Sethurama Iyer

Sethurama Iyer
CBI film series character
Mammootty as Sethurama Iyer.
First appearance	Oru CBI Diary Kurippu (1988)
Last appearance	Nerariyan CBI (2005)
Created by	S. N. Swamy, K. Madhu
Portrayed by	Mammootty
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Officer, Central Bureau of Investigation
Religion	Hindu (Brahmin)
Nationality	Indian

Sethurama Iyer. (Malayalam: സേതുരാമയ്യര്, alternate spelling Sethuramayyar) is a fictional character, and the protagonist of the CBI investigative thriller series of films in Malayalam directed by K. Madhu. The character was played by Mammootty in four films so far.

Sethurama Iyer is an investigative officer of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Indian equivalent of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation. Iyer's popularity is attributed to the fact that he uses his brain rather than brawn to solve cases. The suspense-filled narration of the movies and the novelty of the investigative thriller genre also contributed to its success and becoming a household name among the moviegoers of Kerala. The character is said to have been inspired by a police officer named Radhavinod Raju, who in 2009 was appointed as the first chief of India's National Investigation Agency.

The character is said to have been inspired by the police officer Radhavinod Raju, who in 2009 was appointed as the first chief of India's National Investigation Agency. Raju's excellence while probing the Polakulam Peethambaran murder case and SI Soman murder case, when he was acting as Superintend of CBI Kochi, attracted the attention of many. His "Dummy-to-Dummy" experiment in Polakulam Peethambaran murder case was used in Oru CBI Diary Kurippu. When Oru CBI Diary Kurippu became a hit, Mammootty became more famous in films and Raju in his services. Incidentally, Raju was Mammootty's senior in Maharajas College.

Radhavinod Raju was also associated with the probes into Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and hijacking of Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar. The films Mission 90 Days (which starred Mammootty) and Kandahar were respectively inspired by the operations of Raju in these cases.