Abraham Ozler

The film stars Jayaram in the titular role alongside Mammootty in Extended Cameo Appearence, Anaswara Rajan, Anoop Menon, Arjun Ashokan, Arya Salim, Senthil Krishna, Jagadish, Saiju Kurup and Dileesh Pothan in supporting roles. The film revolves around ACP Abraham Ozler's efforts to investigate the death of an IT employee and capture a serial killer, only known as "Birthday Killer".

Abraham Ozler
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Midhun Manuel Thomas
Written by	Dr.Randheer Krishnan
Produced by	Irshad M. Hassan Midhun Manuel Thomas
Starring	Jayaram Mammootty Anoop Menon Anaswara Rajan Arjun Ashokan
Cinematography	Theni Eswar
Edited by	Shameer Muhammed
Music by	Midhun Mukundan
Production companies	Nerambokku Manual Movie Makers
Distributed by	Ann Mega Media
Release date	11 January 2024 (2024-01-11)
Running time	144 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Box office	₹40-48 crore

Director John Manthrikkal narrated a story to Midhun, which was written by Randheer Krishnan. Impressed with the story, Midhun decided to direct the project. The film was officially announced in May 2023. Principal photography commenced on 20 May 2023. It was shot extensively in Thrissur, Palakkad, Coimbatore and Wayanad. It was wrapped up by mid-November. The music was composed by Midhun Mukundan while the cinematography was handled by Theni Eswar and editing by Shameer Muhammed.

Abraham Ozler was initially set to be released on 25 December 2023, but the release date was postponed to 11 January 2024. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its acting, technical aspects, and musical score, but criticism for its script and direction. The film earned around ₹40.53 crore worldwide, becoming Jayaram's highest grossing film of his career.

ACP Abraham Ozler finds his life shattered when a fake police call lures him away, leading to the brutal death of his wife Aneesha and daughter Jenny. The main culprit is Vineeth, who wanted to exact revenge on Ozler for arresting him in a narcotics case. Vineeth confesses to killing Aneesha and Jenny, cutting them into pieces and burying the parts somewhere in a forest but says he doesn't remember exactly where because he was on a narcotics high at that time. Ozler gets distraught about Aneesha and his daughter's death and struggles to find closure because their bodies are never found.

Three years later, Ozler, who is haunted by hallucinations and insomnia, investigates a series of murders with his subordinates SI Divya Sreedharan and Sijo T Venu. The two killers, one driving a pickup truck and the other posing as a surgeon, leave cryptic notes at the crime scenes. They name the killer as "Birthday killer". As the team unravels the connections, they discover Krishnandas, a man using an artificial larynx, as a key suspect. They also learn that Krishnadas, once a child prodigy singer, had lost his voice in a failed surgery.

Delving into the past, Ozler discovers a shared history among the victim's parents: Shivakumar and Selvaraj were postgraduate medical students at Kozhikode Medical College in 1989. Shivakumar, Selvaraj, a retired police surgeon Xavi Punnoose and Alexander Joseph were all found to have been friends and PG batchmates. They were heard to have gotten into an accident, after which they parted ways. Krishnadas is captured while he kidnaps Alexander. But even as Krishnadas is in Ozler's custody, Xavi is kidnapped. As the truth surfaces, the real Alexander is revealed to be another person. Alexander is arrested as soon as he inflicts the first cut on Xavi's body in order to kill him. Once in custody, Alexander narrates the flashback to Ozler and his team.

