Nadiya Kollappetta Rathri 2007

Nadiya Mether, Kavya Madhavan, internationally famous for her sharp shooting, boards the Sauparnika Express on its inaugural run from Chennai to Mangalore. The journey starts in a tense burst of activity, but it quickly turns deadly: Nadiya is stabbed, and so are two other passengers—the renowned dancer Thulasimani and a television reporter named Shreya Maria, who all die in the same compartment that night. With the murder victims piling up and the crime scene papered over by a confusing tangle of alibis, the case is deemed too complex for the local investigators. The duty falls to DIG Sharafuddeen Taramasi, a seasoned Tamil Nadu cadre IPS officer and a Keralite by birth who earned his stripes as an encounter specialist with the Railway Anti-Criminal Task Force (RACT). Suresh Gopi leads the charge as Sharafuddeen, coordinating a forensic and psychological pull through a crowded, transitioning train that’s been turned into a rolling crime scene.

The passenger list in that first-class compartment reads like a microcosm of a small town: Priya Rose, her mother Rajamma, and her father; four doctors returning from a conference; a Tamil novelist named Seetharaman; Palakkad Railway SP Alexander; Madhavan Master; his wife and their mentally unstable son Balachandran “Balu”; TTR Muthuraj and the attending crewman Sundareshan; and the enigmatic Lakkidi Manikandan, who later emerges as a killer in disguise. As the train nears Madukarai, Balu is seen with a blade; Shreya is missing and later found dead near Salem; Thulasimani is found dead, hanging on the roof of her coupe which had been locked from the inside. The coach is removed for a fresh look, and SI Mayilvahanan interrogates the remaining passengers to piece together what happened.

A crucial reveal comes when Muthuraj details a meeting with another passenger, a man who presents himself as a constable—Lakkidi Manikandan. Under intense questioning, Mani admits to stabbing Shreya, whose reckless pursuit of a hot story about smuggling led to her downfall. The chain of events widens as investigators uncover that Alexander IPS was heavily involved in smuggling, and Shreya’s mobile conversations exposed her identity. Despite her ultimate death, the investigation threads out that she was killed because she had uncovered dangerous information. In parallel, it’s revealed that Bal, a doctor, was the first to spot the blade in Nadiya’s hand, leading to a hospital trip but not before the truth further unravels.

Sharafuddeen’s team follows the complex tapestry of clues to Nadira Mether, Nadya’s twin sister, who is an heir to a substantial artistic and financial legacy. Nadira and Nadya were orphans, raised by Janaki Iyer, a renowned dancer, and their fate became deeply entwined with the Mether family’s fortunes. The twins’ foster mother’s properties, now under the management of Aadi Lakshmi and her brother Lakshman, play a central role in the motive web. Nadira’s fiancé is the internationally acclaimed musician Zia Musafir, son of the respected Ustad Ghulam Musafir. The Ustad’s disapproval of Sharafuddeen’s investigations intensifies the pressure on Nadira, who is torn between loyalty to her sister and her own ambitions.

As the detectives probe deeper into Nadira’s past, they discover a layered conspiracy around the academy owned by Janaki Iyer and the wealth that Nadira would inherit. Sharafuddeen grills Aadi Lakshmi and Lakshman to learn who might have stood to gain from Nadira’s status, while Nadira herself arrives at the academy to confront the mounting suspicions. The narco-analysis plan is set in motion for a larger set of suspects, including Nadira and the other key players, as the train carries them toward a controlled line of questioning in Chennai.

The heart of the mystery lies in the bond and rivalry between Nadiya and Nadira. Sharafuddeen exposes the brutal core: Nadiya, who deeply loves Zia Musafir, discovers Nadira’s growing closeness to him. In a dangerous gambit, Nadiya stabs Nadira at Coimbatore Station to stop Nadira from selling the academy and its legacy. To pass off the crime as an attack on Nadira, Nadiya orchestrates a scenario where Nadira appears as the killer—but the truth is far more intricate. A dramatic discovery surfaces: Nadira and Nadiya are not merely twins; one twin’s identity is swapped to conceal the real killer. The test of blood types and the distinctive nosebleed that marks Nadiya when she is angry reveal the ruse, and the investigation tightens around Nadira’s supposed killer.

In a tense confrontation aboard the moving train, Sharafuddeen reveals that Nadira’s status as the heir to Janaki Iyer’s legacy was the true prize—one that Ustad Ghulam Musafir and Janaki’s own circle wished to protect or exploit. The revelation comes with a twist: the real Nadira has been hidden in plain sight, her identity forged and manipulated by the other twin. The pivotal moment comes when Sharafuddeen shows that the blood on Nadira’s body and Nadya’s genuine blood type don’t match, confirming that Nadira’s persona was a fabrication. Yet the deeper twist arrives when it’s revealed that Sudarudheen’s assistant and right-hand man—a man tied to the investigation’s most intimate parts—had attacked Nadya to retrieve a teeth bite sample for the DNA comparison, a crucial step in untangling the twin ruse. The undercurrents of affection and betrayal culminate as Sharafuddeen deduces the killer’s identity from Nadya’s nosebleed reaction to taunts about Zia.

As the truth unravels, it becomes clear that Nadiya Mether—a brilliant shooter and the woman in love with Zia—was the mastermind behind the final deception. Nadira had manipulated events, but the deepest truth lies in the love that Nadiya bore for Zia and the way she exploited Nadira’s own role to shield her plan. The confession floods the narrative: Nadiya killed Nadira to prevent her from selling the academy and undermining the legacy Janaki Iyer entrusted to the twins. In a climactic moment, Nadiya jumps from the moving train after her confession, meeting a fatal end at a railway signal. The immediate danger subsides for now, but the moral of the story remains: the pursuit of wealth, power, and control can drive even the closest kin to desperation.

Months later, the narrative closes on a hopeful note: Zia Musafir returns and takes Nadira, who has been left in a vegetative state, to the United States for advanced treatment, suggesting a path toward possible recovery and reconciliation for the surviving members of this tangled family. The case ends with the lingering question of how far desire and loyalty can bend the lines between crime and justice, truth and appearances, in a world where a single train ride can fracture a family and reveal the darkest corners of human ambition.

Key cast notes (with actor links for first mentions):

• Nadiya Mether, Kavya Madhavan Kavya Madhavan

• Nadira Mether, Kavya Madhavan Kavya Madhavan

• Zia Musafir, Prithviraj Sukumaran Prithviraj Sukumaran

• Ustad Ghulam Musafir, Siddique Siddique

• Shreya Maria, Vandana Menon Vandana Menon

• Thathamangalam Muthuraj, Suraj Venjaramoodu Suraj Venjaramoodu

• Lakkidi Manikandan, Baburaj Baburaj

• Priya Rose, (no actor link provided)

• Rajamma, Bindu Panicker Bindu Panicker

• Mayilvahanan Kathireshan, Rajan P Dev Rajan P Dev

• Madhavan Master, Kollam Thulasi Kollam Thulasi

• Balu Madhav, Vijayakumar Vijayakumar

• Seetharaman, Vijay Menon Vijay Menon

• Sharafudeen Tharamasi, Suresh Gopi Suresh Gopi

• Nadiya/Nadira’s twin, Kavya Madhavan Kavya Madhavan

• Aadi Lakshmi, Urmila Unni Urmila Unni

• Sundaran, Anoop Chandran Anoop Chandran

• Mathangi Varma, Sajitha Betti Sajitha Betti

• Dr. Ajayghosh, Madhupal Madhupal

• Thulasi Mani, (actor not listed)