Malayalam movie rewind: Why Mammootty’s 'Oru CBI Diary Kurippu' franchise still reigns as Kerala film's ultimate detective

Dubai: Let’s get one thing straight. Sethurama Iyer is to Malayalam cinema what Sherlock Holmes is to English literature, what Feluda is to Satyajit Ray, and what Byomkesh Bakshi is to Bengali fiction.

But unlike those pipe-smoking, trench-coat-wearing private detectives, Iyer doesn’t operate from the shadows. He’s all about official files, government tags, and cold, hard logic. Yes, I’m talking about the iconic character who walked into our lives in Oru CBI Diary Kurippu (1988) and never quite left.

Once that film became a runaway hit, the franchise had its claws in us. Four more movies followed: Jagratha (1989), Sethurama Iyer CBI (2004), Nerariyaan CBI (2005), and CBI 5: The Brain (2022). And at the heart of it all? Mammootty’s brilliant portrayal of the ever-composed, betel-chewing Tamil Iyer who sees through lies like they’re written in neon. A Pattar (Brahmin from Tamil Nadu) with a brain sharper than a scalpel and the patience of a saint.

The plot of the first installment of Diary Kurippu was loosely inspired by the real-life Polakkulam murder case, but make no mistake — this film was no documentary.

In it, the local police, predictably useless, write off a woman’s death as suicide because she couldn’t bear children. Her father isn’t buying it. Enter the CBI, and more importantly, enter Iyer. He pokes, prods, and politely dismantles every alibi until the murderer from within the family is exposed. No melodrama. No dramatic showdowns. Just pure investigative gold.

But the real magic? It wasn’t just Iyer. It was the team. Mukesh as the affable Chacko and Jagathy Sreekumar as the quirky Vikram — together, they formed Malayalam cinema’s version of a dream detective squad. Slick, sharp, and totally addictive. (For those keeping tabs: Mukesh is now an MLA, and Jagathy, after a tragic accident, is missed dearly on screen.)

Rumour has it that Iyer’s character was inspired by a real-life CBI officer who went on to head India’s National Investigation Agency — and he just happened to be Mammootty’s college senior. Coincidence? Maybe. But destiny clearly had a plan.

And here’s a bit of trivia that deserves its own fanfare — Diary Kurippu was one of the first Malayalam films to be dubbed and remade in multiple Indian languages. In fact, it ran for an entire year in Tamil Nadu. That’s no small feat. Especially for a film that subtly roasted the state police and forensic departments as being completely compromised by politicians and the powerful.

Techniques like dropping dummy bodies off rooftops to simulate suicide were introduced here — and then gleefully parodied in later films.

And let’s not forget the now-iconic “dummy edikku” moment—because obviously, when life gives you drama, Malayalam pop culture says: grab a dummy boy and chuck it off the terrace to replicate the murder. Instant meme material.

But here's what made it all work: pace. The story moved with zero fluff and maximum impact.

No long-drawn flashbacks, no slow-motion hero shots — just good old-fashioned deduction. Even if you already knew who did it and how, you’d still sit through the film again. And again. That, my friends, is the real masterstroke.