''Witness'' is a 1988

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 ...

investigative thriller made in

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 ...

, directed by

Viji Thampi Viji Thampi is an Indian film director, actor and social activist who works in Malayalam films. Thampi is a member of Thiruvananthapuram regional board of the Central Board of Film Certification and the State Advisor of Kerala Kshetra Samraksha ...

and co-written by

Jagathy Sreekumar Sreekumar P. K. (born 5 January 1951), better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar or simply Jagathy, is an Indian actor, director and playback singer, who has appeared in over 1500 Malayalam films in a career spanning almost four decad ...

, starring

Jayaram Jayaram Subramaniam, (born 10 December 1965) known mononymously as Jayaram, is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam,Tamil films, along with a few Telugu films. He is also a chenda percussionist, mimicry artist, and occasiona ...

, Parvathy,

Madhu Madhu (Sanskrit: ) is a word used in several Indo-Aryan languages meaning ''honey'' or ''sweet''. It is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European ''*médʰu'', whence English '' mead''. Metaphorical use ''Madhu'' has been used for millennia si ...

and

Sukumaran Edappal Ponnamkuzhi Veettil Parameswaran Sukumaran Nair (10 June 1948 – 16 June 1997), known mononymously as Sukumaran, was an Indian actor and producer of Malayalam films. Sukumaran became a popular film star in Malayalam cinema during the 1 ...

in the lead roles.

Plot

Balagopalan (

) arrives in Thiruvananthapuram with 12500 rupees stolen from his father. He finds his friend Jayakumar (

) who is working as a junior artist in films. After losing the money, they start an evening food stall. Rivalry with another stall leads them to Police station where they acquaint with advocate Madhavan (

). Under the guidance of Madhavan Thampi, the friends start a call service called "We Help" to help people. Balu gets a call from Indu R. Nair ( Parvathy), who is the daughter of a businessman. Later, Indu asks Balagopalan to be her bodyguard. But when Jayakumar and Balagopalan visit her home, they discover that Indu has been murdered. Police Officer Thomas Mathew (

) takes charge of the case. Madhavan tries to find her killer to save Balagopalan and Jayakumar, before it is too late. Police officer Thomas Mathew initially arrests Balu and Kumar based on circumstantial evidence since they were found at Indu's House after her murder. However, Madhavan Thampi bails them out while further investigation proceeds. Thomas Mathew suspects Indu's Uncle Rajagopalan Nair to be the culprit since he was Indu's caretaker after her parents were killed in an accident years ago and the two had a falling out earlier when Indu decided to manage her wealth on her own. He also questions Alex Williams, Indu's college mate who had a history of harassing her before. Meanwhile, Balu and Kumar try to find some evidence to find the real murderer. They break into Indu's flat and find a sketch made by her, probably of her murderers. Madhavan Thampi takes the sketch to Thomas Mathew who runs it against the list of available habitual criminals. They find the picture matching with Hamsa and his accomplice, both of whom are professional killers imprisoned currently under another case. Since they were already arrested at the time of crime, Thomas Mathew dismisses the sketch as a false lead and decides to arrest Balu and Kumar. Meanwhile, Madhavan Thampi investigates of his own to find the real murderers also. Finally at the court during the cases’ hearing, he divulges before the court that the actual killer is none other than CI Thomas Mathew himself. Thomas was transferred to this police station from his earlier place as punishment transfer to the suspected lock-up murder of a lower caste activist. He learns that CI Alexander who is investigating that case is all set to implicate Thomas on the case and tries to influence him. When Alexander relents to let go off the case, Thomas Mathew decides to finish him off. He hires Hamsa and his accomplice who murder police officer Alexander on a rainy night. Unfortunately, this murder was witnessed by Indu who was on her way back from in the night after her tour with friends. Frightened at witnessing the murder, she informs the local police station of the incident, but unfortunately the call is attended by Thomas Mathew himself who had framed a fake case and put Hamsa and his accomplice behind bars as an alibi to cover up the murder. He visits Indu's apartment next day early morning and murders Indu. Madhavan Thampi proves this with the help of the apartment watcher who had seen Thomas Mathew and the bartender who has overheard Thomas Mathew trying to influence Alexander at the police club. Thomas Mathew finally confesses at the court and Balu and Kumar are acquitted.

