'Detective Ujjwalan' Movie Ending Explained & Summary: Who Was The Real Killer?

Streaming on Netflix, Detective Ujjwalan is not the usual grim and dreary crime thriller, but it manages to keep things lighthearted at its core, without losing out on the essence of the story. I believe this kind of execution is the trickiest, since a lot of times, the comedy overpowers the seriousness of the story. Detective Ujjwalan is an entertaining watch, and moreover, it ended on a note that made it pretty clear that the makers have every intention of coming up with a Part 2 as well. So let’s find out what happened in the film and if our protagonist was able to find the serial killer. 

Spoiler Alert

What happened in Ujjwalan’s village? 

Everybody in Plaachikkaavu village knew Ujjwalan as a skilled detective, and he didn’t consider himself any less than Sherlock Holmes either. The man was obsessed with crime stories and the techniques and methods employed by detectives to solve complex cases. There was a police station in the village, but whenever any crime took place, SI Sachin took Ujjwalan’s help, as he knew that he was the best investigative mind they had, even though he didn’t have the authority or qualifications to be a part of a formal investigation. The village was celebrating its 50th anniversary, and Sachin had to give an interview, where he had to talk about the prevailing law and order situation and other aspects that made their village stand out. SI Sachin spoke very proudly about how the crime rate in the village was so low and that there was only one thief named Anthikirudan who committed petty crimes every now and then. It felt as if somebody was adamant to prove SI Sachin wrong that day. A predator emerged out of nowhere, and the people were terrified when they saw the dead body of a man named Ashokan lying in one of the farmlands. Sachin immediately called for Ujjwalan, and in no time the local sleuth was able to figure out who was behind the murder. Ujjwalan found a “bidi” and a slipper, which he knew belonged to Anthikirudan, and he believed that the evidence was enough for him to ask SI Sachin to put him behind bars. But a second murder happened soon after that, and though everybody once again suspected Anthikirudan (since the man had managed to escape from police custody before the second murder happened), Ujjwalan realized that he couldn’t have done it. There were many reasons, actually, that led Ujjwalan to arrive at that conclusion: the first and foremost was that he noticed that the victims had been killed in the exact same manner. He realized that this was the work of a serial killer, who had such twisted sensibilities that he was just going around killing people for fun. Another thing that Ujjwalan realized was that the killer suffered from OCD, as the wound marks on the body were symmetrical, and moreover, it felt as if he meticulously cleaned the crime scene and made sure that everything was in order. Not long after that, the CI Shambu Mahadev was called to take charge of the investigation since the news of the serial murders had spread like wildfire all over the state, and the higher officials wanted to catch the killer before a stain came on their own reputation.

Why was Ujjwalan jealous of CI Shambu Mahadev? 

Ujjwalan was jealous of CI Shambu for one simple reason: he felt that the man stole his thunder. Ujjwalan considered himself to be an ace detective, but in reality he didn’t have the authority to be a part of a criminal investigation. It was still fine so long as he was trying to solve petty crimes where people’s cattle or jewelry was stolen, but Shambu felt that a civilian shouldn’t be part of such an investigation. A third murder happened, and the killer hanged the body of the victim from a tree after butchering him. Shambu, with his core team, started working day and night since they were under a lot of media scrutiny and their own reputation was at stake. 

One time, Shambu came to Ujjwalan’s house, and he questioned Narayanan, Ujjwalan’s father, which made the self-proclaimed sleuth take a little bit of offense. Ujjwalan started his own investigation in parallel, and he came to the conclusion that the killer wore running shoes and was a considerably fit person, as it was not easy to lift a dead body and hang it from a tree. Ujjwalan had seen Shambu jogging in the morning and working out, and so in the community meeting, he declared that Shambu was the murderer. Obviously, Shambu did not take those allegations very nicely, and so he too started keeping a watch on Narayanan and Ujjwalan, as he was quite sure that they were involved in the crime. But then, a 4th murder happened where a police officer named Ajayan was murdered while patrolling in the area at night. Ujjwalan knew that Shambu was in his home at that point in time, and that he couldn’t have been at the crime scene. 

Who was the Boogeyman impersonator? 

