There is a pattern in which an investigative story moves in Malayalam films and it is always in a moving vehicle that the narrative goes forward irrespective of the vehicle, which has come a long way since the humble Ambassador.
Now the car models matches the stature of the star, and so we have the Toyota Qualis, Mahindra Scorpio or even an imported Land Cruiser.
Following this trend, Suresh Gopi's Nadiya Kollapetta Rathri, which is directed by K Madhu (of the CBI series) sees the hero investigating a triple murder in a moving Scorpio.
The novelty is the story, which is about the anti-terror wing of the Railway Police (with a catchy acronym RACT). Then we have an adrenaline pumping beginning where the team actually catches a human bomb aboard a running train.
Sharafuddin Tharamasi (Suresh Gopi) is a former encounter specialist who is credited with cleaning up the mess in Chennai. His first case is that of an unsolved murder of three female passengers on board the Chennai-Mangalore Souparnika Express's maiden journey.
From here on, the film takes the path of a usual suspense thriller, with Suresh Gopi's speech being the tool to take the story forward.
The victims include a TV reporter, a dancer and a national shooting Champion while the list of suspects consists of an interesting mix of people -- a senior police officer, four young doctors, a young actress and her mother and a Tamil novelist.
Writer Sajan A K has put in a lot of topical events to bind the story and they are pirated CDs, gold smuggling, and a Malayali item girl to name a few. Even mercy killing of brain dead people is discussed at length. However, all his efforts come a cropper as he fails to make a cohesive whole.
Suresh Gopi is his usual self and does not bring anything new to the table. His acting consists mainly of a clenched fist and shouting the same lines uttered mildly a moments ago to suspects who do not toe the line.
Kavya Madhavan, in the title role (Nadia) is shown as a brain dead patient in an ICU while her identical twin sister, Nadira, fights for her right to live.
Siddique in an A R Rahman getup is the Ghazal King Ghulam Musafir and prospective father-in-law of Nadira. He advocates mercy killing for Nadiya, which makes him one of the suspects.
Suraaj Venjaaramoodu in the role of a corrupt TC with a weakness for playing cards provides some comical reprieve. Anoop supports him as the 'attender'.
Meanwhile, there are glitches galore in the narrative as some of the loose ends are not tied up convincingly. In the end, Suresh Gopi tells the original culprit to confess. But, there are still some glaring inconsistencies that leave us numb.
It is likely that K Madhu's intention was to make a serious version of No: 20 Madras Mail (a blockbuster made in the mid-eighties that set the trend of crime thrillers in Malayalam). But his attempt leaves us with a craving to see the former once again.
Rediff Rating: