A detective thriller always tries to create a certain ambience that helps the audience to get the vibe from the very beginning. Jeethu Joseph’s latest venture, “12th Man”, starring Mohanlal sets a similar stage. This movie creates an atmosphere that demands attention. If we talk about the title of the film, the very first thing the audience notices, it already grabs all the attention. The film starts playing with your mind from the very beginning. “12th Man”, has a sense of mystery that comes into play, and the audience is already feeling the uncertainties.
Mohanlal here plays the role of a cop who is on suspension. If we talk about the casting, some of them failed to attain the heights of Mohanlal. But, as long as the film builds its plots with mysteries, these loopholes can be neglected quite easily. The build-up of the plot itself suggests the characteristics of the people involved in the crime. The story starts with a hint of comedy, and with time the drama intensifies itself. It ends up being a brilliant thriller. For some reason, this may be one of the films that you will regret not watching.
’12th Man’ Plot Summary – What Mohanlal’s Film Is About?
So, what actually happens in this movie? There are some major spoilers ahead, but don’t worry; the name of the murderer is strictly confidential. Anyway, the film starts by introducing the characters and how they are living their regular lives. The oracle somehow sets their nature in these introductory times. Annie, the wife of Zakariah, has recently been diagnosed with having a baby. They were planning to surprise others with the news during the Diwali celebrations. But, their secret is soon known to everyone before their announcement. Although, they pretend to be surprised. Another couple, Aarathi and Siddharth, are about to get married. So, Siddharth planned a trip for the whole group. Group of 11 people. They went to the hilltop resort to spend the weekend. While they were enjoying their time together, they were playing cricket, and Siddharth hit a ball very hard. The ball hit Chandrasekhar, who was the 12th man in the resort.
Now, Chandrasekhar’s first introduction was purely as a drunkard who doesn’t know how to behave at all. He forgot all about the physical pain caused by the ball Siddharth hit. All he cared about was the alcohol that fell during this turmoil. He demanded his share of the alcohol from the group. The guys in the group rejected his request, but soon after, they agreed to pay for his alcohol. As the plot progresses, the group starts their party in the evening, and a discussion about privacy comes up. Privacy among friends always becomes a topic of debate, so, the single woman from the group, Fida, suggested a game where everyone will keep their phone on the table, and regardless of whose call or text comes up, they will read it aloud. Another woman, Dr. Nayana, supported her idea and later, one by one, agreed to play this. After multiple laughable and regrettable events, a call came on Siddharth’s phone, who talked about him borrowing a tablet for an abortion, that too for some woman in the existing group.
This triggers a suspension of disbelief, and everyone is furious at Siddharth. Knowing how close they had been for years, this hit like a tide that could not be avoided. As soon as the truth came out, Siddharth said that it wasn’t him who was at fault. This may suggest more mysterious events. After a series of incidents, a woman named Shiny was pushed off the cliff and murdered. The police come in, and then the 12th man of the story, Mr. Chandrasekhar, comes to play in the plot. As it turns out, he is a policeman with a brilliant reputation. He investigates the crime and finds the flaws in each character. Finally, the mystery is resolved, and the murderer is revealed.
Spoiler Ahead
’12th Man’ Ending Explained – Why Did Sam Kill Shiny?
Well, for starters, it is always a brilliant approach to play with Agatha Christie’s treatment toward Hercule Poirot. The legendary character had a taste for art, and within him resided a hint of humor. Our protagonist here in the “12th Man”, Chandrasekhar, was also a bit flirtatious with women and had a genuine sense of humor. When the film starts with the idea that in larger groups, a secret like Annie’s pregnancy fails to stay as a secret, it itself works as a foundation of the story. Privacy is something that society doesn’t allow you to have. Whatever we do with our privacy should not be an issue for others. But, this film quite precisely points out the flaws of society.
When the party gets started, the inconvenience that is caused is always due to the knowledge one wants to gather from someone else’s private matters. The film deals with the nature of people and their trespasses into others’ privacy. At some point, it is shown that someone’s privacy might intersect with someone else’s emotions. Once you become a part of the larger group, it is inevitable that you will have a chance to come across someone else’s affairs. It is up to you to deal with it. Friends trust you with their stories that might harm them in the future. When you push a man hard enough, they submit to their fear and give up all the secrets they have. In the moment of despair, some decisions are made that can end up pretty bad for some people. This is what happens in the film.
