“Iratta,” which means twin, is a twisted tale of twin brothers who have taken different paths to live their lives and, since childhood, have never bothered to see eye to eye with each other. Pramod became a DySP, while Vinod is an ASI with the same police force, but their approach to work differs drastically. Director and writer Rohit M. G. Krishnan makes sure to bring in two characters who might stem from one father and one mother but whose upbringing and will to live change very early in their lives. Vinod does not shy away from being the bad guy here, and everyone around is aware of the spiral he goes into during one of his drunken states. Pramod, on the other hand, has had a difficult time with his wife. Being married to a bossy, control-freak of a man, Sreeja decided to walk out rather than stay in a marriage where she was not treated with respect. Pramod claims years later that things have changed for him, but Sreeja is unwilling to come back and not willing to let their daughter acknowledge that she has a father.

Vinod’s death comes as a rude shock to Pramod. Though the brothers hadn’t been on good terms since their childhood, his death was distressing, and Pramod was keen to know the killer’s identity and a possible motive. In that quest, Pramod comes to learn of many incidents, as narrated by Vinod’s junior and senior colleagues. While some stories had Pramod in them, most of them were Vinod’s trysts with trouble. Vinod never tried to make himself a better person. He had a loud, crude mouth and was never afraid of breaking the law. Vinod somehow knew the police would never go against their brethren, and he made sure to take advantage of it. Pramod initially did the same, but his wife leaving him forced him to change his way of living. Vinod, on the other hand, kept pushing his limits until many of his colleagues started resenting him at work and outside of work. He got into fights, purposely pushing the buttons of people who disliked him just to see their reaction and unwilling to hear his subordinate’s plea in the wake of the danger that might loom over him. Vinod makes sure not to let anything stop him, and he has the backing of some colleagues who make sure Vinod would be untouchable despite breaking a law that he is supposed to safeguard.

Pramod knew some of these stories, while many were still brand-new information for him. Knowing his stories would make Pramod also comply with the crime because he did not do anything to make sure Vinod did not indulge further in breaking the laws. What surprised him was the incident of Vinod raping a young girl just out of pure rage, which was fueled by alcohol. Vinod had no regrets about committing this crime, and like before, it was shoved under the carpet with the help of his colleagues. Pramod is in shock at how Vinod got away with it. Pramod here is again playing the spectator in parts where Vinod is his brother; there is no communication between them at any point. They had a rough childhood when Vinod was taken away by his father while Pramod was raised by his mother. Both have two different kinds of upbringing that start reflecting on the kids. Vinod is more hurt because he believes his mother and brother chose to leave him despite knowing the erratic and violent nature of his father.

Vinod’s resentment for Pramod is rooted in this abandonment, which stayed with him for years. Again, Pramod cannot be blamed for the decision their mother took to save herself. Pramod, being a kid, had no agency over his mother’s decision-making skills. Vinod’s sense of loss and trust has deep roots in his childhood when he felt abandoned by the same people he loved dearly. Vinod and Pramod’s father died soon, but Vinod runs away from the sight of his sibling and mother because he strongly believes their mother could have saved him from the traumatic experience. Vinod chose to be on his own, while Pramod always stayed with their mother. There was no point where they considered a talk on reconciliation, abandonment, or the deep hurt that made Vinod a vengeful man. Even though Pramod did not have much of a relationship with his brother, he did not let it get the best of him.

Vinod’s death makes Pramod take the driver’s seat and push to be part of the investigation, which will also give him more clarity on what was going on with Vinod. Vinod was all set to be married to Malini, a woman he rescued from being relentlessly abused. Shortly before their wedding in the wake of that, Vinod was murdered. Pramod, though, finally gets a breakthrough when the children, who had been playing on the other side of the police wall, confess to what they saw Vinod do: kill himself with three bullets. The million-dollar answer to the question of why Vinod killed himself, remains to be answered. Pramod, till this point, has remained calm and has, by no chance, shown any emotion toward his brother’s unexpected passing. Pramod learns, however, that the girl he raped, as per the incident narrated by Bineesh, had been Pramod’s daughter. This shakes Pramod to the core. He can’t get his mind around the fact that his fate is completely ruined thanks to the face he shares with the man who raped his only daughter. Pramod wanted to get to know his only child, but fate had other plans for him, probably from now on until his last breath. Vinod cannot believe the man with whom he had nothing to do will be the reason why he also cannot meet the family he wants around him. Vinod committed suicide, knowing the girl he raped was his niece, and the only way to find an easy exit was to kill himself. Vinod turned out to be the one who escaped the suffering of living with the sin he committed, and all the pain was sent across to Pramod, who only wanted a healthy relationship with his daughter. Vinod, instead of facing the time for the crime, thought killing himself would be easier than living a life of shame in the wake of his upcoming marriage to Malini.

Pramod sadly will have to live with the pain of sharing a face with his daughter’s rapist. There is no way Pramod will be able to let his daughter go through trauma regularly by making her face him. She will never be able to take it. The best solution would be to stick to what Sreeja wanted. Keeping their daughter away from Pramod till his last breath. Pramod and Vinod are not two faces of the same coin because Vinod pushed himself and the people around him to do the worst of the worst; meanwhile, Pramod understood the need to reform and be accepting and understanding of the people you love. Sadly, a tragedy of this scale would be difficult to move on from, especially for Pramod.

“Iratta” throws light on the fact that people change and how a childhood of any kind changes the course of how people face life. Any kind of good or bad action has an impact on people when they are growing up, which pesters them until they find a way to deal with it. Pramod dealt with it and was all ready to make amends when Vinod’s actions ruined everything Pramod had planned for. The film is a good study of the human mind and the kinds of things one is capable of because of trauma.

See more: ‘Iratta’ Ending, Explained: Was ASI Vinod’s Death, A Murder Or A Suicide?