# CBI (film series)

CBI Film Franchise is an Indian Malayalam-language film series of mystery films directed by K. Madhu and written by S. N. Swamy featuring Mammootty as Sethurama Iyer, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer in the title role. The series started off in 1988 with Oru CBI Diary Kurippu. The character Sethurama Iyer is said to have been inspired by a police officer named Radha Vinod Raju, who in 2009 was appointed as the first chief of India's National Investigation Agency.

## Films

The films depicts a team of three CBI officers led by Sethurama Iyer investigating into a murder case. All the films feature Mammootty as Sethurama Iyer. The other two members of the team vary in the series. All the five films that were released have Vikram, the character played by Jagathy Sreekumar as a CBI officer. But he is not part of the three-men team in the third film and fifth film but appears in the films for a short length. Chacko played by Mukesh appears in the first film but is not part of the team. But Chacko becomes part of the team from the second film onwards. Harry played by Suresh Gopi is present in the first movie as part of the team, but later transferred to Madras in the second sequel.
The films of the franchise are:
| Year | Film | Director | Screenwriter | Producer | Composer |
| 1988 | Oru CBI Diary Kurippu | K. Madhu | S. N. Swamy | M. Mani | Shyam |
| 1989 | Jagratha | K. Madhu | S. N. Swamy | M. Mani | Shyam |
| 2004 | Sethurama Iyer CBI | K. Madhu | S. N. Swamy | K. Madhu | Shyam |
| 2005 | Nerariyan CBI | K. Madhu | S. N. Swamy | K. Madhu | Shyam |
| 2022 | CBI 5: The Brain | K. Madhu | S. N. Swamy | Swargachitra Appachan | Jakes Bejoy |
Sethurama Iyer (Malayalam: സേതുരാമയ്യര്‍) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the CBI film series. The character was played by Mammootty in all the films. He is an investigative officer of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Iyer's popularity is attributed to the fact that he uses his brain rather than brawn to solve cases.