When the games started, everyone joined out of peer pressure. Yes, there is a hint of comedy, like a wife saying, “Do you have anything to hide from me?” against the husband’s “we should not play such a game.” But, therein lies the turmoil between boundaries. One boundary is trying to trespass on another boundary, a boundary named “privacy.” Yes, humans are flawed, and without any hesitation, we tend to do things that are sometimes outrageously abnormal. But, why do we keep things private? Most of the time, it is because we want to protect ourselves, but there are a few times when we know that our private life can harm someone else emotionally. This is something the film teaches us. For all we know, if we are interested in knowing about someone else’s private life, we are already taking the risk of hurting ourselves.
Shiny had a peculiar nature and a partial disorder. The disorder used to come at random, and when it comes, Shiny feels the urge to be what she used to be. A rich woman with a certain urge to buy expensive things. She used to borrow money from others. When Sam’s wife sent 5 lakh rupees to Shiny and Sam got to know about it, he was outrageous. Again, if Sam respected the privacy of his wife, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Also, Sam does not even know why Merin, his wife, lends so much money to Shiny. The actual reason was that Merin had an affair with Jithesh and that the abortion pill was for her only. To cover up this mess that Merin made, Shiny asked for five lacs of rupees. However, Sam believed that it was money that Shiny had asked to spend on her bad ventures. So, while asking Shiny about the money, Sam got into a fight with her, and a little push took the life out of her. So, was Sam really the sole murderer? Or was Shiny somehow responsible for her own death?
There are certain things that mere evidence can not provide. This is when you have to look into the little details throughout the film. Shiny was not satisfied with her husband’s business hitting the wall all the time. She was depressed. Shiny, being a proud woman, was not happy with the situation she was living in. She wanted to have a stable life without worrying about money all the time. The disorder made things worse. On the party night, she came to know that her husband needed to give 25 lacs rupees to a broker. That is why she tries to take advantage of the Merin and Jithesh situation. So, was it her greed or her pride that got her killed? By the look of it, many can say that it was her greed that got her killed, but from Sam murdering Shiny to greed murdering her, we now know that little things can change the course a lot. So, let’s take a final look.
If Shiny needed to be greedy, she could have asked for more money from everyone involved in the scenario. But no, she gathered the 10 lakh rupees and then called the broker to whom her husband owed money. She told him that he would get ten lacs in rupees, and the broker believed her words. That means her utmost intention was to get rid of the financial trouble her husband was facing, not because she was so affectionate with him, but because she was too proud to be humiliated in front of her friends. So, yeah, her pride got her killed. And why did Sam kill her? Come on! The amount is five lacs! No one will leave anyone without question! Why did he push her off the cliff? Well, why do accidents happen? Because they are accidents!
Technical Analysis Of Things
One remarkable thing regarding this film was the transitions from one frame to another. The transitions placed the characters in the exact location that he or she was telling Chandrashekhar. This gave a subtle plot transition to the audience without the jump cut, as they got the feeling of being there in the moment. Also, when these scene transitions took place, it helped the audience to realize that Chandrashekhar, too was, somehow having an understanding of whether the suspect was telling the truth or not. The music is pretty average with a forced attempt to make it sound mysterious. Some might argue that the set is overdramatic, but overall it helped the detective thriller. This movie is no doubt a brilliant pick for thriller lovers, and the screenplay is viciously thorough and very much gripping as well.
So, all things considered, the technical aspects of the film made it quite exquisite. I hope we have covered most of the gray areas in this film. Yes, why did Jithesh lie about being involved with Shiny? Well, for one thing, he doesn’t want Merin’s name to come out, as she has already threatened him to commit suicide if he does something like that. Another one is that Shiny is now dead. Any words against her are hard to prove. Although he didn’t get much luck, as his wife, Dr. Nayana, told everyone that Shiny could never conceive, so the abortion pill will have no role to play in the story. So, yeah, the film deals with all the possibilities, and the screenplay is a perfect write-up. Jeethu Joseph put together a great story, and Mohanlal anchored it with all his experience.
“12th Man” is a 2022 Indian Drama Thriller film directed by Jeethu Joseph.
