Christopher (film)
Christopher  is an 2023 Indian Malayalam-language vigilante action thriller film directed by B. Unnikrishnan and written by Udaykrishna. It stars an ensemble cast of Mammootty, Vinay Rai, Sneha, Amala Paul, Aishwarya Lekshmi and Aditi Ravi. The film marks the debut of Vinay Rai in Malayalam cinema. The film chronicles about the life journey of a senior ranking IPS officer, ADGP Christopher from his childhood to an encounter specialist who uses vigilantism to safeguard the civilians. Principal photography began on 10 July 2022 and finished on 29 September 2022. Faiz Siddik and Justin Varghese handled the cinematography and the music of the film. Christopher was released in theatres on 9 February 2023 and received mixed reviews from critics. Plot 
Past: During a riot in Kerala, a group of young men uses the situation to brutally murder Christopher's sister. They also kills his parents and set his house on fire. A young Christopher seeks to avenge his loved ones and chases the perpetrators with a butcher's knife, but is stopped by SP Vetrivel. When Vetrivel learns about the injustice that happened to Christopher's family, he shoots the perpetrators to death. This incident inspires Christopher to become a police officer by using vigilantism and police encounters to safeguard the civilians. Vetrivel takes care of Christopher's education, and later clears the civil service exam to become an IPS officer. After Christopher completes his police training, Vetrivel, who is on deputation in the Central Government, intervens to get Christopher receive his first posting as ASP in Madhya Pradesh, where many women were killed by the feudal landlords. Christopher uses instrumental techniques in capturing and killing the real perpetrators behind the brutal happenings and becomes an encounter specialist. He is assisted by SI Ismail, who became his right hand man. Later, Christopher shifts his base to Kerala and was promoted to the rank of SP. One day, Christopher meets Beena, who is the Pondicherry District Collector, regarding a series of robberies and murders which constantly took place in a densely forested area. Christopher and his team decides to take up the mission. The operation is completed successfully, but Ismail succumbs to his injuries. At Ismail's funeral, Christopher learns that Ismail's relatives were dead against accepting his daughter Amina after her parents died, which leads Christopher to adopt Amina as his own child. Christopher was posted as the SP of Crime Branch. After some days, Beena also shifts her base to Kerala. Upon Beena's request, Christopher married Beena and they lived a happy family life. At a hotel in Kochi, a group of girls are found heavily doped by a young men. From the investigation, it is found out that the real culprit is Beena's younger brother Sebastian, a drug addict. Along with her father MP Chackochan and ADGP Abhilash Balakrishnan, Beena settles the issue by providing a huge sum of money to each of the girls. A maid, who works at Chackochan's home, tells Christopher that her daughter has been missing for a few days. Christopher decides to investigate and learn that Sebastian has brutally killed the girl under the influence of drugs and destroyed her body using a crusher and had also hidden the remaining body parts and hair in some statues in his father's ceramic factory. Sebastian is arrested by Christopher. The next day at the court, Sebastian tries to escape from the clutches of the police by behaving violently and snatches a rifle from a cop in order to kill the victim's mother by hitting her on the head, but she was saved by Christopher, who shoots Sebastian to death. After this incident, Christopher and Beena get separated. With this, Christopher loses everything, but the only person who was with him was Amina. Few months later, Christopher rejoined the force service, but is made to stay away from law and order, and is posted in the DPCAW. After some years, he gets promoted to ADGP. Present: One day, Christopher kills 4 people in an encounter for brutally assaulting and murdering a woman. Under pressure from the Human rights activists, CM Rajashekaran Menon is pressured by Beena, who is the present Home Secretary, to launch an investigation into the deaths of 4 youngsters. ACP Sulekha is appointed to lead the investigation, where unearths Christopher's past and the previous encounter killings instead of probing by looking into the case files. Meanwhile, Amina, who is now a lawyer and social activist, investigates the death of a woman Ashwini Trimurthi and her father, who are the wife and father-in-law of Sitaram Trimurthi, a rich business magnate and the owner of Saukya group of Herbal products. From the investigation, Amina deduces that Sitaram had killed Ashwini and father-in-law in order to usurp their properties and after they realises that he is trafficking drugs. She shares her suspicions and doubts to Christopher. One day, Amina is found dead. With Amina's death, Christopher is completely shattered. Sulekha decides to take up the investigation of Amina's murder, where a corrupt and sociopathic DYSP George Kottrakkan is also included in the team. Christopher soon finds out that Sitaram had hired a dangerous criminal named Marimuthu to eliminate Amina. Christopher manages to track down Marimuthu in Tamil Nadu where Sulekha and team arrive to provide backup for Christopher. Sulekha hands over Marimuthu to George. However, George, who took bribes from Sitaram and also from his assistant Pathalam Suresh, lets Marimuthu escape into the forest, where he is again nabbed by Christopher. Christopher and his assistant SP Vadivukkarasi, calls Sulekha to a secret location where Christopher makes Marimuthu confess his crimes completely. Christopher also reveals George's corruption and his ties with Sitharam. Christopher finally reveals the truth about the failure about the present legal and policing system to Sulekha and also tells her that even if she arrests Marimuthu, he will definitely be freed by the judiciary. Sulekha later understands Christopher and decides to support him completely and Marimuthu is hanged to death by Christopher in that hideout itself. Later, Christopher tracks down George and Suresh where he makes George to confess the truth. After George reveals Sitaram's name, Christopher shoots him to death and arranges Suresh to finish off Sitaram as Suresh had been fooled by Sitaram earlier. However, Sitaram manages to overpower Suresh and kill him. At the same moment, Sitaram was confronted by a police team headed by North Zone ADGP Gaurishankar who is Christopher's best friend. Sitaram is arrested and sent to prison. Sulekha meets Beena and tells about Christopher. She also reveals that she was there in one of the girls in the hotel in Kochi. Beena realises about Christopher's character and decides to reconcile with him. Despite being in prison, Sitaram kills Beena using carbon monoxide poisoning by releasing the gas through the air conditioner in her room. Enraged, Christopher becomes determined to finish Sitaram, where he is completely cleared of all charges and joins back his duty. Christopher arrives at the prison, where Sitaram is kept and finally kills him with the help of the warden superintendent Shaji, who is Amina's distant relative and Ismail's brother. Sitaram's death is written as an act of self-defence and Shaji promises Christopher that he will look after all the further proceedings. A few weeks later, Christopher adopts the younger sister of the assaulted woman and moves ahead with his life. Cast

