good back-story, and good acting

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Sethuram Iyer CBI - The 3rd in a series of CBI flicks that made the Central Bureau of Investigation larger than life in India has managed to capture much of the passion seen in the previous 2 attempts. Sethuramiyer, now based in Delhi is back home in Kerala for the holidays. On the request of a priest based in a Northern Kerala jail, he visits Alex, a convicted murderer awaiting capital punishment for the brutal murders of 7 people, in a case incidentally investigated by the CBI. At the meeting, Alex makes a startling revelation - He claims innocence in 1 of the 7 murders he's charged with ! His curiosity pricked and a desire to uncover the real story, Iyer reunites his crack team of Chacko and Vikram (Jagathy in a sensational cameo) along with a new face - Ganesh(played by Vineeth Kumar). Eventually, a bizarre set of circumstances lead the crack team towards uncovering the truth! The highlights of this movie are without doubt Mamootty's portrayal as the slick CBI officer and Kalabavan Mani's portrayal of Alex. The theme music from the original Oru CBI Diary Kuruppu has been remixed and fits in well with the scheme of things. The performance of Saikumar needs special mention as Satyadas - impersonating his father Devdas's mannerisms (the late Sukumaran) exceedingly well. Watch out for the scene where Satyadas is harassing a victim and Sethuram Iyer arrives at the scene! The erstwhile "Ousephachan" provides a few good laughs (especially the Dummy reference )!Despite all this, the movie is not without flaws. The need to add women stars has resulted in a few uncomfortable scenes. The romance between Vineeth and Navya Nair can get annoying! Also, the obsession to keep Mammooty walking his walk (arms crossed behind him) looks a bit silly at times.Anyway, these are my thoughts on the film. Considering it has been 15 years since Sethuram Iyer made his first appearance, it is quite a commendable achievement! Grade 9/10