“In crime investigation, the truth often resembles a SPHERE. There are no sharp corners to hide behind”. This quote attributed to the director Samjad appears right at the beginning of the film and I spent the next few minutes trying to decipher the meaning of this quote, in vain. Malayalam films tend to have such quotes at the start of the film that set the tone of the film. The only thing I could conclude was that this could be an investigation thriller where there is more than just that meets the eye.
Golam – meaning a spherical object in Malayalam (the English spelling doesn’t do justice to the actual pronunciation) starts off quite staidly without any grand opening or drama.
Youngsters – men and women of different hues get ready in the morning for work and start trooping into what is an IT company in Cochin. The next few minutes go in detailing of this routine and it all seems normal. This aspect of the working routine in an IT company has been captured well and the attention to detail of the director shows. Soon enough, the boss who goes to the washroom doesn’t come out for a while and when the staff force opens the room, he is found dead.
From there on, the investigation team takes over to figure out if it was a natural death, a suicide, an accident or a murder. On all counts, it seems to be the 1st case. Everyone in the police team believes so, except the chief who feels something is amiss. Thereafter the film follows the pursuit of this police officer who goes after every possible evidence and tries to establish an ulterior motive. We are all waiting for the twist which eventually comes in through some providence.
For me, my antenna went up when we get to see a maidservant cleaning the office with a loud vacuum cleaner during busy office hours. In companies, this is done post office hours. From a storytelling and screenplay perspective the film follows the textbook formula of Agatha Christie thrillers. We are kept quite engaged throughout the proceedings, in particular the second half when the unravel happens.
Better thinking could have gone into establishing the motive. This is an investigation thriller and therefore logical fallacies are par for the course. Believability takes a backseat as long as the film keeps you hooked on to the proceedings. From that point of view, I liked the film. With around 8 minutes left for the film, the film is already over. After that, the director sows the seeds for the sequel with shots of the hero pumping and working out. This worries me for the tonality of the sequel!
The big cast of characters shown in the office do their roles their competently. Dileesh Pothan is passable in this role. Ranjith Sajeev who is the youthful IPS officer leading the investigation ambles along with an expressionless face throughout which works most of the time. The film is tightly edited with a run time of just 2 hours which is a plus for the film.
Towards the end, the murder case is closed but another larger conspiracy case opens taking us into the sequel. Golam is a well-made police procedural that is a good one-time watch. It is streaming on Amazon Prime. Yes, that detailed showing of the morning routine of the IT company staff does have a larger context towards the end.
AnandKumarRSonFilms 
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