''Salute'' is a

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Indian

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

-language

crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

film, directed by

Rosshan Andrrews Rosshan Andrrews (born 6 January 1975) is an Indian film director who mainly works in Malayalam cinema. Biography Rosshan Andrrews was born to Moolakuzhi Nedumparampil Andrews and Burney. He attended St. Aloysious Thrissur and Cochin College, E ...

and written by Bobby-Sanjay starring

Dulquer Salmaan Dulquer Salmaan (born 28 July 1986) is an Indian actor, playback singer and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam and Tamil films, in addition to Telugu and Hindi films. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in business management ...

in the lead role as a cop. Produced by Dulquer Salmaan under his banner Wayfarer Films, the film has Aslam K. Purayil as the cinematographer while

A. Sreekar Prasad Akkineni Sreekar Prasad is an Indian film editor. He works predominantly in Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, and Hindi language films. In a career spanning more than 35 years, he has edited over 600 films. He is a recipient of nine National Film Awards ...

handles the editing and

Santhosh Narayanan Santhosh Narayanan is an Indian composer and musician in the Tamil film industry. Early life Santhosh Narayanan was born in Tiruchirappalli, India. He is the younger of two children. He was educated at RSK Higher Secondary School, Tiruchirappa ...

was signed on to compose the original background score before being replaced by

Jakes Bejoy Jakes Bejoy (born 27 May 1984) is an Indian film score composer, music producer, and singer. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, but has also worked in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi languages. He started his film musical career as a singer, i ...

. The film was scheduled for a theatrical release on the occasion of

Sankranti Sankranti ( sa, संक्रान्ति ''saṁkrānti or saṅkramaṇa'') means transmigration of the Sun from one zodiac to another in Indian astronomy. Each Sankranti is marked as the beginning of a month in the sidereal solar calen ...

in January 2022, but was indefinitely postponed later due to the rise of

Omicron Omicron (; uppercase Ο, lowercase ο, ell, όμικρον) is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet. This letter is derived from the Phoenician letter ayin: . In classical Greek, omicron represented the close-mid back rounded vowel in contras ...

cases in India. Later, it was announced that the film would be skipping the theatrical release and decided for a

direct-to-streaming Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the Art release, release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial movie theater, theatrical release or Television film, televisio ...

release on

SonyLIV SonyLIV is an Indian over-the-top freemium streaming platform owned by Culver Max Entertainment. SonyLIV was introduced in 2013 as the first OTT service in India. As a streaming service, it is carrying content from its local networks, includi ...

. It was set to have the world premiere on 18 March 2022, but premiered a day early, on 17 March 2022. The film marks

Diana Penty Diana Penty (; born 2 November 1985) is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Hindi films. She began her modelling career in 2005 when she was signed up by Elite Models India. Penty made her acting debut with the romantic comedy film '' ...

's Malayalam debut. It received positive reviews from critics.

Premise

Aravind Karunakaran a sub-inspector, along with his colleagues and superior, Deputy Superintendent Ajith Karunakaran, who is also his brother, arrest a man named Murali, who they are convinced was a murderer they were looking for, forging evidences against him. However, they discover to their shock soon after that the real murderer was someone else. While Ajith and the others are in solidarity over keeping silence about their misconduct, lest they risk their careers, Aravind retires from the force after refusing to be a part of the charade and getting condemned by his colleagues for the same. A few years later, when Aravind returns to his hometown for his niece's wedding, he discovers certain leads that can lead him to the actual culprit, thereby saving Murali. Aravind then rejoins the force and begins to conduct the investigation on his own time, narrowing on a potential serial killer and identity thief who has been behind several murders around Kerala over the years.

Cast

S.I. The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. E ...

