12th Man is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-language mystery thriller film directed by Jeethu Joseph and produced by Antony Perumbavoor through Aashirvad Cinemas, with a screenplay by K. R. Krishna Kumar and based on a story by Sunir Khetarpal.

The film stars Mohanlal, with an ensemble cast including Unni Mukundan, Anusree, Anu Sithara, Saiju Kurup, Rahul Madhav, Chandunath Nair, Anu Mohan, Priyanka Nair, Leona Lishoy, Aditi Ravi and Sshivada.

The main conflict happens when one of his friends calls Siddharth and asks him about the name of the abortion pills used by him when he made one of the group pregnant.

When questioned, Jithesh claims that he was having an affair with Shiny, implying that she must have committed suicide to avoid the fear of being humiliated.

Chandrashekar finds out that ₹10 lakh (US$12,000) was transferred to Shiny's account prior to her death, which is revealed from the calls from one of Mathew's moneylenders.

Merin sought Shiny's help as Aarathy told Siddharth to bring both Jithesh and his lover to her in order to prove his innocence.

On 5 July 2021, sharing a title poster, Mohanlal announced 12th Man as his consecutive and forthcoming association with director Jeethu Joseph following the release of Drishyam 2 earlier that year.

The announcement came amid the suspended production of Ram, their unfinished project, which was put on hold indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.

Jeethu received the final screenplay from Kumar during the filming of Drushyam 2, who conveyed it to Mohanlal and Antony, thus the project was green-lit.

[7] Shine Tom Chacko, Veena Nandakumar, and Santhi Priya were part of the initial cast but opted out.

[10] Principal photography began on 17 August 2021 coinciding with the Kerala New Year on the first day of the Malayalam month Chingam.

[17] The core idea of the story is loosely inspired by the 2016 Italian film Perfect Strangers and the screenplay keeps a mystery that is mainly influenced by Agatha Christie's crime novels.

[18][19] Prior to release, Jeethu promoted the film on the Mohanlal hosted TV show Bigg Boss (season 4).

"[21] Critic Latha Srinivasan wrote in the Moneycontrol review that "The interrogation style, the narration and clever writing in the second half is the crux of this Jeethu Joseph-Mohanlal film and that is what makes the movie a compelling watch."