Nishalkkuthu (Shadow Kill)- A masterwork from a Genius

Nishalkkuthu (Shadow kill) a movie by the well known director Adoor GopalaKrishnan is a perfect craft of a Genius. His movies are not just an art but the art that can touch the heart with soulfulness.

Nishalkkuthu tells the story of Kaliyappan a hangman (Oduvil Unnikrishnan) who struggles to continue his life due to the haunting memories. He slide down to heavy drinking and depression as he recently hanged a man who turned out to be innocent.

The masterpiece of this movie comes in when he has been ordered to do another hanging, he is worried that the most terrible presentiment may come true in his life. When the alcohol fails to wake Kaliyappan on the eve of the execution the jailer tells the story of a 13 year old girl raped and killed by her own brother-in-law and an innocent musician boy convicted for this charge. He conceive of the girl as his own daughter and the brother in law in the story as his own son in law due to his deep mental agony and he collapses.The Gandhian, freedom fighter son completes the job of executing the convict.


The title of the film Nizhalkkuthu refers to a popular play Nizhalkkuthu Attakatha, adapted from the Mahabharata, about the inherent unjustness of certain punishments.However the movie lacks special effects and the melodious music by Ilayaraja does effective only in the romantic scenes.


All of his movies particularly Nishalkkuthu will tell you why Adoor Gopalakrishnan is considered as genius in Indian Cinema. He follows his own style with flawlessness and that makes him a maverick in Indian Cinema.