The Truth (1998 film)

Plot

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 a political arena, where the well-liked and righteous Chief Minister, Madhavan (Balachandra Menon) initiates a crackdown on corrupt Government servants, 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 a flat where she meets an accomplice and they go through the details of an assassination which they plan to carry out soon. The plan is executed and the Chief Minister is killed along with a few other officers, by an explosion while on dais of a public election meeting.

The initial investigation is headed by the IPS officer Meena Nambiar (Vani Vishwanath). 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 an IRS officer posted in Ministry of Home Affairs(Mammootty), who is 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 assassinators, on one occasion even inside the police HQ. While this frightens most, he gets convinced that the enemy is “near” and influential. In spite of so many complicated deceptive leads, 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 there is an unidentified male fingerprint in the same apartment reveals to him that the photograph was a decoy. The killer is a male and the police kept chasing someone who isn’t there. They learn the whereabouts of him, by strategic publicizing of a generated photograph of the man. They also apprehend the killer’s accomplice. But, close to capturing the killer, who goes by the name Bose, they find him killed by the enemy.

The investigation now almost comes to a standstill, until they learn that there was a similar attempt before, which did not materialize. The killer expected someone else with the CM, who was the Deputy Superintendent of Police (Dy.SP), John. They quickly learn that Dy.SP John (Saikumar) was the actual target and the death of the CM was an added advantage. The illusion of a political conspiracy against the CM was the enemy’s trump card. 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 finds of the case, where the explosives dealing license of the owner, Poozhimattom Thomachan (N. F. Varghese), was being employed for dealing with larger quantities of explosives driving terrorist activities in the State. He was killed for that matter and the CM was chosen for a strong deception. Also the enemy feared the CM, if John’s investigation report were to reach his hands.

Thomachan is a politician and was a Minister in Madhavan’s Ministry, but is too incapable a person, to have masterminded the brilliant scheme. 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, was the actual culprit they were after. He (Murali) was the one who 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 team flying back to Delhi, with a promise of promotion to Pothuval, their local help.

Cast