12th Man (Malayalam)

Continuing my streak of viewing Malayalam films on OTT, I recently saw 12th Man (Malayalam). 

OTT Platform: Disney+ Hotstar.

This stars Mohanlal, and a bunch of characters (11). The other actors I am afraid I don't know due to my limited knowledge of the Malayalam film industry.

11 friends gather at a resort outside the city for a bachelors(?) party hosted for their friend Siddharth. It includes Fida, Siddharth’s fiancée Aarathy, Mathew and his wife Shiny, Jithesh and his wife Dr. Nayana, Sam and his wife Merin, Zachariah and his wife Annie.

7 out of the 11 are college mates. The others are their spouses / fiancee (1). In the beginning they are annoyed by a drunk person called Chandrashekar who demands alcohol for them. They try their best to get rid of him. But he keeps popping up everywhere, even in the party.

In the party, one of the group (Fida) says that even though they are close friends, there are always secrets between them. Others disagree. 

Then someone suggests that they should play a game to finish off this argument. The game is simple. Everyone will keep their mobile phones out on the table for 1 hour. Any call received will be played on speaker phone. Any private text will be read out.

As expected, nothing good comes out of this :-). One by one embarrassing secrets start tumbling out. Financial problems, family issues, etc. 

The icing on the cake comes when Siddharth gets a call from one of his friends asking about the name of abortion pills that he got for one of the women in their group. All hell breaks loose. Accusations and counter-accusations fly around as to who the woman is (and by association, who the man is that had an affair with her). Insults are thrown at each other

The party disintegrates rapidly. Everyone goes to different parts of the resort, including their own rooms.

After a while, Shiny is found dead near a view point. Did she fall, commit suicide, or was murdered?

The police arrive. The friendly drunkard - Chandrashekar - turns out to be actually an ACP who has been temporarily suspended. The actual investigating officer has to handle election duties, so he hands over the case to his superior (Chandrashekar).

And then the game of cat and mice begins. Everyone is called, Agatha Christie style, into a big room. They are told to unlock their phones and put them on the table. So the game is resumed, this time with Chandrashekar as the puppeteer. He accesses everyone's phones, tells them whom to call, what to speak, etc.

It's only these actions primarily that peel back the layers. A lot of skeletons tumble out of everyone's closets. Affairs, financial irregularities, huge money transfers between people in the group, etc. - a whole basket of motives is presented.. 

How Chandrashekar guides the investigation towards a conclusion is the meaty part of the movie. Mohanlal effortlessly switches between the drunkard in the beginning to the sharp detective after the incident. He has the meatiest role, and does full justice to it.

The other characters are also well cast. They make their roles believable to a large extent.

All in all, a good film. Family friendly, nothing to worry about.

Note: There is only Malayalam audio available, with English subtitles. I personally love watching any movie in its own language for the feel it gives. But to each his own. If you are looking for other language options, there aren't any for this film.