For Oscars : From India. Review on Nizhalkkuthu Movie

NIZHALKKUTHU (Shadow Kill)

Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Screenplay : Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Photography (color) : Ravi Varma, Sunny Joseph

Editing : Ajith

Sound : N. Harikumar, Dominique Vieillard

Music : Ilayaraja

Art Direction : Ratheesh Babu

Costumes : Satheesh SB

Cast : Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Sukumari, Reeja, Thara Kalyan, Sunil, Murali, Sivakumar, Jagathy Sreekumar, Nedumudi Venu

Production : Adoor Gopalakrishnan Productions, Artcam International

Country : India

Year of Production : 2002

Running Time : 90’

The film energizes an ancient myth from the Mahabharat, in which Duryodhan hires a sorcerer to perform the rite of `Nizhalkkuthu' (creating and killing an image which results in the human's death — shadow kill), for destroying Pandavas.

Adoor Gopalakrishnan

One of the leading luminaries of the New Indian Cinema, Gopalakrishnan was born in 1941. He started acting on the amateur Stage at the early age of eight. He wrote and directed over twenty Stage plays during his academic career. A graduate in Political Science and Economics, he studied script writing and direction at the Film Institute in Pune. Gopalakrishnan scripted and directed nine feature films and more than twenty Shorts and Documentaries. All his films have won major national and international awards. In consideration of his contribution to Indian cinema, the nation honored him with the title of Padmashri. His collection of essays, The World of Cinema was given the national award for the Best book on Cinema in 1984. His feature films: Swayamvaram (One’s own Choice, 1972), Kodiyettam (Ascent, 1977), Elippathayam (Rat-trap, 1981), Mukhamukham (Face to Face, 1984), Anantara (Monologue, 1987), Mathilukal (Walls, 1989) Vidheyan (The Servile, 1993), Kathapurushan (Man of the Story, 1995), Nizhalkkuthu (Shadow Kill, 2002).

Plot

In Nizhalkkuth, Adoor explores the life of an Arachar (hangman) attached to the princely state of Travancore in the early 1940’s. Adoor’s protagonist is Kaliyappan (Oduvil Unnikrishnan) who has a battered soul as he had personally hanged many, but has developed a king size guilty conscience. He feels that there is an intense struggle going inside his mind over this form of capital punishment. However the royalty showers Kaliyappan with material benefits, honor and privilege attached to being an official hangman! And people in his village believe that he has the power to cure them of their ills. In what appears to be dichotomy, Kaliyappan uses the very same rope he uses to hang convicts to make ash out of it and smear it on the forehead of the people who comes to him for treatment! Quite evidently, Adoor knows his subject well and has done a detailed research on it. The hangman of that era was forced to take the guilt of the royalty. The guilt of killing was so acute that even the state disowned it by sending a note of pardon just after an execution got over! The climax is revering as Kaliappan’s son; a Gandhian has to step in for his father just before an execution as per custom!

For Oscars

In past couple of years, two highly publicized commercial films were sent for Oscars, on touched the arena with nomination and other fell short of the staircase to oscar. If anyone of us had seen ‘No Mans Land’ or other, we would have easily guessed, what was missing with our films.

Nizhalkkuthu has the class for the Oscars, its a brilliant film.