Exclusive: 'Kerala Crime Files' Season 2 actor Arjun Radhakrishnan and director Ahammed Khabeer on next chapter in the investigative series

When Hotstar's first season of Kerala Crime Files (KCF) premiered in 2023, a couple of interesting things happened. First, it came from the imagination of two rising names in Malayalam cinema who, until then, were typically associated with feel-good cinema: Director Ahammed Khabeer ("June", "Madhuram") and Ashiq Aimar ("Madhuram").

KCF Season 1 proved these men were capable of working on crime stories, too. Second, the first season was set in the distant past, in 2011, and was relatively less gory when compared to shows like Paatal Lok or Kohrra.

Now, two years later, a new season of KCF has been unveiled. The first trailer was out on Wednesday. This time, the story and characters jump a decade forward. Khabeer is back in the director's chair. However, in place of Aimar, who had to step back due to personal commitments, is Kishkindha Kaandam writer Bahul Ramesh. Given the immense success of Bahul's writing in that Asif Ali-starrer, KCF Season 2 comes with high expectations.

Speaking to THE WEEK, Khabeer and lead actor Arjun Radhakrishnan, who joins Season 1 actors Aju Varghese and Lal as another intense cop newly introduced to the series, spoke briefly about what to expect from the new season, the time jump, character development, and more...

Khabeer, who calls Season 2 his "best work so far," reveals that it will see the characters of Aju Varghese and Lal working in different stations and facing fresh challenges. While the first season's focus was one case and the search for one man, the second is expected to crank things up a notch or more with a bigger scale and more complex plotting.

"Season 2 starts with a CPO (Civil Police Officer) going missing from the station and involves policemen from different states getting involved in the investigation," says the filmmaker, who teases a multi-layered narrative from Bahul Ramesh.

"We placed a lot of stock in his writing and created this season with the intent to do complete justice to it. We treated it with the same seriousness that characterise the making of some of the acclaimed Hindi-language crime series, with a significant reduction in commercial ingredients as opposed to the first season. We have also decided to keep the focus on the main characters' work instead of their personal lives to avoid a retread of what we did before," adds Khabeer, who used to be Bahul's batchmate in the same film school. "We have been meaning to do a project together for quite some time; fortunately, it happened through KCF."

Season 2 also introduces more characters, as in the trailer, played by popular faces like Jeo Baby (director of "The Great Indian Kitchen", "Kaathal - The Core"), Harishree Ashokan, Indrans, and Renjit Sekhar alongside a few returning characters from Season 1 played by Navas Vallikkunnu and Sanju Sanichen.

As for Arjun Radhakrishnan, who is playing a cop for the first time in his career after getting enough notice for playing villains and grey-shaded characters in films such as Kannur Squad, Identity, and Ullozhukku, or Tovino Thomas' broken-hearted friend in Dear Friend, says he has finally ticked off another box on his checklist — the dream of donning khaki onscreen. "And where better to do it than in Malayalam cinema known for its warm reception to cop-based stories," says the elated actor who, in preparation for the role, browsed through a few books and case files.

The Rocket Boys actor credits Bahul for providing a wealth of information and being thorough with his description of Arjun's character and every scene involved. "Strangely enough, it was the first time that somebody sat with me to discuss each scene at length, and it always felt comfortable to follow his lead because everything in the script and beyond was coming out of him. So, technically, there was no need for me to go anywhere else to seek a bit of information on something because he was very thorough about it."

Kerala Crime Files Season 2 is expected to stream sometime in June. An official date will be announced in due time.

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