Aravind Karunakaran *

Manoj K. Jayan Manoj Kadampoothramadom Jayan also known as Manoj K.Jayan is an Indian actor of Malayalam and Tamil films. He has also done a few Telugu and Kannada films and has also acted in a Bollywood film. Manoj has won three Kerala State Film Award for Se ...

as Dy.S.P. Ajith Karunakaran, Aravind's elder brother *

as Dia, Arvind's girlfriend *

Lakshmi Gopalaswamy Lakshmi Gopalaswamy is an Indian actress from Karnataka and a classical dancer, qualified in Bharatanatyam. She has mainly acted in Malayalam films, while also appearing in few Tamil and Kannada films. She has also acted in several television s ...

as Ajith's wife *

Saniya Iyappan Saniya Iyappan (born 20 April 2002) an Indian actress who works in Malayalam films and television shows. She is best known for her roles in the films ''Queen'' (2018) and ''Lucifer'' (2019). Career Saniya started her career in television, as a ...

as Malavika * Saikumar as Augustine Thomas *

Indrans Indrans is an Indian actor and former costume designer, who appears in Malayalam films.His mentor was Shiyas M S, a law college student. He started his film career as a costume designer and actor in 1981 and got a breakthrough in 1994 with the ...

as home guard *

Binu Pappu ''Binu Pappu'' (born December 13, 1982), is an Indian actor and assistant director primarily working in the Malayalam movie industry. He is the son of legendary actor Kuthiravattam Pappu. He is mainly noted for his performances in the movies Hel ...

Pramod Peter * Alencier Ley Lopez as Maraar *

Sudheer Karamana Sudheer Karamana (born 24 May 1971) is an Indian actor who appears mainly in Malayalam cinema. He is the son of veteran actor Karamana Janardanan Nair. Personal life He is the eldest son to actor Karamana Janardanan Nair and Jaya, at Karamana, ...

as Chandran Pilla *

Boban Alummoodan Boban Alummoodan is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam films and Television serials. He is the son of the late Malayalam actor Alummoodan. He is best known for his role as ''Prakash Mathew'' in the 1999 movie Niram. Boban played a lead ro ...

as Mahesh *

Shaheen Siddique Shaheen Siddique (born 21 February 1989) is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam films. The son of film actor Siddique, Shaheen made his debut with the Malayalam film ''Pathemari'' (2015) directed by National Award winner Salim Ahamed. He p ...

Mahesh *

Ramu The Ramu River is a major river in northern Papua New Guinea. The headwaters of the river are formed in the Kratke Range from where it then travels about northwest to the Bismarck Sea. Along the Ramu's course, it receives numerous tributaries ...

as I. G. Sam Eapan Koshi * Rajesh Sharma as Thampi *Abhiram as A.S.I. Rajith * Irshad as Royce *

Ganapathi S Poduval Ganapathi S. Poduval is an Indian actor who entered the Malayalam film industry as a child actor. He is well known for his roles in the movies ''Vinodayathra'' and ''Pranchiyettan & The Saint''. He also played a major role in the movie ''Chit ...

as Thampi's son *

Vinod Sagar Vinod Sagar is an Indian actor and dubbing artist working in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, mostly as a supporting actor. Making his debut with '' Idhayam Thiraiarangam'', he played almost 30 small roles, before getting noticed in ''Pichaikka ...

as Murali *

Maala Parvathi Parvathi T., also known as Maala Parvathi, is an Indian actress, who appears in Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu films Personal life Parvathi was born in Thiruvananthapuram, to Adv C. V. Thrivikraman and gynaecologist Dr K. Lalitha. She complete ...

Women's Commission The Women's Refugee Commission is a 501(c)(3) Non-Governmental Organization that aims to improve the lives and protect the rights of Women, Children, and Youth displaced by conflict or crisis. Established in 1989 by Norwegian Actress and film ...

staff *Nitin Thomas as Naveen * Monisha Arshak as Jhansi *Balan Parakkal as Mujeeb *Sreeja Ajith as Aravind's sister

Production

Development

In May 2020, during the seven year anniversary of film ''Mumbai Police'', director Rosshan Andrrews announced that he would be teaming up with Dulquer Salmaan for his next film which is a thriller. The film's story and screenplay is written by his regular collaborators Bobby & Sanjay marking their sixth film together.

Filming

The

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began on 3 February 2021, in

Kollam Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city i ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Diana Penty joined the sets on 9 February 2021 marking her debut in Malayalam film. Manoj K Jayan joined the shooting on 12 February 2021. The major locations are

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

Kasargode Kasaragod () is a municipal town and administrative headquarters of Kasaragod district in the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1966, Kasaragod was the first municipal town in the district. It is the northernmost district of Kerala and ...

