Lucifer (2019 Indian film)
Lucifer is a 2019 Indian Malayalam-language political action thriller film directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran and written by Murali Gopy. Produced by Antony Perumbavoor through the production house Aashirvad Cinemas, the film marks Prithviraj's directorial debut and features Mohanlal in the title role, alongside an ensemble supporting cast including Vivek Oberoi, Manju Warrier, Tovino Thomas, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Indrajith Sukumaran, Saniya Iyappan, Sai Kumar, John Vijay, Sachin Khedekar, Baiju Santhosh, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Fazil, Suresh Chandra Menon and Nyla Usha. Deepak Dev composed the film's music, and the cinematography was handled by Sujith Vaassudev. Development of the film began in 2016 when Murali pitched a story to Prithviraj at the sets of Tiyaan in Ramoji Film City, it was when he decided to make Lucifer his directorial debut. Title of the film was taken from an unrealised project of director Rajesh Pillai which was also written by Murali with another story. Pre-production of Lucifer began in 2017 and Murali completed the final draft of the screenplay in February 2018. Principal photography began in mid-July that year and lasted till January 2019, with filming carried out in Thiruvananthapuram, Idukki, Ernakulam, and Kollam districts, and Mumbai, Bangalore, Lakshadweep, and Russia. Lucifer was released in theatres worldwide on 28 March 2019. It was also dubbed and released in Hindi and Telugu. The film broke many box office records for a Malayalam film, crossing the  mark in four days,  mark in eight days, and the  mark in 21 days becoming the fastest Malayalam film to reach all three milestones. Lucifer was the first Malayalam film to earn more than ₹200 crore, including its box office collections and the earnings from the sale of its satellite rights and digital streaming rights in other languages. It is currently the third highest-grossing Malayalam film. Lucifer is the first installment in a trilogy and will be followed by L2: Empuraan and an untitled sequel, which are in development. A Telugu remake titled Godfather was released on 5 October 2022. Plot 

At Interpol's office in Lyon, an officer is looking at reports about Khureshi-Ab'ram—a mysterious international criminal involved in transcontinental trade. A message from the CIA is received on his computer, they suspect a diamond-gold nexus is working in tandem with the warlords of Africa and a rear image of a person taken in Istanbul on 7 April 2006 is attached. The officer dials Interpol's secure phone line and says: Flag it off. It's Ab'ram. Khureshi-Ab'ram. Meanwhile, in Kerala, CM P. K. Ramdas alias "PKR", the leader of the ruling party Indian Union Front (IUF), dies in the hospital while getting treated in Mediyal Institute of Medical Science and Research, which turns out to be the opposition leader Medayil Rajan's daughter's hospital. Taking advantage of the situation and believing that it would benefit the upcoming election, acting CM Mahesh Varma sends party workers to riot outside the hospital. Govardhan, a truth-seeker, records a Facebook live stream and condemns those who praise PKR, claiming that he was a puppet, during his final years in the hands of a financial syndicate, which controls the entire Indian political system. He claims that the IUF party has twice the amount of money than the entire state's treasury, and the person who replaces PKR is crucial. He lists four possible candidates during the live stream: Priyadarshini "Priya" Ramdas Nair, Jathin Ramdas, Bimal "Bobby" Nair, Varma, and Stephen Nedumpally. Priya and Jathin are PKR's children. Priya has a college-going daughter Jhanvi from her first husband Jayadevan, who died in a car accident in Dubai seven years ago. She married Bobby, a notorious and discreet drug dealer, who mainly deals with real estate and Hawala scams. He is also in contact with drug lords in Mumbai, which is all unknown to Priya. Jathin lives in the US and is not known much about him. Varma declares himself as the most likely successor to PKR due to his seniority in the party and particularly for his lobbying skills. Stephen Nedumpally is a mysterious person promoted by PKR which is not known until the last six years. Govardhan describes him as the "most dangerous" person  capable of both saving and destroying Kerala, from the list and addresses him as Lucifer. Stephen's past is unknown, but is known for his post-war reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as gold smuggling from Dubai to Kerala, which is retrieved from Govardhan's dark web research. Govardhan questions why PKR endorsed such a person by consorting him in every venue and vacating his