Madhavan Menon is a ruthless and psychotic investigating officer working with the Mumbai Police. He is an encounter specialist who makes decisions on the spot, without always waiting for orders from the top. His latest assignment is to investigate the missing of a teenage school girl from Mumbai. He reaches Kerala on being tipped off that the girl could be taken to Kerala. In the meantime, another girl gets kidnapped in Kerala, presumably by the same people or people linked to them. There is also information that some other girls too have been kidnapped. Following the leads, Maddy comes to the conclusion that all the girls have been abducted by a Kerala-based sex trafficking racket headed by a psycho criminal named Khais Khanna. Maddy embarks on a mission to eliminate the racket and save the girls, including his daughter who gets kidnapped, Diya. The film depicts children being trapped by mafia groups taking advantage of technology like mobile phones, and dwells on the international sex trafficking. The film also depicts the diminishing joint family system in society, suggesting that with the increasing trend towards the nuclear family in society, what is getting uprooted is the bonding between family members and the security that they offer along with love and affection to the future generation.
The pooja ceremony of the film was held on 7 July 2012 at the BTH Sarovaram Hotel in Cochin, India. The film was shot on locations in Mumbai, Cochin, Munnar and Nagercoil. Filming began in August 2012. Notably, Karmayodha is not set in the military backdrop that had characterised all other Mohanlal–Major Ravi films, such as Keerthi Chakra, Kurukshetra and Kandahar. "Mohanlal's characterisation is similar to Denzel Washington's in the action filmMan On Fire, which is about a single man on a mission who doesn't play by the rules to reach there," says Ravi.
Marketing
The films' teaser featured the song "" by American musician Johnny Cash. It was the first time that an English track was being used in a Malayalam film. The makers also gave credit to Cash's song claiming that "It has been used for teaser purposes only". The teaser went viral, and received praise for incorporating the song which perfectly sets the action-thriller tone of the film. "The idea of using the song came during the editing stage and I thought it truly complemented the Mexican-style footage that was used for the teaser. Though the song is a free template that's been made available by its producers to be used by anyone, we have also given the due credit.", says Ravi. Cash often performed wearing dark clothing, earning him the nickname 'The Man in Black.' Mohanlal's character is also seen wearing a black attire in the teaser and the stills. The first-look poster was released in September 2012; the film's first teaser was released on 3 October 2012, and a theatrical trailer was released on 25 November 2012.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by M. G. Sreekumar, with lyrics by Dr. Madhu Vasudevan. The album was launched on 25 November 2012 at IMA Hall in Kochi. The event was attended by Mohanlal, Joshiy, Major Ravi, Mukesh, Rajeev Pillai, MG Sreekumar, Pradeep Nair, Pranav Mohanlal, Renji Panicker, Jeffrey Jonathan and other personalities from the film industry, along with the technical crew and cast of the film. The background score for the film was provided by Jeffrey Jonathan. The film notably features Murukan Kattakada's famous poem "Kannada", which has been rendered by the poet himself.
Release
The distribution rights for Karmayodha in Kerala were bought by Red Rose Release. The film's premiere show was held on 20 December 2012 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The worldwide release took place on 21 December 2012. Karmayodha was released in Europe and the UAE on 27 December 2012.
Critical reception
The film opened to mixed reviews. Sify.com said: "A rather flimsy plot, some bad performances, silly lines and villains who are unintentionally comical make you cringe in the seats. The plot moves ahead without a definite aim or direction with some weak links that barely look convincing." Rediff.com rated the movie 2 out of 5, saying: "Karmayodha is not worth watching". Indiaglitz gave the film an average rating of 5.9/10, saying that "Karmayodha may satisfy the die-hard Mohanlal fans."