Alexander was a dedicated PG student at surgery department of Kozhikode Medical College. Xavi, a fellow PG student of surgery, is not as good a surgeon as Alexander, and he is jealous of Alexander. Shivakumar, a PG student of General Medicine, despises Alexander for being in a relationship with a first year MBBS student Suja Jayadev whom Shivakumar had been pursuing. Selvaraj, a PG student of anaesthesia, and a junkie who used to be on drugs even while on duty, was found to use drugs from operation theatre stock by Alexander, and Alexander's reporting of the same led to Selvaraj's dismissal. Professional jealousy of Xavi, fuelled by Shivakumar, led to Xavi orchestrating a failed surgery resulting in Krishnadas losing his voice forever. Alexander reports Xavi's intentional act to seniors, and Xavi, as well as Alexander being the first assistant at the surgery, are suspended from college. Xavi is blacklisted by his professors and told he shall never be allowed to do a surgery on a living human being again. Selvaraj, Xavi and Shivakumar then go ahead to severely injure Alexander, leading to him falling into coma. They made up an accident scene, faked injuries on themselves, and told everyone that a drunk Alexander took them for a drive and crashed the car. Alexander lay in vegetative state for months and Suja went into deep depression seeing this. One day, doctors suggested that they remove Alexander's life support and allow him to die peacefully. A depressed Suja becomes heartbroken after overhearing this and in a fit of emotion, she commits suicide by jumping in front of a moving bus. In a fateful irony, Alexander survives life support removal and with years and years of nursing care, regains movement, although he had dissociative amnesia, causing him to forget most of the events of his PG time, including Suja and the cruelty done by Xavi and his friends. 3-4 years ago, Alexander sees a TV programme featuring Krishnadas, wherein some old videos of him singing are shown. This triggers his memories and Alexander slowly recollects all the past events. He meets up with Krishnadas who had become wayward after losing his voice, and together they plan the murders. The motive behind the murders were to seek revenge on those who ruined their lives.

Back to the present, Xavi meets Alexander and Krishnadas in Ozler's custody and has no remorse at all. Ozler feels very bad in saving Xavi and tells that he needs to die. A surprising turn occurs as Xavi dies on stage at the release ceremony of his autobiography, with forensic surgeon Dr Satheesh Madhavan revealing to Ozler that Alexander had poisoned him with a bacteria-infected surgical ink before making cuts on his body. Later, it is shown that Shivakumar is found dead, and that Selvaraj became an alcoholic and his wife leaves him realising that he caused their son's murder.

On his routine visit to Vineeth in prison, Ozler unexpectedly encounters Alexander and Krishnadas in the prison. Alexander cryptically utters "Bone Residue", hinting at an unresolved truth about Ozler's family. Ozler confronts Vineeth, realizing that there is no bone residue on the weapon he allegedly used in the murders. Vineeth challenges Ozler to dig deeper for the truth.

Development

After the success of Anjaam Pathira (2020), Midhun Manuel Thomas wanted to direct a film featuring Kunchako Boban. However, the commencement of shooting didn't occur due to various reasons. It was during that time that director John Manthrikkal narrated a story to Midhun which was written by ortho surgeon Dr. Randheer Krishnan. He liked the story and decided to direct the film.

In an interview with Anandu Suresh of The Indian Express, Midhun revealed that the film's titular protagonist was named after the Canadian physician William Osler, regarded as the 'Father of Modern Medicine'. He also revealed that he had initially included a backstory, explaining that Abraham Ozler’s father, a doctor, named his son after his favorite physician with the hope that Abraham would also become a physician like his father. The film marked Midhun's return to direction after a four year hiatus. Meanwhile he had penned the screenplay for Garudan (2023) and Phoenix (2023).

Casting

Midhun approached Jayaram to play the titular role. Initially, Jayaram was hesitant to commit to the project as he believed that it was unlike any film he had done till now. He believed it was a heavy character and had to appear in two timelines with different looks. However, he agreed to play the role as Midhun convinced him. In preparing for the role, Jayaram put in some weight and grew a long beard with a tired look to fit the character. Abraham Ozler marks Jayaram's second Malayalam venture since 2019.

There were reports that Mammootty would have a 15 minute cameo appearance in the film which was denied. Reports suggested that Mammootty would have a screen-time of over 45 minutes in the film, and it was also reported that he would be playing a negative role, which was unconfirmed. Regarding Mammootty's cameo, Jayaram revealed that Mammootty was not the first choice to play the role of Alexander. The makers approached actors Sathyaraj, R. Sarathkumar, Prakash Raj, and others. Midhun said that, when he narrated the story of Abraham Ozler to Mammootty, he liked the script and asked him if he could play the antagonist. Midhun was apprehensive about casting Mammootty. However, Jayaram convinced him to give the role to Mammootty. Midhun met Mammootty again, who consented to play the role of Alexander.

