There are thrillers that keep the audience on the edge of their seats waiting for a final reveal, and even that’s a dying breed of movies. Devi Prasad Shetty’s Case of Kondana works like a charm due to its fresh approach. A newly recruited police officer finds his hands drenched with the blood of an innocent, and the consequences haunt him over a single night of events.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In The Movie?
On the outskirts of Bangalore, Wilson is recruited as an ASI. On his first day on duty, he slaps a local rowdy to teach him a lesson. Wilson lives a clean life; his girlfriend, Dr. Sahana, is seemingly in love with him, and they have plans for marriage. When the rowdy catches a glimpse of Wilson later that day, Wilson beats him and his goons up single-handedly in front of Sahana. You’d think of Wilson as a capable cop who’d actually be fierce in the face of adversity. The plot thickens when Wilson accidentally kills a “panipuri” seller named Raju. This movie follows the journey of Wilson’s actions to hide the crime.
Who’s Behind The Serial Killings?
Before Wilson even joined the police force, the city was witnessing a lot of murders in the same pattern. Usually, people with families were getting murdered, and the pressure on the police was piling up. ACP Lakshmi, a very capable officer in her own right, is given an ultimatum by her superior to find the killer. The killer left no evidence at the crime scenes, and there are no leads to identify him. Lakshmi notices how her dad and the gas cylinder delivery guy are close to each other. She deduces that a cylinder delivery guy comes to a house every couple of months and knows his way around the house. The police easily track down the fact that all the killings are linked to one single delivery guy, Selva Raj. Lakshmi manages to get a hold of him after a long chase, and instead of arresting him, she shoots him down. Selva’s brother is the same rowdy Wilson slaps in the beginning. He promises to take revenge on ACP Lakshmi before the sun rises.
How Does Raju Die?
Raju is an ordinary family man whose primary occupation is selling pani puri. Raju’s son is sick with a disease, and Sahana can’t treat him with the resources of a government health center. She advises Raju to go to a private hospital where he’d need a minimum of 5 lacs to get the surgery done. Raju asks an unknown Sethji for the money, but the man never really gives him a clear answer, let alone the money. Raju is a helpless father who doesn’t even have enough money to buy the medicines his son needs. Late at night, Wilson accidentally crashes his car into a signboard and opens his eyes with a concussion. Raju’s cart is just nearby, and he helps Wilson get out of the car and gives him a place to sit. Wilson asks Raju to fetch a bandage from his car, and Raju sees bundles of money Wilson just got from Sahana to pay off his creditors. Desperate to save his son’s life, Raju takes the money.
Wilson returns to his car and notices that the money is nowhere to be seen. He charges Raju right away and finds the money stashed inside the cart. Raju begs Wilson for the money, but Wilson is furious that Raju stole it from him. Raju tries to snatch the money from Wilson, and Wilson pushes him to the ground to retrieve the money. Wilson gets up to see Raju’s head bleeding; he has fallen on a big rock.
How Does Wilson Hide Raju’s Body?
Lakshmi’s father is ASI Thyagraj, who’s often on patrol duty during the night. Just after the death of Raju, he passes by his cart. Wilson notices the police car from afar, and he somehow manages to hide the body under a cover. After he leaves, Thyagraj’s suspicion leads him to turn the car around to check once again. A pani puri cart without its owner is a weird thing when it’s late at night. Wilson had already sniffed the danger, and he put Raju’s corpse in the trunk of his car. Wilson also removes the number plate from his car and passes by the police car when Thyagraj is on his way back. He decides to follow Wilson.
Wilson takes a can of petrol to burn the body, and he’s constantly being tailed by the ASI. The events become even more twisted when a senior officer, Subhash, asks Wilson for a lift. Wilson’s palpitations and uneasy behavior concern Subhash, and he asks him to stop for a smoke. Subhash notices that something isn’t sitting right, and he sees blood on the spot where Wilson’s car was parked. Subhash follows Wilson to the wee forest of Kondana. Just when Wilson is about to burn Raju, Subhash arrives and reassures Wilson not to worry. Subhash wants to bury the mess, and he tries to contact the local officers. Thyagraj and the constable arrive at Kondana too. When Thyagraj confronts Wilson and wants to turn him in, Subhash stops him and orders him to leave the place immediately. Thyagraj refuses to obey, and Subhash and he get into a fistfight, and the constable joins in too. The petrol is spilled all over the ground in the middle of the mess, and Subhash fires his gun. Thyagraj, Subhash, and the constable burn to death, while Raju’s corpse is completely torched too. Wilson flees from the scene, and ACP Lakshmi asks her team to find the killer by the time the night ends.
How Does Wilson Keep The Truth Hidden?
Wilson is one of the officers called to find the killer of the policemen. Wilson visits every possible place where the CCTV might’ve captured his car’s footage. He steals the hard drive from every place before other cops can reach it. Wilson’s frantic efforts to hide his sin make for captivating scenes that boils your blood, if not anything. When an officer is asked to collect Raju’s postmortem report , Wilson pelts stones at his house. The scared wife calls her husband, and Wilson capitalizes on the situation to collect the report and make it a version of his own. Wilson’s every effort to hide the truth is on point, and you’d almost think that he might actually get away with it.
Wilson finally breaks down when he sees Raju’s wife at the police station. The poor woman asks him to find the killer so that she can ask him “Why?” Her tears and hopelessness haunt Wilson, and he confesses his crimes to Sahana and his father.
Does Lakshmi Catch The Killer?
Lakshmi once again finds herself in the middle of a case where the evidence is nowhere to be seen. Even the only lead, the i10 car police try to find, Wilson hides it as a dump nobody would take a second look at. She finally looks at the fake postmortem report Wilson brought to the station, where the age shown is 45. Lakshmi knew Raju was 27, so she started to connect the dots. The cross on the looking mirror of the i10, the fake report, and the disappearance of CCTV footage—everything pointed at Wilson. Lakshmi asks the senior cops to summon Wilson to Kondana.
During Case of Kondana‘s ending, Lakshmi and the other cops severely beat Wilson up. When Wilson passes out, a petrol bomb burns a police car. The rowdy and his men attack the cops with all sorts of weapons you see in South Indian movies. The goons kill every cop in their sight and leave Lakshmi battered on the ground. Just when they’re about to kill her, Wilson gets up in the true heroic fashion we’ve watched growing up. Wilson kills at least 50 goons all by himself (all hail the plot armor). A grateful Lakshmi sees Wilson killing the final boss and spares Wilson’s life. Case of Kondana ends with Wilson going to prison. Raju’s wife reopens his cart, tying a rope for the shed to the same rock her husband perished on. One night of terror changes everyone’s lives for the worse.
