The Truth (1998 film)

The film begins with some insight into the Brahmin family of Patteri (Thilakan), a respected astrologer. He helps a police officer named Pothuval (Janardhanan) to crack an ill-famed temple robbery. The story then moves to the political arena, where the well-liked and righteous Chief Minister, P. Madhavan (Balachandra Menon) initiates a crackdown on corrupt Government officials, angering his party and ministers alike. In the by-election soon to follow, where he has to win to retain his position as the Chief Minister (CM), the party conspires against him for that matter. During a chance encounter with the CM, Patteri senses a bad omen regarding Madhavan's success and hopes maybe the by-elections won't happen. Meanwhile, an enigmatic and alluring woman is shown entering an apartment where she meets an accomplice and they go through the details of an assassination which they plan to carry out soon. Right before the Chief Minister's next election meeting, DGP Hariprasad (Murali) shares his concern about an anonymous threat call that he received with DySp John (Saikumar) asking him to tighten the security and to be with the CM at all times. But the plan is executed and the Chief Minister is killed along with the people on dais with him, including John.

The initial investigation is headed by the IPS officer Meena Nambiar (Vani Viswanath). Aided by a misplaced camera from the debris, suspicion is laid on the photograph of a ‘killer woman’, who sneaked into the venue using a forged journalist pass. They trace the local temporary residence of hers and arrest the home owner (Babu Namboothiri) and his family on charges of sheltering the culprit, although he was tricked by the woman. The investigation advance no further and this provokes the Judge dealing the case; because for no solid reason, the home owner and his family are being punished, due to the inefficiency of the investigating officer. The sensational nature of the case, achieved partly because of Meena Nambiar's media obsession, causes a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to take over.

The SIT arrives from Delhi and is headed by Bharath (Mammootty), an IPS officer posted in Ministry of Home Affairs, who is also Patteri's son. The initial friction between Bharath and Meena, dwindles to a friendship, once Bharath makes the first startling discovery. Bharath is targeted more than once by unknown assassins, on one occasion even inside the police HQ. While this frightens most, he gets convinced that the enemy is “near” and influential. He grows suspicious of the credibility of the photograph of the "killer woman". The fact that the residence of the killer yielded no female fingerprints and that there is an unidentified male fingerprint in the same apartment reveals to him that the photograph was a decoy. The killer is male and the photographs were used to misdirect the investigation. They learn the whereabouts of the killer by first generating a male version of photograph of the killer and then publicizing it. They also apprehend the killer's accomplice. But before being able to capture the killer, who goes by the name "Bose", they find him already murdered.

The investigation almost comes to a standstill, until they learn that there was a similar attempt before, which did not go as planned. The killer expected someone else to be with the CM, who was the Deputy Superintendent of Police (Dy.SP), John. They quickly learn that Dy.SP John was the real target and the death of the CM was a cover. The political conspiracy against the CM was used by the perpetrator to further misdirect the investigation. In search of a motive behind the assassination, the team finds that John was investigating an accidental explosion in a fireworks factory at the time. John was astonished by the findings of the case, where the explosives dealing license of the owner, Poozhimattom Thomachan (N. F. Varghese), an influential politician, was being employed for dealing with larger quantities of explosives driving terrorist activities in the country. John was killed for discovering the criminal activities and the murder of the state Chief Minister was used to distract the investigators. The perpetrator also feared the response of the Chief Minister should John's investigation report were to reach his hands.

The team's most astounding find then follows, with the discovery of the puppet master and the silent partner in the illegal explosive deals of Thomachan. The Director General of Police (DGP) Hariprasad, who administered the investigation from the beginning, is revealed to be the real perpetrator. He misled the previous investigation, initiated various attempts to murder Bharath to scare the team away and played the faithful ally throughout. The team submit the report and the guilty are put behind bars. The film ends with the Special Investigation Team flying back to Delhi, with a promise of promotion for Pothuval, their local help.

• Mammootty as Bharath Patteri IPS, Director SIT
• Vani Viswanath as SP Meena Nambiar IPS
• Thilakan as Sivapuram Patteri
• Murali as DGP Hariprasad IPS
• Divya Unni as SIT Officer Nimmy
• Saikumar as DySP John
• Jignesh Joshi as Killer Woman
• Balachandra Menon as Chief Minister Madhavan
• K. B. Ganesh Kumar as SIT Officer Prasad
• Sadiq as SIT Officer Peter
• Janardhanan as CI Kuttikrishna Pothuval
• N. F. Varghese as Poozhimattam Thomachan
• Cochin Haneefa as Party Secretary Kumaran
• Praveena as Gayathri
• Kollam Thulasi as Anwar Ahmed
• Augustine Police Officer
• K. P. A. C. Azeez as CKC Nambiar
• Subair as Judge
• Jagannathan
• Kunchan as Sankaran
• Kunjandi as Ramachandran Nair
• Babu Namboothiri as House Owner
• Vijayakumar as Journalist Babu

• The Truth at the Malayalam Movie Database