“Officer on Duty” Review: Kunchacko Boban Shines in a Gritty Yet Predictable Police Thriller

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Genre: Crime Thriller, Action Drama
Language: Malayalam
Director: Jithu Ashraf
Cast: Kunchacko Boban, Vishak Nair, Priyamani, Jagadish
Runtime: ~2.5 Hours

🕵️ Introduction: A Cop Story With Grit and Gaps

Officer on Duty, the latest Malayalam thriller directed by Jithu Ashraf, brings a dark, emotionally intense cop drama to the screen. Featuring a powerful performance by Kunchacko Boban, the film explores police brutality, trauma, and institutional corruption — but occasionally slips into predictable territory.

Inspired by Shahi Kabir’s gritty storytelling style, the film tackles both psychological depth and raw action, but doesn’t fully commit to either, resulting in an intense yet uneven ride.

🎭 Kunchacko Boban as Harishankar: A Flawed Hero with Layers

Kunchacko Boban delivers one of his strongest police officer roles to date as Harishankar, a volatile and haunted man grappling with his past and present. The film opens with a disturbing suicide scene that triggers his trauma, a rare sight in Indian cop cinema that typically glorifies emotionless machismo.

From rage-filled encounters to breakdowns and moral reckoning, Boban’s performance is both physically commanding and emotionally nuanced. His transformation from a violent enforcer to a guilt-ridden man is believable, although the script sometimes rushes his evolution.

🔍 Story & Direction: Fast-Paced but Too Familiar

The first half of Officer on Duty is gripping. Ashraf crafts a tense, relentless pace with high-stakes investigative work that feels urgent and real. However, once the plot introduces its stereotypical villain gang, the story dips into formulaic tropes — hoodie-wearing drug addicts, staged drug busts, and uninspired dialogue.

Where the film shines is in its atmosphere: mortuaries, rubber sheds, and suffocating police stations are captured with gritty realism. But the screenplay fails to develop key characters beyond Harishankar, particularly his wife Geetha (Priyamani), whose grief and struggles remain in the shadows.

🧠 A Deep Dive into Mental Health and Police Trauma

What separates Officer on Duty from typical cop thrillers is its unflinching look at mental health. Harishankar’s panic attacks and emotional scars mirror the growing trend in Malayalam cinema of humanising the police — a direction championed by writer Shahi Kabir (Joseph, Nayattu, Ela Veezha Poonchira).

This thematic depth, however, competes with the film’s attempt to be commercially accessible, leading to a second half that trades nuance for high-octane action.

⚔️ Action & Cinematography: Brutal, Believable, and Well-Choreographed

Despite narrative dips, the action sequences stand out. The fights in enclosed, realistic locations feel raw and improvised — characters grabbing anything they can to survive. There’s an underlying tension throughout that holds your attention, even when the plot starts feeling familiar.

Chaman Chakko’s sharp editing ensures the film never drags, though it often doesn’t give the audience time to absorb emotional beats.

📉 Missed Opportunities: One-Dimensional Villains, Rushed Redemption

While Boban’s Harishankar is layered and compelling, the villains lack depth. The gang members are reduced to caricatures, with Ramzan slightly standing out, and Vishak Nair delivering a solid physical performance but failing to generate fear or intrigue.

Moreover, the film attempts to redeem Harishankar’s flaws too quickly, glossing over the consequences of his violence with a simplistic emotional payoff.

✅ Final Verdict: A Watchable Thriller That Could’ve Been More

Officer on Duty offers a gritty, fast-paced police thriller with strong performances and intense set pieces, but stumbles in the second half due to formulaic storytelling and underdeveloped characters. Kunchacko Boban elevates the material with a committed performance, but the film ultimately settles for being commercially safe rather than narratively bold.

If you’re a fan of realistic cop dramas with a touch of emotional depth, it’s worth watching — just don’t expect a game-changer.