Production 
Principal photography began on 10 July 2022 with a pooja function. On 18 July 2022, Mammootty joined the sets of the film. The film is shot in many places across Kerala including Ernakulam, Pooyamkutty and Vandiperiyar. Vinay Rai was cast in to play the antagonist in the film, marking his debut in Malayalam cinema. Filming took 79 days and was completed on 29 September 2022. Mammootty had finished shooting his portions, in a span of 65 days, a week before filming ended. In post-production stage, the film was sent to the Central Board of Film Certification and was censored with a U/A certificate on 31 January 2023. Release 
Christopher was released in theatres on 9 February 2023. Reception

Critical response 
Christopher received mixed reviews from critics. The Times of India wrote "In trying to build up Christopher, every other character was ignored. Also, absolutely no one wants to see a series of gory rape scenes spread throughout the movie. Viewers can understand the gravity of the crime and injustice without forcing it and could even be triggering for viewers who have faced assault in the past." Princy Alexander of Onmanorama wrote "Unnikrishnan and Udayakrishna's previous work 'Aarattu', which featured Mohanlal in the lead, had not really gone down well with the audience, but this time, they have managed to pull off a pretty decent entertainer." S.R. Praveen for The Hindu reviewing the film wrote "For Mammootty, who has been having a good run in recent months, it is back to the same old. Amala Paul and Sneha get lengthier roles, while Aishwarya Lekshmi’s is rather insignificant. Shine Tom Chacko repeats his infamous interview persona on screen for the second film running. Christopher is one long, unfortunate celebration of encounter killings." Anandu Suresh of The Indian Express and rated the movie 3.5 stars out of 5 and wrote "Even with its running time of close to two-and-a-half hours, the film’s climax got over in the blink of an eye, leaving the viewers wondering what just happened." Latha Srinivasan of India Today rated the movie 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote "The story just unfolds itself pretty much in the first half an hour and becomes very predictable. There is no hook to engage the audience nor any twist and turn that leaves us surprised. The villain also doesn’t offer anything to the viewer and is quite cliched." Anna M. M. Vetticad reviewed the film for the Firstpost and rated 0.5 star out of 5 stars and wrote "One of the nice developments of the past year has been that Mammootty is camouflaging his age a little less than he earlier was. In this film he even has a touch of white in his hair and moustache. There is of course a double standard in increasingly acknowledging your advancing years yet denying space to your female contemporaries to star as your lover and sibling in films." References

External links 
 

2023 films
2023 action thriller films
Indian action thriller films
2020s Malayalam-language films
Films directed by B. Unnikrishnan
Films scored by Justin Varghese
Indian vigilante films
Indian police films
Fictional portrayals of the Kerala Police
Films shot in Idukki
Films shot in Kochi