''Twenty One Gms'' is a 2022 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 written and directed by Bibin Krishna (in his feature film debut). The film stars

Anoop Menon Anoop Menon (born 3 August 1976) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and lyricist. He worked in television before acting in Malayalam films and has acted in more than 75 films. Menon won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Supporting Ac ...

as Crime Branch DYSP Nanda Kishore who investigates a series of murders that takes place within a week. It also features

Renji Panicker Renji Panicker (born 23 September 1960) is an Indian actor, scriptwriter, director, film producer, and journalist best known for his Malayalam films. He made his debut as a director with ''Bharatchandran IPS'' in 2005. Early life He did his ...

Leona Lishoy Leona Lishoy is an Indian actress and model who is known for her works primarily in Malayalam cinema. She is the daughter of Malayalam actor Lishoy. Personal life Leona is the daughter of Malayalam movie and television actor Lishoy. She did ...

Anu Mohan Anu Mohan (born 24 August 1990) is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam films. Career He made his debut in the 2011 film, ''Orkut oru Ormakut''. He also played the antagonist in Roopesh Peethambaran's '' Theevram''. Anu Mohan is the young ...

and Ranjith in supporting roles. The soundtrack was composed by

Deepak Dev Deepak Devraj Komath (born 30 April 1978), better known as Deepak Dev, is an Indian music composer, best known for his compositions in Malayalam cinema. He started his career in the Film Industry through the movie ''Chronic Bachelor'' (2003) di ...

, with lyrics written by

Vinayak Sasikumar Vinayak Sasikumar (born 13 June 1994) is an Indian lyricist, who works in Malayalam cinema. Personal life He was born in Trivandrum, Kerala to S. Sasikumar and Asha Sasikumar. At the age of 12, he started writing poetry. Later, he moved to Ch ...

. ''Twenty One Gms'' was released in theatres on 18 March 2022. It received positive reviews from critics.

Plot

Nanda Kishore is the Deputy Superintendent at the Police Crime Branch, who lives a sad life with his wife Gauri after their only daughter passes away. Anjali works a biomedical engineer at a multispecialty hospital in the city and comes across incriminating evidence against her hospital's Managing Director, John Samuel. She plans to hand over this evidence to an independent journalist Shihab, but before she could hand over the dossier, Shihab dies from a cardiac arrest and Anjali herself is also killed by John's henchman, Tipper Tony and employee Dr. Nikhil when they try to recover the dossier from her. Upon learning his sister's death, Anjali's brother Martin arrives from the US. John realizes that Martin is also a threat and sends Tony to finish him off. CI Sreenivasan gets a call that night about Martin's death as the neighbours got the stench of burning flesh. Investigation tightens as they start interrogating Jimmy, Martin's best friend and business partner. A manhunt for Tony also begins as he and his car are found to be missing. Meanwhile, Kishore's brother-in-law Vinay also gets involved as he begins to tail Dr. Nikhil one night after some suspicions arise. Further investigations reveal the malpractice that happened at John's hospital in testing unauthorized drugs on kids. Nikhil is also revealed dead soon after.Finding Tony's whereabouts and the perpetrators ( spoiler alert) behind the mysterious deaths from the climax of the story.

Cast

as Nanda Kishore,

Crime Branch The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is distinct from its Special Branch (though officers of ...

DYSP *

as Gouri, Kishore's wife * Alexander Prasanth as CI Sreenivasan *

as SI Sunny * Dilip Nambiar as Police Surgeon * Ranjith as Dr. John Samuel *

Manasa Radhakrishnan Manasa Radhakrishnan is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. Personal life She was born in Ernakulam district, Ernakulam, Kerala to Radhakrishnan V. K. and Sreekala and was raised in Dubai. She stu ...

as Anjali *

Chandunath G Nair Chandunath G. Nair, professionally credited as Chandhunadh, is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam cinema. Early life His father retired as a forest range officer and mother was a Hindi language professor at University of Kerala. Chandhu ...

as Martin * Vivek Anirudh as Vinay *

Lena Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in � ...

as Rachel

IPS IPS, ips, or iPS may refer to: Science and technology Biology and medicine * ''Ips'' (genus), a genus of bark beetle * Induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells * Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique * Intraparietal sulcus, ...

SP * Aji John as Jimmy * Jeeva Joseph as Nikhil Narayanan * Bineesh Bastin as Tipper Tonny *

Nandhu Nandalal Krishnamoorthy better known by his stage name Nandu is an Indian actor primarily working in Malayalam films. Although he has been in the industry for more than 30 years, he is acclaimed for his performance in Mohanlal' s ''Spirit'', dir ...

as Fr. Joseph *

Mareena Michael Kurisingal Mareena Michael Kurisingal is an Indian actress and Model (person), model who appears in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam and Tamil cinema, Tamil films. Career She is best known for her role in the 2017 film ''Aby (film), Aby'' opposite Vineeth Sre ...

as Abhirami *

Shanker Ramakrishnan Shanker Ramakrishnan is an Indian film screenwriter, director, producer and actor, who works primarily in the Malayalam cinema. Career He started his career immediately after completing post-graduation from the School of Management Studies, ...

as Shihab Mohammed, an

investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

as Dr. Alex Koshy, psychiatrist * Rajeesh Kartha as flower merchant

Production

The film is the directorial debut of Bibin Krishna, an IT engineer. The film was also produced by his IT colleague Rinish K. N. who was keen to produce films. In June 2021, Krishna told to ''

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 ...

'' that he had the screenplay completed four years ago but he used this time to improve his knowledge in filmmaking by working in short films.

heard the story in December 2020, who suggested to start filming in January 2021, they managed to start filming with the next 15 days. It was shot in

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

and

Vagamon Vagamon ( ml, വാഗമൺ) is an Indian hill station and a revenue village primarily located in Peerumedu taluk of Idukki district (majority area including Vagamon town), and also Meenachil taluk and Kanjirappally taluk of Kottayam dis ...

. Filming was completed in March 2021 just before 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 ...

Music

The soundtrack was composed by

, with lyrics written by

Release

The film was released in theatres on 18 March 2022. It was digitally released for streaming on

Disney+ Hotstar The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

on 10 June 2022. The satellite rights of the film were acquired by

Asianet Asianet may refer to: Disney Star channels *Asianet Communications, an Indian media company wholly owned by Disney Star **Asianet (TV channel), a Malayalam language general entertainment channel **Asianet Plus, a Malayalam language general entertai ...

Reception

The film generally received positive reviews from critics and audience. ''

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 ...

'' rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "A thriller that saves its twists till the end"

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 14774434 Indian crime thriller films Fictional portrayals of the Kerala Police Films about organised crime in India Films shot in Kochi 2022 thriller films 2022 directorial debut films