Written and Directed by the debutant Tharun Moorthy, Operation Java(2021) is a cyber police procedural. It is based on several real life cyber crimes. The movie has a structure similar to 2016 police drama film Action Hero Biju. But compared to Biju, Operation Java gives you the mood of a thriller as most of the investigations that are shown needed evidence tracking, interrogations, chasing scenes etc.
Movie revolves around the lives of two B-Tech passouts Antony George and Vinaya Dasan and their involvement with the Cyber Police in solving several crimes. Their desperation for a job after passing out makes them investigate the Premam movie piracy case and their work earns them temporary staff positions in the Cyber Cell.
Balu Varghese and Lukman had bulk of the screentime and they have done a decent job as the frustrated techies struggling for job opportunities initially and as part timers later. They were successful to an extend in showing their vulnerability when put onfield duty as well. Binu Pappu, Vinayakan and Shine Tom Chacko do impressive jobs in their brief roles.
The background score by Jakes Bejoy, though familiar elevates the mood of the investigation, chase sequences, and emotional scenes. Faiz Siddique has done the cinematography and was quite remarkable in capturing the night sequences which were plenty in the movie. The camera work in the sequence of Antony and Dasan being introduced to the other cyber cell officers were very pleasing.
There is not much to Boast about in the screenplay even though it is well written. The morphed clip episode of Vinayakan reminded the Action Hero Biju sequence of Suraj, but the scene was extremely well acted by Vinayakan and the supporting cast. The inside details of cyber investigations and the collaborations with other police departments are well portrayed. Two incidents have really appealed to me in the screenplay. One is Antony’s girl friend breaking up with him after she got an Ireland job and later coming back to the cyber cell for the job scam complaint. The second one is Dasan’s backstory about his late sister near the end of the movie; the death was earlier referred casually in Dasan’s introduction scene, small but good examples of responsible writing.
I don’t know the abilities of officers in the cyber police in real life, but two B-tech passouts outsmarting the officers in finding every crucial clues and the officers are being left bemused at the revelation of each clue felt a little overboard. The Premam piracy case had a few instances which showed the technical side of the investigations and it would have been way more thrilling if some of the later case solving clues were also more technical rather than purely based on intuitions. But having said that, Operation Java is a decently packaged movie which doesn’t have too many dull moments. Quite satisfyingly the movie ends with a shout out to all the part time jobers working in different sectors, whose good work is largely being ignored even after putting so many hours of their lives in the job.
Streaming on : Zee5
Language. : Malayalam
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