A cop on duty knocks at the door of a modest house at Kanjar near Thodupuzha. Some moments later, a woman opens the door. It is one of those shots that lead to an interesting scene in debutant director Manoj Palodan’s Driver on Duty . Asif Ali plays a newly-appointed police driver at the Elathoor women’s police station, who has come to meet the sub-inspector of the station, played by Abhirami.
“Ramakrishnan (Asif Ali) is a mechanical engineer who joins the police force on his mother’s insistence. He is thrilled when he gets his maiden posting at a women’s police station where all his colleagues are women. But things doesn’t happen the way he had imagined,” says Manoj Palodan.
According to the director, the thread of the story emerged when he heard that the first police station in Asia that was managed by women was started in 1973 in Kozhikode. “I met a woman constable who had worked there. It was from her that I came to know about the only man who worked there as a police driver. This is a fictitious version of a similar situation, narrated as a satire,” he says.
“As Ramakrishnan is a driver, he is not taken seriously by others, including the local people,” says Asif.
Abhirami acts as Arundhati Varma, a disciplinarian. “She uses the police system to empower women and clean up society,” says Abhirami. Janani Iyer dons the role of Niya Menon, who resides in the neighbourhood and falls for Ramakrishnan. Sajitha Madathil, Sruthi Lakshmi, Krishnaprabha, Neena Kurup and Sneha enact the women cops in the station.
The film has been produced under the banner of Ganesh Pictures. Hari Nair is the cinematographer. Stills are by Hasif Hakkeem.