Paappan (transl. Dad) is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-language crime thriller film directed by Joshiy and written by RJ Shaan. The film was jointly produced by Gokulam Gopalan, David Kachappilly and Raaffi Mathirra. It stars father and son, Suresh Gopi and Gokul Suresh, alongside Neeta Pillai, Asha Sharath, Nyla Usha, Kaniha, and Ajmal Ameer in supporting roles.

Paappan was released on 29 July 2022. The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics and has emerged as a commercial success. The film made its digital premiere on 7 September 2022 on ZEE5.

The corpse of Superstar Ravi Varman is found in Pulimala forest. The Kerala Police headed by ASP Vincy Abraham investigate. She suspects Ravi's driver Bullet Rajan, after they discover Rajan's criminal history, his case was investigated by Vincy's estranged father former CI Abraham Mathew "Mathan" alias Paappan. Inspecting the corpse, the cops discover it was Rajan, who was murdered, whilst Ravi is missing. During the postmortem, Vincy learns that Rajan was killed in a way to resemble a heart attack, she also learns there were female prints, along with Ravi's and Rajan's, in Ravi's car. Learning Ravi is shooting a film, Vincy's team interviews him, and Ravi reveals he was having an affair with actress Hiranmayi.

Rajan had dropped them at his farmhouse and left to meet someone in Pulimala. He was shocked to learn of his death from the news. Vincy's team find a riddle 26 (written on Rajan's toes) and a double-edged dagger named Bull's eye dagger, they conclude that a recently-released-from-prison criminal named Iruttan Chacko is the killer.

It is revealed that Paappan was dismissed from service several years earlier for trying to fabricate evidence to ensure that Chacko is sentenced to capital punishment. However, Paappan is held in high regard by the police officers who used to be his colleagues. SP Bhaskar Shenoy appoints Paappan unofficially to investigate the case with Vincy. The next morning, CI Soman's corpse is found in Trivandrum. Vincy learns that Soman was killed the same way as Rajan and had the number 8 written on him. It is revealed that Chacko was a serial killer whom Paappan was after during his service, and Chacko had accidentally killed Paappan's wife Nancy, when she tried to save Paappan from being killed by Chacko. The infamous dagger which was being used by Chacko to kill all his victims, gets lost in the hussle, and to overcome this technical hurdle and ensure that Chacko is hanged, Paappan fabricated a dagger. But Paappan's ploy was discovered in the trial court, and the court ordered him to be dismissed from service. Chacko was imprisoned for various other offences, but escaped conviction and capital punishment for many of his murders due to the absence of original dagger as evidence.

One night, a stranger sneaks into forensic doctor Sherly Somasundaram's house. Sherly informs Vincy, who assumes the stranger is Chacko and tries to catch him, to no avail. Vincy receives footage of Paappan meeting Chacko in prison and with the help of an analyser, she learns Paappan had planned to meet Chacko after he got released. Vincy suspects Paappan of having Chacko hired as the killer. While checking people who met Chacko, Vincy learns that a woman, Aisha Fathima, came to visit Chacko. In investigation, it is revealed that Aisha Fathima was a fake name and the woman was actually a nun who works at the orphanage which takes care of Chacko's mother Kunjamma. Vincy finds Chacko's location by tapping his phone call to Kunjamma. However, at his address, Vincy finds Chacko chained-up and concludes someone else is behind the killings.

Paappan feels the real killer is trying to communicate something to the police, and in order to make the killer say it out loud, advises Bhaskar to hold a press meet and falsely announce that Chacko is the killer. Bhaskar holds a press meeting and falsely closes the case in order to lure the real killer. Subsequently, Vincy's husband Siddharth receives a package containing an invitation to attend a meet-the-author ceremony of a book 'Rahasya-the killer has a past'. The package also contained the book titled Rahasya-the killer has a past with pages 95 and 96 torn, which leads them to suspect the numbers when read together could be a date 26-8-95/96. They spy on the book's author Dr. Priya Nalini akaDraupadi, at the ceremony. However, they learn that Priya's husband Adv. Jayashankar was the killer's target and he is killed in a car explosion while the ceremony is taking place. Meanwhile, it is shown that Paappan is in search of some evidence by using an old school photo taken at a school in Pulimala with the help of his son Michael. Paappan and Michael learn about Simon, who was accused of absconding after stealing a golden cross from the church of Pulimala. He learns that Simon and his upper-caste classmate Bennitta Issac Puthenpuraykal were in love, but her family learnt this and fixed Bennita's marriage to someone else on 26 August 1996. Paappan finds it odd that Simon and the golden cross goes missing on the eve of Bennitta's fixed marriage. He also learns from the church records that Bennitta's marriage got cancelled due to some undisclosed reason.

Bennitta's family members; her father Issac, mother Kathrina, brother Fr. Bennett had died mysteriously. Using age progression technology, Paappan scans Bennitta's photo and finds that Sherly is Bennitta, and kidnaps her with Michael's help. It was Michael who had sneaked into Sherly's house and recovered an old school photo from Pulimala school in Sherly's album. Paappan had directed Michael to spy on her because he was suspicious about her from the beginning. Paappan reveals the findings to Bhaskar and Vincy, where Vincy learns that Jayashankar, Soman and Bennitta's brother Fr. Bennet were college friends. Paappan interrogates Bennitta and learns that Simon was brutally murdered by her family, Rajan, Jayashankar, Soman and Fr. Bennet in an honour killing incident. Bennitta had to helplessly watch Simon being killed, burnt to death and later blamed for stealing the cross and running away.