Oru CBI Diary Kurippu (1988) :
Brief Review -
A Classic Murder Mystery in Typical Indian Style Drama. What Dev Anand's CID missed can be found here as the time gap was big enough to fill the loopes. Having seen almost hundreds of Mystery thrillers from Hollywood Golden phase (30s, 40s and 50s) and some popular Bollywood films from 50s and 60s, Oru CBI Diary Kurippu was like a reply on different screen. The gap between these films is too much for what i can say, the filmmaking became much advanced and writers got enough references rather than making a pure original version. Oru isn't actually a dark crime film like those Old Hollywood's detective/cops thrillers but yes it is influenced by some of the old Bollywood and South Indian films. Actually, almost all Murder Mysteries are similar in a way, but we just have to differentiate them according to situations and storytelling. Instead of calling it a Murder Mystery, i would say Oru is solid Investigation Drama. Mostly, such films keep the murderers unknown till the end but Oru starts off right with known killer family, if not the exact killer. Those Satyajit Ray's Films on Feluda were damn slow and dark and missed light tone like this. Well, it wasn't needed but just to say that it adds repeat value to the Film. Prabhakara Varma is called upon to investigate the death of Omana, the daughter-in-law of a local businessman. It looks like a suicide but, Varma is sure that is not so. Then the CBI Officer Sethurama enters to solve this murder mystery with smooth and proper investigation. Mammootty arrives little late but once he arrives, he takes the charge of the film like all alone. The supporting cast is good. The screenplay is engaging, writing is superb, dialogue are regular, cinematography is average and Madhu's direction is fantastic. Overall, a Classic Murder Mystery in audience friendly atmosphere.
RATING - 8/10*
By - #samthebestest.