consecutively winning last year's Nedumpally assembly seat for him, last year. Meanwhile, in Mumbai, Bobby meets his partner, Abdul, and tells him that PKR had given him an ultimatum to stop his drug trafficking a month ago. With PKR's demise, Bobby plans to fund the IUF party with drug money, overthrowing present financier Manappattil Chandy by offering him money three times as initially promised. With the help of Abdul, Bobby cuts a deal with drug boss Fyodor, who agrees to transfer  every month in exchange for importing unchecked drug contraband into Kerala, once the IUF wins the election. For the deal to proceed, Bobby has to first set up a drug production plant. Abdul insists that the plant should be in the government-sealed timber factory in the Nedumpally range. At the same time, the last rites of PKR are carried out in Kerala, where Priya asks Varma to forbid Stephen from taking part in the ceremony. On Varma's orders, city commissioner Mayilvahanam attempts hindering his way, but fails. Jathin, who should be performing PKR rituals is absent—last informed to be on a camping trip. On that night, Bobby arrives home, where he gives some Malana cream to Jhanvi, without Priya's knowledge and convenes a meeting with the IUF ministers, informing his decision to fund the party and dissolve the current ministry, which will ensure the preponement of the elections, so that they can take advantage on the present sympathy wave and nominate Jathin as the party's next CM candidate. Since Chandy is Stephen's ally, Varma advices Bobby to negotiate with Stephen, but Stephen objects to fund the party with the drug money and threatens Bobby. Enraged, Bobby assigns Sanjeev, who is the chief of IUF-funded news network NPTV, to start a smear campaign against Stephen, much to the chagrin of his co-worker and wife Arundathi. A reporter is sent to Govardhan to collect evidence, based on his claims. Govardhan doesn't have the evidence, but claims Chandy is backed by the Khureshi-Ab'ram gang, a nexus that controls the gold-diamond trade around the world and hands over a file named Govardhan's X-Files containing pieces of evidence against Bobby. Sanjeev delivers the evidence to Bobby, where Govardhan is captured by IUF activist Murugan and is confined to an asylum. Bobby send men to timber factory. Upon knowing this, Stephen kills six of them and defeats the rest. Stephen's aide and Bobby's mole Aloshy espys the incident and reports it to Varma and Bobby. Mayilvaahanam is sent to detect evidence from the premise, but finds nothing. From Priya's diary, Bobby finds out that she resents Stephen because her father gave more care for him, who was brought to their home as a child and was the cause for a rift between her parents. Stephen runs Ashrayam, a destitute home. Aloshy persuades one of the inmates Aparna to slander Stephen. On NPTV, she accuses Stephen of smuggling contraband and other illegal activities. This creates public outrage against Stephen, who is arrested and imprisoned. In prison, Stephen gets a phone call from his mercenary and confidant Zayed Masood. Jathin arrives and impresses public with his speech. While transferring fund to Bobby, Fyodor's containers are sabotaged by Zayed and his cohorts, who demand the release of Stephen. Bobby agrees, but Varma meets Rajan to arrange a hit on Stephen by his party goons in prison, the attempt fails. Left with no choice, Varma releases him. Meanwhile, Jhanvi is hospitalised after LSD overdose. Mayilvaahanam blackmails Priya for sex in exchange for not filing a case against Jhanvi. From Jhanvi, Priya learns of Bobby's predatory behaviour towards her. When asked, Bobby admits and threatens to expose Jhanvi's contacts with drug peddlers and threatens to kill her and Jhanvi like Jayadevan and PKR. Aparna admits on NPTV that she lied about Stephen. With no other choice, Priya seeks the help of Stephen, who vows to protect them. Stephen's men kill Mayilvaahanam and meets Sanjeev to clear NPTV's debts, taking control of the channel. Jathin and Priya convene a press conference to expose Bobby's illegal trades. Jathin tells Bobby that his allegiance is with Stephen. Bobby is captured in Mumbai by Fyodor's men. Before Fyodor could kill him, Zayed and his gang kill them, rescuing Bobby for Stephen to kill. Revealing himself to be Stephen's spy, Murugan kills Aloshy. Govardhan is released and reunited with his wife and daughter and Jathin is elected as the new CM. In the mid-credits scene Stephen meets Zayed and his gang in a remote location in Russia and attends a phone call of a gold-diamond trafficker Sanghani, to whom he reveals himself as Khureshi-Ab'ram. Headlines of various international newspapers are shown reporting Ab'ram as the head of an unnamed crime syndicate. 