Nayattu, Operation Java, Nizhal and Aarkkariyam: 4 crime thrillers with 4 different moods

May 2021 belonged to Malayalam cinema on OTT platforms. While there has been a plethora of releases, four of them particularly stand out – Nayattu (Netflix), Operation Java (ZEE5), Nizhal (Amazon Prime) and Aarkkariyam (Amazon Prime, NeeStream, Cave and Roots) – as they are essentially crime thrillers but poles apart like chalk and cheese.

OTTplay caught up with Operation Java director Tharun Moorthy, Nayattu scriptwriter Shahi Kabir, Aarkkariyam director Sanu John Varughese and Nizhal director Appu Bhattathiri to know how they have handled the respective content and what makes it different from conventional crime thrillers. 

Operation Java

What is it about?

The film deals with three different cases that Kochi’s cyber cell investigates with the help of two engineering graduates.

Tharun on picking the subject and how he presented it:

There haven’t been many cyber-crime thrillers in Indian cinema. Nobody knows much about what the police’s cyber wing does. That’s why we selected this. All three cases in the film are of different types and need different modes of investigation. So, the viewer is getting three different experiences in a single film that is also infused with problems that normal people face in their daily lives.

We wanted the investigations to show the audience something new every five minutes. The first case was the Premam censor copy leak as it was a defining probe for Kerala’s cyber cell and that hooks the audience. For the second case, we had to address the fake calls and credit card scams that happen to normal people. The aim for the final one was to keep the audience at the edge of their seats and that’s why it has a series of murders. The characters of Dasan and Antony tie all this up together.

Aarkkariyam

What is it about?

A Mumbai-based couple reach their home in Kerala a day before the pandemic lockdown is announced. As the husband struggles with financial issues, the wife’s father suggests a solution but they will have to unearth a dark secret.

Sanu on picking the subject and how he presented it:

Geographical isolation has a big part to play in the film and that’s why we set it in Pala, where you have houses located in the middle of a huge property. The movie was also made to shoot during the pandemic. My age too was a decisive factor because I am 49 and this is the type of dynamics between characters that I am more interested in. I am observing these and it reflects in my works. Fifteen years ago, if I would have made this film, it would have been a thriller full of twists and turns.

It’s a movie that travels with the characters. What makes the scene after which Ittyavira nonchalantly let's Roy in on the secret impactful is the sudden jump from the pace and the mood that the movie is being told. The contrast is what makes it work. The biggest challenge was telling the story we want so that it reaches the greatest number of people while also not compromising our beliefs in cinema. I am happy that people saw all that is there in the movie – the layers, the connections. The film worked because it communicated in terms of information as well as emotions.

Nayattu

What is it about?

A scuffle with a local goon spirals out of control when three cops get into an accident and are forced to go on the run.

Shahi on picking the subject and how he presented it:

Nayattu’s core idea is based on an incident that happened in Piravom in 2011. I heard that a few policemen had faced this problem. They had to go into hiding for about 100 days and got bail from the Supreme Court despite massive pressure from every side to deny them that. I tried calling a police officer to get information but he never called back. So, I used my imagination to write this script.

There wasn’t any specific plan in terms of how we wanted the film to be. Once we established the characters, the story naturally unfolded itself. What I think worked was that it was told from the perspective of the police. It presented police officers in a different light from how they are usually shown. Everyone who is involved in this case is doing things as part of their survival – be it the chief minister, the government or the investigative officers. They are all doing this to protect themselves; there aren't any villains in Nayattu.

Nizhal

What is it about?

A magistrate, who is recovering from a traumatic accident, is intrigued by stories of murders from a young boy. He sets out to find out if these incidents are real.

Appu on picking the subject and how he presented it:

When we began writing the script of Nizhal, we knew that we had to steer clear of the typical structure of investigative thrillers. It had to travel from one character to another; in this case, it begins with John Baby, how he meets this child and then how he goes behind the intriguing stories that the boy tells him. For this I didn’t really need to use the same elements that I have usually seen in Malayalam films. I wanted to build a visual narrative like we see in the films of David Fincher and Denis Villeneuve. Nizhal is again a conversational thriller and that’s the grammar we wanted to use.

Also, if you would see, none of the acts of crime are shown. We didn’t use flashbacks either. Most of the Malayalam crime thrillers follow the investigation, reveal how the crime was committed and then show the past of the characters. The flashbacks sometimes don’t feel too convincing. It strays from the core narrative and becomes just an episode for feeding information. We didn’t want that. Also, even though Nizhal had a cinematic narrative, we presented it in a grounded manner. It didn’t have any gripping chases or action sequences; it was a slow-burn thriller.