With CBI 5: The Brain, the CBI series of films returns after 17 years for its fifth and ostensibly last installment. The film, directed by K Madhu (the series’ director), reintroduces some of our favourite characters to the big screen. Mammootty plays Sethurama Iyer in the film, as he does in all CBI flicks. Renji Panicker, Ramesh Pisharody, Soubin Shahir, Mukesh, Saikumar, Kottayam Rameshan, and Anoop Menon play supporting roles. A thrilling Mallyali film involving betrayals and killings, piques the audience’s curiosity.
Plot:
The story begins with a C.B.I. officer instructing a new group of I.P.S. officers. The C.B.I. officer decides to teach them a lesson about the sudden incidents they will encounter while on the job and tells them a story about a case that boggled their heads. He narrates the case in great detail, including an explanation of the basket murders. A large number of people were murdered in this case, but the deaths were judged to be due to natural causes. The students listened intently and utilized it as a case study to learn more about their plans.
Review
I don’t understand why people leave bad reviews!!
A fantastic film that begins slowly, like any film of this sort should. In the first 30-45 minutes, the introduction of characters and tale telling as a flashback with a succession of seemingly unconnected killings may challenge your patience. I agree that this could have been presented better. Some of the acting in this film appears to be poor.
However, once you’ve gotten through that, Mammooty and his pals pick up the case and make it exciting! Mammooty, as usual, does an excellent job in his role, as do the other actors who do an excellent job in theirs. The director does an excellent job with the story thread, which is full of subplots.
I kept guessing and glued until the finish to see how things would turn out! It can go fast at times, and you must keep your grey cells active in order to connect the dots!! I loved the CBI series’ BGM, which reminded me of seeing the first film in Chennai’s Safire theatre years ago!! The cinematography and editing were excellent! Thank goodness there were no tunes (which happens with Tamil movies even in this genre)
While the cops are still piecing the puzzles together at the first intermission, one’s mind can fill up with a lot of knowledge, analysis, and more. The film excels in keeping us on tenterhooks and engaged enough in the second half, until Mr. Lyer eventually dissects the vital hint.
Definitely worth watching one or two times, especially if you want to recap or take your time to understand the plot.
I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5!
