The Pet Detective

The Pet Detective is a 2025 Indian-Malayalam language action comedy film directed by Praneesh Vijayan, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jai Vishnu. The film stars Sharaf U Dheen in the lead role, also his debut as producer, along with Vinayakan, Vinay Forrt, Anupama Parameswaran, Shyam Mohan and Joemon Jyothir.
The Pet Detective was theatrically released on 16 October and received positive reviews from critics and audience alike, who praised the cast performances, humour, music, screenplay, editing and direction. The film was commercial success at box office.

Plot

Tony Jose Alula, an inexperienced young man who inherits his father’s failing private detective agency, tries to revive the business in hopes of impressing his childhood sweetheart Kaikeyi Menon and her disapproving father. Tony’s first official case—locating a missing pet dog—seems simple but quickly spirals out of control.
During the investigation, Tony and his loyal assistant Sanoop accidentally uncover a criminal racket involved in the smuggling of exotic aquatic species, including a rare and valuable fish. Their amateur detective work soon puts them at odds with both the smugglers and the police, particularly Rajath Menon, a police officer and Tony’s former classmate who also serves as his romantic rival.
As Tony digs deeper, the seemingly minor pet-tracking assignment evolves into a chaotic mix of kidnappings, mistaken identities, and a large criminal conspiracy. Despite frequent blunders and misjudgments, Tony becomes a key figure in exposing the operation. The case culminates in an action-packed, comedic showdown that brings the criminals to justice.
In the end, Tony earns newfound respect, wins back Kaikeyi’s trust, and successfully re-establishes his father’s detective agency—establishing himself as an unlikely yet determined pet detective.

Cast

Sharaf U Dheen as Private detective Tony Jose Alula
Anupama Parameswaran as Kaikeyi
Vinay Forrt as Rajath Menon
Vinayakan as Yaqat Ali
Vijayaraghavan as Dilraj aka Peter Sambai
Shyam Mohan as Thinkal Thomas
Joemon Jyothir as Sanoop
Amith Mohan Rajeshwari as Manikandan
Bhagath Manuel as Maqbool
Renji Panicker as Jose Alula, a retired Private detective
Shobi Thilakan as Musthafa
Nishanth Sagar as Shaji
P.P. Kunhikrishnan as Jolsyan
Jai Vishnu as Kattalan Suni
Muthukumar as Sabapathi
Praseetha Menon as Lolitha
Sanju Madhu as Shamzu
Jagadeesh Kumar as Jabru
Sunny Wayne as Timmychan
Maala Parvathi as Seema Jose Alula
Major Ravi as CKP Menon
Jinu Joseph as Silva
Althaf Salim as Rage Room Owner
Amey Wagh as Psycho
Nileen Sandra as Maqbool's wife & Dia's Mother
Prasanth Madhavan as Maqbool's Friend
Sonam Singh in an item number

Production

Casting

The film was announced on 7 April 2024 through the Instagram page of Sharaf U Dheen Productions and The Pet Detective Movie. The cast with Sharaf U Dheen himself and Anupama Parameswaran was revealed on the same day.

Filming

Principal photography of the film was wrapped after 83 days, of shooting on 4 September 2024.

Marketing

A new poster was released on the lead actor's birthday.
The film’s production house announced a giveaway challenge of iPhone 17 as a part of promotion. The task was to take a screenshot from the song "Tharalitha Yaamam" and create an AI created retro styled image and tag them for participating on the giveaway. The winners should’ve been announced on its release date but was postponed to October 26.

Certification

The film received a U certificatation from CBFC and a 12A viewing rights from BBFC with rating of moderate violence, threat, injury detail and implied strong language.

Release

Theatrical

The film was initially planned to be released on 25 April 2025, but was postponed to 16 October 2025 due to clash release with Thudarum. Later it was released on limited screens in United Kingdom, Ireland, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain on same dates.

Home media

The streaming rights for The Pet Detective were acquired by ZEE5. It started streaming from 28 November 2025.

Reception

Ajith of Manorama Online gave a positive response, stating that "the film is an entertaining fun ride for the whole family, similar to films like C.I.D. Moosa". Vivek Santhosh of Cinema Express gave 3/5 stars, stating that "the film is very much chaotic, but an amusing comic caper" and "follows gleeful absurdity and slapstick rhythm of C.I.D. Moosa and Vettam, though not matching their flair, but funny enough to keep the audience engaged". Anjaidas NT of Mathrubhumi stated that "the film mixes action and comedy equally and gives us a chain comedy film, that was missing from Malayalam films for a long time", and that "the movie is a non stop laughter and guffaw ride, that entertain everyone". He concluded that "actor Sharaf U Dheen has now became the first choice for film makers, who tries action comedy films". SR Praveen of The Hindu reviewed the film as "a moderately funny template comic book caper, in a screenplay that has interesting bits of several characters brought in at various junctures, but each with a backstory". He concluded that "the high point of the film is the climax set in a theme park, where all characters gets gloriously mixed up, like a Priyadarshan film".