, and

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

Release

''Salute'' released on

SonyLiv SonyLIV is an Indian over-the-top freemium streaming platform owned by Culver Max Entertainment. SonyLIV was introduced in 2013 as the first OTT service in India. As a streaming service, it is carrying content from its local networks, includi ...

on 17 March 2022 as a Direct-to-OTT release. The film was originally planned to release in April 2021, but was postponed multiple times due to waves of the

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

. The premiere was rescheduled multiples times, including for October 2021, December 2021, and January 2022.

Controversies

On 15 March 2022, ahead of the film's release, the Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala (FEUOK), banned

's movies from releasing in theatres anymore since the lead actor, producer, makers had violated the rules and given the film out for a direct OTT release even though they had confirmed that it would have a theatrical release first. They also banned

Wayfarer Films Dulquer Salmaan (born 28 July 1986) is an Indian actor, playback singer and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam and Tamil films, in addition to Telugu and Hindi films. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in business management ...

and Dulquer Salmaan projects. They said the ban would be permanent and refused to co-operate with Dulquer. Later the ban was withdrawn by them.

Reception

In a review for ''

Firstpost ''Firstpost'' is an Indian online news and media website. The site is a part of the Network 18 media conglomerate owned by Reliance Industries, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC-TV18. The ''Network 18'' group was originally owned by Raghav ...

'',

Anna M. M. Vetticad Anna Mercy Mathews Vetticad, commonly known as Anna M. M. Vetticad, is an Indian film critic and journalist. She has been in the field of journalism since 1994. Vetticad has also hosted her own interview show, ''Star Trek'', on Headlines Today ...

rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, “For the most part, ''Salute'' remains engaging (...) Somewhere in the second half though, the narrative begins to stretch itself, mistaking length for ruminativeness and needless additional seconds for detail.”''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' gave 3.5/5 and wrote ," A cop drama with a difference."

Rediff.com Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

gave 3.5/5 and wrote, "Salute explores narratives of police brutality and unethical practices, power-hungry politicians who will stop at nothing and the helplessness of innocent victims of crime, observes Divya Nair". ''

The News Minute ''The News Minute'' is an Indian digital news platform based in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was founded by Dhanya Rajendran, Chitra Subramaniam and Vignesh Vellore in 2014. Apart from Karnataka, it also has bureaus in the states of Telangana, And ...

'' gave 3.5/5 and wrote, "Dulquer's thriller is an engaging police procedural". Filmibeat gave 3/5 and wrote, "Salute is a realistic, unconventional, and intriguing cop drama that dares to take a different route. This Dulquer Salmaan starrer is definitely worth a watch". ''

The Quint ''The Quint'' is an English and Hindi language Indian general news and opinion website founded by Raghav Bahl and Ritu Kapur after their exit from Network18. The publication's journalists have won three Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Aw ...

'' gave 3/5 and wrote, "Dulquer Salmaan's Gripping Thriller Deserves a Salute, Almost".

Pinkvilla Pinkvilla is an Indian entertainment and lifestyle platform. As of June 2022, Pinkvilla has over 5,00,00,000 visitors on its website and app. Overview Pinkvilla covers entertainment and lifestyle stories. Its coverage extends to Bollywood, H ...

gave 3/5 and wrote, "A cold, detached character study in the guise of a crime procedural". "Janani K of ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new onl ...

'' gave the film a rating of 3/5 and wrote "Dulquer Salmaan's riveting cop drama is replete with new ideas". Shilpa Nair Anand of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' commented "Dulquer Salmaan scores with his restrained performance as a cop". Mirchi9 gave 2.5/5 and wrote, " Dulquer's thriller is an engaging police procedural".

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

Reviewed "Dulquer Salmaan shines in absorbing investigative drama".

References

External links

* {{Wayfarer Films 2020s Malayalam-language films 2022 crime thriller films Indian thriller drama films Films directed by Rosshan Andrrews Indian direct-to-video films 2022 direct-to-video films Fictional portrayals of the Kerala Police Direct-to-video thriller films SonyLIV original films Indian police films Films about police officers Films about identity theft Films about miscarriage of justice Films shot in Kollam Films shot in Thiruvananthapuram Films shot in Thrissur Films scored by Jakes Bejoy