## Cast and characters

| Character | Oru CBI Diary Kurippu (1988) | Jagratha (1989) | Sethurama Iyer CBI (2004) | Nerariyan CBI (2005) | CBI 5 (2022) |
| Introduced in Oru CBI Diary Kurippu ||||||
| Sethurama Iyer | Mammootty | Mammootty | Mammootty | Mammootty | Mammootty |
| Vikram | Jagathy Sreekumar | Jagathy Sreekumar | Jagathy Sreekumar | Jagathy Sreekumar | Jagathy Sreekumar |
| Chacko | Mukesh | Mukesh | Mukesh | Mukesh | Mukesh |
| CI Harry | Suresh Gopi | | | | |
| DySP Devadas | Sukumaran | Sukumaran | | | |
| K. A. Ouseppachan | Janardhanan | Janardhanan | Janardhanan | | |
| Narayanan | Prathapachandran | Prathapachandran | | | |
| Omana | Lissy | | | | |
| Annie | Urvashi | | | | |
| John Thomas | Bahadoor | | | | |
| Joy Mathew | Vijayaraghavan | | | | |
| SP Prabhakara Varma | Captain Raju | | | | |
| SP of CBI | Jagannatha Varma | Jagannatha Varma | | | |
| C.I Alex | K. P. A. C. Sunny | K. P. A. C. Sunny | | | |
| Sunny | Sreenath | | Sreenath | | |
| Home Minister Bhargavan | C. I. Paul | C. I. Paul | | | |
| Police Surgeon | Kollam Thulasi | Kollam Thulasi | | | |
| Padathalam Mathai | Poojappura Ravi | | | | |
| Mary | Adoor Bhavani | | Adoor Bhavani | | |
| Sreedharan | T. P. Madhavan | | | | |
| Driver Vasu | Kundara Johny | | | | |
| Nun | Sukumari | | | | |
| Mohammed | Kothuku Nanappan | | | | |
| Introduced in Jagratha ||||||
| Ashwathy | | Parvathy Jayaram | | | |
| Babu | | Babu Antony | | | |
| Adv. Janardanan Nair | | Babu Namboothiri | | | |
| I.G | | K. P. A. C. Azeez | | | |
| Vishwam | | Devan | | | |
| Kumar | | K. B. Ganesh Kumar | | | |
| Mohan | | Jose | | | |
| Anchor | | Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri | | | |
| Kurupu | | M. S. Thripunithura | | | |
| Thomas | | Paravoor Bharathan | | | |
| Vandana | | Sreeja | | | |
| Rukmini | | Kanakalatha | | | |
| Fake policeman | | James | | | |
| Suryan | | Tony | | | |
| Rajendrababu | | Vishnuprakash | | | |
| Hotel boy | | Poojappura Radhakrishnan | | | |
| Union leader | | Adinad Sasi | | | |
| Introduced in Sethurama Iyer CBI ||||||
| Balagopal | | | Siddique | | |
| Isow Alex | | | Kalabhavan Mani | | |
| Ganesh | | | Vineeth Kumar | | |
| DySP Sathyadas | | | Sai Kumar | | Sai Kumar |
| Mani | | | Jagadish | | |
| Rachana | | | Navya Nair | | |
| Reshmi | | | Nandana | | |
| Adiyodi | | | Oduvil Unnikrishnan | | |
| CBI Director | | | Kalasala Babu | | |
| Bahuleyan | | | Rajan P. Dev | | |
| Manikunju / Zakariah | | | Paravoor Ramachandran | | |
| Mosi | | | Geetha Vijayan | | |
| Krishan Iyer | | | Kunchan | | |
| Meenakshi Iyer | | | Urmila Unni | | |
| Dr. Vijayalakshmi | | | Poornima Anand | | |
| Vijayamma | | | Kalpana | | |
| Kuzhivetty Mathai | | | Mala Aravindan | | |
| Fr. Gomez | | | Bharath Gopi | | |
| Crime branch C.I | | | Shammi Thilakan | | |
| Sharngadaran | | | Subair | | |
| Varkey | | | Punnapra Appachan | | |
| Broker | | | Suraj Venjaramoodu | | |
| Introduced in Nerariyan CBI ||||||
| Kapra Valiya Narayanan | | | | Thilakan | |
| Mythili | | | | Samvrutha Sunil | |
| Anitha | | | | Gopika | |
| Devaswam | | | | Indrans | |
| George C. Nair | | | | Cochin Haneefa | |
| DYSP Dhanapalan | | | | Augustine | |
| ASP Saikumar IPS | | | | Jishnu | |
| Velu | | | | Mohan Jose | |
| Dr. Krishnan Nair | | | | P. Sreekumar | |
| Mythili's Father | | | | M. R. Gopakumar | |
| Dr. Krishnan Nair | | | | P. Sreekumar | |
| Dr. Babu | | | | Rizabawa | |
| Banjamin C. Nair | | | | Madhu Warrier | |
| Poopparathy Vasu | | | | Baburaj | |
| Reshmi | | | | Suja Karthika | |
| Lakshmiyamma | | | | Bindu Ramakrishnan | |
| Elizabeth C. Nair | | | | Bindu Panicker | |
| Mythili's mother | | | | Shobha Mohan | |
| Anitha's Kin | | | | Ambika Mohan | |
| Maya | | | | Suvarna Mathew | |
| Introduced in CBI 5 ||||||
| Balagopal, C.B.I. Officer | | | | | Renji Panicker |
| I.G. Unnithan I.P.S | | | | | Anoop Menon |
| Adv. Prathibha Sathyadas | | | | | Asha Sarath |
| Paul Meijo / Mansoor / Sandeep | | | | | Soubin Shahir |
| Vinay, C.B.I. Officer | | | | | Ramesh Pisharody |
| Chief Minister | | | | | Dileesh Pothan |
| SI Iqbal | | | | | Sudev Nair |
| Mamman Varghese, C.B.I. Officer | | | | | Edavela Babu |
| Sudhi, C.B.I. Officer | | | | | Alexander Prasanth |
| Anwar | | | | | Ramesh Kottayam |
| CI Josemon | | | | | Jayakrishnan |
| Dr. George Abraham | | | | | Prathap Pothen |
| Home Minister Abdul Samad | | | | | G. Suresh Kumar |
| Journalist Bhasuran | | | | | Chandhu Karamana |
| D.Y.S.P. Babu Raj | | | | | Santhosh Keezhattoor |
| Susan George / Ambika Unnithan | | | | | Kaniha |
| Anitha, C.B.I. Officer | | | | | Ansiba Hassan |
| Aparna | | | | | Malavika Menon |
| Merlin | | | | | Swasika |
| Anuja | | | | | Malvika Nair |

## Timeline

CBI film series released timeline :
| 1 | - |
| 2–1987 |
| 1988 | Oru CBI Diarykkurippu |
| 1989 | Jagratha |
| 1990–2003 |
| 2004 | Sethurama Iyer CBI |
| 2005 | Nerariyan CBI |
| 2006–2021 |
| 2022 | CBI 5: The Brain |