Filming

The project was announced on 19 May 2023. Principal photography began on 20 May 2023 in Mission Quarters in Thrissur. Producer Irshad M. Hassan performed the switch-on ceremony. The first scene was reportedly shot between Jayaram and Sai Kumar. Apart from Thrissur, Palakkad, Coimbatore, Idukki and Wayanad were the other shooting locations. The filming wrapped up on 14 November 2023.

The film's music was composed by Midhun Mukundan. It consists of one track, Poomaname, from the 1985 film Nirakkoottu. The track was originally composed by Shyam and the lyrics were written by Poovachal Khader. The song was sung by Nitin K. Siva, while the original song was by K. S. Chithra, G. Venugopal and K. G. Markose.

Theatrical

The film was initially scheduled to release on 25 December 2023, on the occasion of Christmas. The release date was postponed to 11 January 2024 to avoid a clash with other major Christmas releases, such as Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Dunki, Neru and Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire. The film was released in North America on 12 January 2024.

Home Media

Abraham Ozler is released in Disney+Hotstar on March 20, 2024 and it will also be available in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada languages.

Critical response

Hari P N of Koimoi gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "'Abraham Ozler' successfully merges medical thriller and emotional crime drama, with Jayaram delivering a commendable performance. While the film has flaws, standout performances make it a worthwhile watch for Mollywood enthusiasts." Gopika IS of The Times of India gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Jayaram starrer Abraham Ozler turned out to be an interesting watch and can undoubtedly be seen as a new phase in the actor's career." Sara Anna Eepan of The Week gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Abraham Ozler is worth a watch on the big screen for those interested in an investigation drama with medical thriller elements."

Sajin Shrijith of The New Indian Express gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Abraham Ozler doesn't lack the ability to hook us, but it made me wonder whether it would've worked better as an airport novel than a film." Nikhil Sebastian of Pinkvilla gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Abraham Ozler falls into the category of another half-baked thriller, relying on the performances of the actors and a brilliant original score." Anandu Suresh of The Indian Express gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Midhun Manuel Thomas' film can be dubbed as a crime thriller that meets the essential criteria for the genre. However, determining whether it has done a good job requires more than a simple yes/no answer."

S. R. Praveen of The Hindu wrote "The Jayaram-starrer is marred by generic treatment to the serial killer genre, with a cameo from superstar Mammootty offering only a temporary relief." Vishal Menon of FIlm Companion wrote "By reinventing Jayaram as an actor and by infusing so much information into a stereotypical thriller, Abraham Ozler remains fairly engaging even if you've seen it all before." Princy Alexander of Onmanorama wrote "The initial feeling of repetitiveness affects the thrills in the first half. However, true to the expression "to end with a bang," Midhun employs the right tactics in the second half to provide viewers with a more than satisfactory conclusion."

Box office

Abraham Ozler grossed ₹2.88 crore from the Kerala and ₹6 crore worldwide, on its opening day. The film grossed ₹2.34 crore on its second day, with worldwide gross exceeding ₹10 crore. Abraham Ozler grossed ₹2.9 crore on its third day and ₹3.19 crore on its first Sunday. The film grossed around ₹11.31 crore in its first four days from Kerala.

The film grossed a total of $61,616 from the North America in the first weekend. The film grossed ₹1.4 crore on its fifth day from the Kerala. The film grossed a total of ₹15 crore in its first 8 days from Kerala. The film grossed a total of ₹3.1 crore in its second weekend at Kerala. The film grossed a total of $1.36 million (approx Rs. 11.3 crores) from 11 days at the UAE and GCC box office, while it grossed ₹1.7 crore from ROI circuits in 11 days. In North America, the film grossed $130K in UK and Europe it grossed $150K and in Australia $17K in 11 days at the box office. In 16 days, the film grossed more than ₹20 crore from Kerala and became the first commercially successful Malayalam film of 2024.