It is true that we all have been taught to fear the police. But the terrible thing about fear is that it doesn’t eductate, it only teaches. So, our beloved Kerala Police coming up with a humourous web series to make the public aware of the dos and don’ts makes perfect sense. According to Arun B T, the civil police officer who is part of the core team of the web series ‘Cop’, it is an effort to reach out to the maximum number of people using humour as a medium. “Lately, it has been the most important concern for Kerala police to reach out to the public and create awareness. Since Covid has reduced opportunities for people to watch movies or go to film theatres, web series and digital content are the new thing. Hence the idea for a web series,” he says.

Earlier, the department had started a satirical series featuring a ‘Constable Kuttan Pillai’, who called out social evils over social media. But then, certain viewers found it a little negative. “But we managed to clear that. The public has been giving us plenty of support in the form of YouTube and Facebook comments.

We are looking forward to getting a good reception for ‘Cop’ too,” Arun says. The trailer for Cops’ first episode ‘Disant Mukk’ was released yesterday and already has plenty of positive comments and nearly 11,000 views and counting. It features rap from Sandy, which the officers chanced upon quite accidentally. “We saw it on his Facebook page and it went well with our concept. We approached Sandy and he was more than happy to give it to us,” Arun says.

The script is by Murali Kriishnan S, and Syam Ambadi is the DOP. Suman Bichu handled the music while Kailash S Bhawan did the editing and colouring. The cast includes Kannan Nayar, Anand Manmadhan, Sajeer Subair and Nitish Ramesh. “It was nice of all of them to collaborate without monetary benefits for this project,” says Arun.

The first episode is an educational one on social distancing but Arun adds that the entire series won’t be Covid-based. “It is just that we thought this would be a good time to start the series. We will continue to include important issues as we go forth,” he adds.  ‘Disant Mukk’ was launched at 7pm on Monday and can be watched on Kerala Police’s official YouTube channel http://youtube.com/c/KeralaPoliceOfficial.