One

One (original title: വൺ) is a 2021 Malayalam political drama-thriller centered on Kadakkal Chandran, the Chief Minister of Kerala, played by Mammootty. The film follows a principled but hard-edged leader whose uncompromising stance against corruption makes him powerful, controversial, and deeply divisive. As Chandran pushes against entrenched political interests, he also has to deal with a personal and physical crisis that threatens to unsettle his position and expose his vulnerability. The story blends public power, ethical conflict, and the pressure of leadership, with the CM's choices affecting both his enemies and the people around him. Built as a serious, issue-driven drama, the film frames its central question around what an ideal leader should be when the system itself is rotten. (rottentomatoes.com)

Reception was mixed but generally engaged, with much of the attention focused on Mammootty's screen presence and the film's timely political premise. IMDb currently shows a 6.2/10 rating from about 3.2K users, which suggests a modestly favorable audience response rather than a breakout hit. Some IMDb user reviews praise the concept and Mammootty's charisma, while others criticize the screenplay as predictable, labored, or underdeveloped. Rotten Tomatoes lists the film with 0 critic reviews and fewer than 50 audience ratings, so there is not a strong Tomatometer consensus to lean on there; the available site summary describes it as a political-corruption story about Kerala's chief minister. Contemporary coverage on the title also described it as a middling or uneven political fantasy, again pointing to a film that many viewers found interesting in idea but uneven in execution. Overall, the reception seems to be: strong central performance, topical ambition, but a divisive script and pacing. (imdb.com)