Cast

as Balagopalan / Balu *

as Jayakumar / Kumar *

as Adv. Madhavan Thampi *

as CI Thomas Mathew * Parvathy as Indu R. Nair *

Innocent Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience. In relation ...

as Sankunni Nair *

Jayabharathi Jayabharathi is an Indian actress. She is a two-time recipient of the Kerala State Film Award for best actress. Jayabharathi's first leading role was given by director P. Bhaskaran for his movie Kattukurangu in 1969. Later she became one of ...

as Dr.Sreedevi *

Thilakan Palappurathu Kesavan Surendranatha Thilakan (15 July 1935 – 24 September 2012) was an Indian film and stage actor who appeared in over 200 Malayalam films. Thilakan was known for his elaborate method acting, realistic and spontaneous appearan ...

as SI Vikraman Nair *

Suresh Gopi Suresh Gopi (born 26 June 1958) is an Indian actor, politician, playback singer and television presenter. He works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and has also appeared in some Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bollywood films. Suresh made his acti ...

as Alex Williams * Siddique as CI Alexander *

Vijayaraghavan Vijayaraghavan (born 20 December 1951) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. He is popular for his character roles. He is the son of popular drama and cinema artist N. N. Pillai. He got his break by playing the iconic ...

as Usthad Hamsa *

Alex Mathew Mathew Mullasseril Alex (25 May 1959 – 23 June 2015), popularly known as Dr. M. M. Alex was an Indian actor and a Human Life Scientist. He was known for starring in blockbuster Malayalam films, ''Rajavinte Makan'' (1986) and ''Thoovanathumbi ...

as Henry *

K. P. A. C. Azeez Azeez (27 November 1934 – 16 July 2003) was an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 100 films. He came into the movie industry as a villain, later he started doing character roles, such as police officer, jailer, and ministe ...

as Rajagopalan Nair *

Jagadish P. V. Jagadish Kumar (born 12 June 1955) known mononymously as Jagadish, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, television presenter and former politician. He has starred in over 375 Malayalam films and 2 Hindi films. He is best known for his comi ...

as Podiyan *

Nedumudi Venu Kesavan Venugopal (22 May 1948 – 11 October 2021), better known by his stage name Nedumudi Venu, was an Indian actor and screenwriter from Kerala, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 500 films, primarily in Ma ...

as Himself *

Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair (16 October 191611 March 1997) was an Indian poet, playwright, script writer, lyricist, orator, film director and actor, though he is best known as an actor in Malayalam cinema. He is the recipient of Padma Shri from t ...

as Old Man *

Poojappura Ravi Raveendran Nair, known by his stage name Poojappura Ravi is an Indian actor, primarily concentrating in Malayalam films doing comedy roles. He was a stage actor and was a part of ''Kalanilyam Drama Vision'', the famous drama institution. He sta ...

as Chandrasekharan, College Professor *

Kalabhavan Rahman Kalabhavan Rahman is a Malayalam film actor in Kerala. Career Rahman started his film acting career in 1986 with a unimportant role. Reghunath Paleri directed the title Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare. He hails from Aluva in Kerala. Rahman is alu ...

as L. Murali Raghavan *

Rajan Sankaradi Rajan Sankaradi (6 November 19531 August 2016) was an Indian film director. He started his career as an assistant director under Balachandra Menon. He had directed the films '' Guruji Oru Vakku'' (1985), ''Meenathil Thalikettu'' (1998) and '' ...

as Chandu

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

Ouseppachan Mechery Louis Ouseppachan (born 13 September 1955), known mononymously as Ouseppachan, is an Indian film composer and singer who primarily works in Malayalam films. He is a recipient of National Film Award, Filmfare Award and Kerala State Film ...

and the lyrics were written by

Bichu Thirumala B. Sivasankaran Nair, popularly known as Bichu Thirumala (13 February 1942 – 26 November 2021), was an Indian lyricist and poet. He is known for creating the style of arranging beautiful words in Malayalam film songs. In Malayalam cinema, Bich ...

Box office

The film was a commercial success.

Remake

The film was remade in Telugu as ''Sakshi'' with

Rajendra Prasad Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian politician, lawyer, Indian independence activist, journalist & scholar who served as the first president of Republic of India from 1950 to 1962. He joined the Indian Nationa ...

References

External links

* {{Ranjith 1980s Malayalam-language films Indian mystery thriller films 1988 films 1980s mystery thriller films Malayalam films remade in other languages Fictional portrayals of the Kerala Police Films shot in Thiruvananthapuram Films directed by Viji Thampi Films scored by Ouseppachan