Adoor Gopalakrishnan: Nizhalkkuthu

Nizhalkkuthu - 2003
(Shadow Kill)

The plot is set in the 1940's in a Southern village of Kerala. Kaliyappan, the last hangman of Travancore dynasty is dragging his remaining life by consuming alcohol and worshipping the Mother Goddess. The reason for this self-destruction is the remorse born out of the feeling that the last man he hanged was an innocent.

The Hangman as a human being…capable of feeling guilty and remorseful…All of us understand and perceive the world through a process of empathy…the borrowed experience makes such identical resonance as one's own and grows to become inseparable from it…it can lead to strange and tragic predicaments as the Hangman's.

While pulling on his life by boozing, worshiping the Goddess and treating people with the ash obtained by burning the hanging rope, one day the King's messenger once again arrive with the Kings order of appointing him for executing a convict termed as 'a killer, proved beyond doubt'. He leaves to the jail with his Gandhian, freedom fighter son to assist him in his job.

As a tradition, the hangman has to spend the eve of the execution awake. When alcohol fails to keep Kaliyappan awake, the jailer starts telling a 'spicy tale' to keep him awake, the tale of a 13 year old girl rapped and killed by her own brother-in-law and an innocent musician boy convicted for this charge.

When Kaliyappan comes to know the condemned person he is about to hang is that very same musician boy, he breaks down. The job of executing the convict is passed on to his assistant, his son. The Gandhian, freedom fighter son, who is in revolt against the existing system accepts the job without any protest and walks towards the gallows to accomplish his job.

Direction & Screenplay: Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Cast: Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Sukumari, Murali
Cinematography: Mankada Ravi Varma, Sunny Joseph
Editing: Ajithkumar
Music: Ilayaraja

Also read :
Chaosmag interview with Adoor Gopalakrishnan on Nizhalkkuthu
Chaosmag Review of Nizhalkkuthu
Nizhalkkuthu, a review

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