective way to build the tension – the partial knowledge of what happened already makes us dread what’s coming, and the new details bring home the extreme brutality of the criminals. It is gory, yes, but better filmed than many other violent crime thrillers where the camera participates in the humiliation of the victims, especially female ones.
There have been quite a few Malayalam police procedurals in the recent past that have depicted the nitty-gritties of investigations. These films dismantle the idea of a supercop, emphasizing instead the difficulties and limitations of police work. But Kannur Squad cleverly marries this vulnerability with elevated, heroic moments that provide the highs of mass cinema. The extended action sequence in the UP village, for instance, is so full of nail-biting tension that the release is immensely satisfying. Though it is written and shot like an action set piece from a supercop film, there is a delicious “will they-won’t they” sentiment running through the mix, keeping you glued to your seat.
The writing is one step ahead of the audience’s tendency to predict what will happen next. Another superbly written sequence is a road chase, intercut with a hunt on a train. Again, Mammootty catches you by surprise, making you laugh unexpectedly. The brilliant editing ensures that the narrative is always cogent as the Kannur Squad traverses the length and breadth of the country in search of the suspects. Sushin Shyam’s background score sets the right tempo for the film, notching up the suspense when required and allowing the frames to breathe in more introspective moments.
The rest of the cast ably keeps up with Mammootty, especially Azees Nedumangad and Tamil actor Kishore who plays George’s senior. Shine Tom Chacko appears in an enjoyable cameo, rakish grin intact, and with the promise that he may appear in a sequel.
A few quibbles: the personal stories of the Kannur Squad are somewhat hastily stitched together and lazy. If we went purely by our cinema, all policemen’s wives deliver babies only when their husband is chasing criminals in faraway lands. It’s also disappointing to see a policeman speaking about dowry as if it is inevitable, with the film expecting us to empathize with this view. There is a fair bit of Malayali jingoism running through the film, too, especially when the team reaches Uttar Pradesh. The Malayalis are clever, smart people. The UP villagers are all savage thugs – men, women, young and old. This Othering is used to pump up the machismo of the Kannur Squad and also played for humour, a pitfall the film could have avoided if only it had humanized some of these characters.
These are but small complaints in an otherwise terrific film. Here’s hoping there’s a sequel and George Martin and his men dream bigger, warts and all.
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