Ujjwalan was made to feel guilty for the murder of Ajayan, since it was his idea to trigger the serial killer by imposing a strict curfew post 6 pm, accompanied by rigorous police patrolling the entire night. That was the moment, I believe, when Ujjwalan realized that he needed to help CI Shambu in whatever way he could, as they both were doing no good by going against each other. Ujjwalan came up with a plan, and surprisingly, Shambu welcomed it with open arms. Shambu had been given the ultimatum by his superiors that if he didn’t catch the serial killer in the next 7 days, somebody else would be put in charge of the case. Ujjwalan felt that a trap needed to be laid for the killer to trigger him so much that he would be compelled to come out of hiding. It was decided Chandy, the gossip mongrel who always put fuel to the fire and was notorious for it, would be the bait. Ujjwalan and CI Shambu spread the false news that Chandy had become the next victim of the serial killer who, till that time, was given the acronym Boogeyman, because of the similarity in his modus operandi to that of the infamous American serial killer known by that name. Chandy played dead, and the setup was spot-on, which made the villagers believe that he had been murdered. After that, the police officers started belittling the serial killer and quite publicly spoke about how he used to be a perfectionist who had now started making some rookie mistakes. That was done on purpose to hurt the killer’s ego. Ujjwalan had understood that the killer was proud of the fact that he didn’t leave any trail, and he presumed that it would have made him extremely happy when Shambu gave him the nickname Boogeyman. Ujjwalan’s plan worked, and the serial killer came out of hiding to prove that the claims made by the police were wrong. He was desperate to find his impersonator and make him pay for ruining his image, but he didn’t know that he was walking straight into Ujjwalan’s trap. The serial killer was finally caught, and it came to be known that he was a man named Jomon who was a reporter from some other village. 

How did Ujjwalan find out that there were two killers? 

After Jomon was caught, he told the police officers about his past and what motivated him to become a serial killer in the first place. He told the police officers that his mother died just moments after giving birth to him and his father blamed him for her demise. He said that his entire childhood, his father kept him locked inside a room, and he never got to meet another person until a good Samaritan saw him and decided to help him out. That anonymous man asked Jomon’s father to let him teach the boy, as he probably felt sympathetic towards him. The teacher used to give him books to read, and one time he gave him Don George’s Inside the Mind of a Monster: Becoming the Boogeyman. Jomon said that he read that book several times, and he noticed that something changed inside him. He could feel a surge of sadism within, and he felt the urge to hurt people. He killed the pigs that were there on his farm, and he very excitedly showed it off to his teacher. Jomon once again got a good thrashing from his father, who by then had become sure that his wife had given birth to a monster. Then one day, a man wearing a mask like the Boogeyman killed his father, and Jomon stood there awestruck, not understanding if he should feel sad or horrified. The Boogeyman told Jomon that he had big hopes for him and then silently left him in the room, where his father’s dead body was lying in a pool of blood. During the interrogation, Ujjwalan noticed certain things about Jomon, and then before he could tell what he felt to Shambu, a child arrived at the police station informing them that another murder had taken place. Somebody had written a threatening message on a wall, stating that if Jomon wasn’t released, more people would be killed. Ujjwalan understood that Jomon was not operating alone. He realized that Jomon, first of all, couldn’t have hanged the man on the tree alone, and also he couldn’t have killed police officer Ajayan without any help. He saw the writing on the wall and figured out that the second killer was right-handed and that his height was probably a bit shorter than Jomon’s.

Detective Ujjwalan’s revealed that Jomon had a twin brother, who was actually the one who had started killing people in the village. The brother came to town and then killed 2 people. Before the third murder, Jomon also came and started helping him out so that he didn’t get caught by the authorities. Ujjwalan laid a trap for the twin brother too, and eventually, after a bit of struggle, Shambu and his team were able to catch the menacing killer. The look on his face, his wicked smile, told us how unapologetic he was for what he had done and that everything was merely a game for him. He had idolized the Boogeyman for years, and when he got an opportunity to kill people, he seized it with both hands. 

Was Jomon’s Teacher The Real Boogeyman? 

When Jomon was narrating his story, he told how a masked man killed his father and then, in a very symbolic manner, handed over the baton to spread chaos and fear to both the brothers. We were never told who that man was until the mid-credit scene, where we saw Jomon’s teacher, the one who introduced him to the Boogeyman, read the news of the serial murders that happened in Ujjwalan’s village. The teacher couldn’t help but feel proud of his students. His character broke the fourth wall and looked right into the camera and gave an evil smile. It became clear that their teacher was the one who had killed their father. I say that with certainty because he was wearing the same black thread on his right wrist that we saw the Boogeyman wearing. The teacher had very subtly manipulated the brothers and made them privy to the crooked sensibilities of a criminal mind. If there is a Detective Ujjwalan part 2, I believe that teacher will play a crucial role in the scheme of things, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he himself came down to the village and started killing the innocent villagers. It would be interesting to see what happens next and if CI Shambu and Ujjwalan once again join hands to find another deadly killer.

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