The King (1995 film)

The city of Kozhikode is victimized by a massive communal riot against the slums, costing the lives of 12 civilians. A wildlife photographer named Madhu Kumar witnesses a group of criminals transporting explosives through the local forest check post, so he calls up the local police commissioner Shankar and passes on the information. Shankar asks him to wait for his officers to pick him up. But instead of the police, it is the same goons who come for Madhu, resulting in his death. While having the police to fight against the rioters, the aggressive and belligerent, yet honorable and incorruptible District Collector Joseph Alex is suspicious of Shankar's activities and decides to suppress the riots and investigate the case. He is assisted by ASP Prasad, one of the sincere officers who admires Joseph for his arrogant way of dealing with politicians and officials. Also tagging along with Joseph is the young assistant district collector Anura Mukerji, who completed her training in Trivandrum. At first, Anura's carefree style conflicts with Joseph's strict behavior, but it later turns out that Anura's behavior originated from the horrible experiences when her father cheated on her mother a lot, and that her mother prayed to no avail, which is why Anura pretended to be a freak to ease her pain. Upon learning this, Alex warms up to her.

The next day, Joseph is brought over to a personal hearing with the state minister John Varghese, who berates him over his behavior while attempting to stop the riots. However, Joseph stands up by constructively reprimanding Varghese for his belief in using his authority to belittle and harass others. Meanwhile, Madhu's father reaches out to Prasad for filing a man missing case, resulting in Prasad discovering Madhu's corpse with his camera, but the film is missing.

As the investigation heats up, Member of Parliament Jayakrishnan is assisting in relief works in the damaged area by meeting the aggrieved entities after his arrival from Delhi. However, it turns out that he is the mastermind behind the massacre as he planned the communal violence against the slums to plan a new real estate business in the area. Also involved in the conspiracy are Varghese and Shankar, as the latter revealed that he sent up the goons to find and kill Madhu to cover their tracks.

The local police medical surgeon Dr. Vijay, who has conducted the autopsy of Madhu, later finds that Madhu was actually murdered. However, before he could reveal it to the public, he was found dead in a road accident the next morning. Eventually, Joseph finds a new ally in a young man named Sanjay, who happens to be a close buddy of Joseph during his Mussourie training days and Dr. Vijay's younger brother. Joseph, along with Sanjay and Prasad, find out that Dr. Vijay was injected with a powerful drug by the same goons who killed Madhu, which could have contributed to the accident. While Jayakrishnan flies off to Delhi to accept his new job as cabinet minister of Central Ministry, Joseph interrogates Varghese, who then reveals the identity of the leading goon (Ananthashankara Iyer) who is responsible for the murders of Madhu and Dr. Vijay. After arresting Iyer at a shopping mall, Joseph uses the same sedative to force Iyer into giving out important information of the conspiracy behind the communal riot. However, before Alex and Prasad could escort Iyer to the police station, Iyer's boss Vikram Khorpade, a Mumbai underworld don who has strong ties with Jayakrishnan and being a major player in the conspiracy, arrives and causes a shootout that allowed him to rescue Iyer. Vikram also takes the opportunity to personally kill Anura by shooting her down before fleeing away with Iyer, much to Joseph's shock.

Declaring this personal, Joseph, Prasad, and Sanjay track down Vikram and his goons to a horse farm. After Sanjay kills Iyer by hanging him on a chain, Joseph takes Vikram into custody, forcing him to reveal the identities of the people behind the conspiracy. On the arrival at the airport after a sworn-in ceremony as the new Cabinet Minister, Jayakrishnan is met by an angry Joseph and several other officers, as they have awaited for his return. Joseph then takes the opportunity to reveal Jayakrishnan's plans and conspiracy to the public, using both Iyer's and Vikram's confession as proof of his findings. As a result, Jayakrishnan is placed under arrest for conspiracy to crime and murder while Shankar is suspended from the police force and arrested by his own officers for the same charges. However, Jayakrishnan, refusing to concede defeat, takes one of his guards' guns and fires at the crowd, killing Vikram and several citizens. Jayakrishnan then uses the commotion to make a getaway in a car, only for Joseph to shoot the gas tank, resulting an explosion that destroys the car, killing Jayakrishnan inside. Joseph is then hailed as a hero by the public for his actions.

• The King at IMDb
• The King at Pixslate