''Irakal'' () is a 1985 Indian
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
-language
psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting.
In terms of context and co ...
film written and directed by
K. G. George
Kulakkattil Geevarghese George (born 24 May 1946) is an Indian film maker and screenwriter who worked in the Malayalam cinema. He was the founder of a new school of film making in Malayalam cinema, along with Bharathan and P. Padmarajan, in ...
and produced by
Sukumaran
Edappal Ponnamkuzhi Veettil Parameswaran Sukumaran Nair (10 June 1948 – 16 June 1997), known mononymously as Sukumaran, was an Indian actor and producer of Malayalam films. Sukumaran became a popular film star in Malayalam cinema during the 1 ...
. The film stars
K. B. Ganesh Kumar
Keezhoote Balakrishna Pillai Ganesh Kumar (born 25 May 1966) is an Indian actor, television host, and politician. Ganesh Kumar is a proposed cabinet minister for the last 2.5 years in the ongoing 2nd LDF govt in Kerala and he is also the curre ...
,
Thilakan
Palappurathu Kesavan Surendranatha Thilakan (15 July 1935 – 24 September 2012) was an Indian film and stage actor who appeared in over 200 Malayalam films. Thilakan was known for his elaborate method acting, realistic and spontaneous appearan ...
,
Sukumaran
Edappal Ponnamkuzhi Veettil Parameswaran Sukumaran Nair (10 June 1948 – 16 June 1997), known mononymously as Sukumaran, was an Indian actor and producer of Malayalam films. Sukumaran became a popular film star in Malayalam cinema during the 1 ...
,
Ashokan, and
Radha
Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...
. The film won two
Kerala State Film Awards
The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala and since 1998 the awards have been bestowed by Kerala State Cha ...
—
Second Best Film and
Best Story. Irakal is considered as the first dark movie in Malayalam and is regarded as a classic film.
Plot
A ruthless,
Syrian Christian rubber
Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...
baron, Mathews aka Mathukutty, builds an empire, through business acumen and greasing palms of cops and labour union leaders. His business includes
marijuana
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
and
hooch. His son Koshy, who is the second-in-commands in his business and illegal activities, is equally ruthless and violent. His second son Sibi is an alcoholic, but a normal guy struggling to get out of his father's stranglehold; he rebels once a while, but incompetent and lazy to go his own way. Mathukutty's only daughter, Annie, is a nymphomaniac, who has no feelings for her husband Andrews or daughter. Her husband is fed up of her wayward lifestyle. Annie comes to live with her maternal family every month, in the pretence of some fight with her husband, so that she can sleep with Mathukutty's henchman and rubber employee, Unnunni. Mathukutty and Koshy are not aware of Annie's wayward lifestyle, and think their son-in-law is unduly suspicious by nature. They mince no words while chastising Annie's husband for being the guilty party in the marriage; Koshy even roughs him up, when Andrews refuses to come for a reconciliation meeting.
Mathukkutty's youngest son, Baby, is an engineering student. At college, he fantasises about murder and gushing blood. He shows early signs of antisocial behaviors which manifests itself when ragging a junior (freshman). He strangles a junior student with an electric wire. Baby is suspended from the college and returns home. The junior student is admitted to hospital in a serious condition. His family gets to know of the incident through a newspaper article and dismiss it as a ragging incident gone bad. Baby always keeps the electric wire in his bag as a memento of the incident. Baby is a marijuana addict and he shows no alarming outward symptoms of his mental illness. His uncle Bishop senses something wrong with his nephew and cannot get through him.
Baby observes Annie's affair with Unnunni and decides to murder him. He manages to strangle Ununni to death at the tools shed where Unnunni and Annie meets up. Baby hangs the body to stage a suicide. On discovering the body, the family dispose the body to avoid any Police investigation on the unnatural death.
Baby has violent dreams, constantly plays with his father's rifle, and imagines murdering Annie, multiple times, using his electric wire and the gun. He likes Nirmala, a village girl from a poor family. Nirmala, a young teenager, keeps him interested, and even makes love to him under the shade of coffee shrubs in broad daylight. She loves Baby but is well aware of the caste and class divide between them. Nirmala gets engaged to a local shop-owner, Balan. She ends the relationship with Baby. Baby murders Balan by strangling him with his preferred weapon, the electric wire. The murder goes unsolved as Baby removes money from the shop making it look like a robbery gone bad.
Nirmala believes that Baby is behind Balan's death, and confronts him when they meet at the river. Baby tries to kill her as well, but Nirmala escapes without knowing his intention. Nirmala's mother fixes her wedding to Raghavan, a rubber tapper and Baby's friend. Baby tries to strangle Raghavan too, but fails in his attempt. Raghavan sees Baby's face when the mask he was wearing comes out and reports it to the police. The cops start searching for Baby, who goes into hiding. While his family tries to find him, he suddenly appears with a revolver. He shoots at Koshy who confronts him and shoots at his father too when he shouts at him to stop. Mathukutty escapes the shot, but Koshy is hit though not fatally. While the scuffle is going on, Baby is shot dead by Mathukkutty, using his rifle. His family in pursuit of making money did not realise the animal and danger he is becoming through avoidance to the society and to them.
Cast
*
K. B. Ganesh Kumar
Keezhoote Balakrishna Pillai Ganesh Kumar (born 25 May 1966) is an Indian actor, television host, and politician. Ganesh Kumar is a proposed cabinet minister for the last 2.5 years in the ongoing 2nd LDF govt in Kerala and he is also the curre ...
as Baby Mathews
*
Thilakan
Palappurathu Kesavan Surendranatha Thilakan (15 July 1935 – 24 September 2012) was an Indian film and stage actor who appeared in over 200 Malayalam films. Thilakan was known for his elaborate method acting, realistic and spontaneous appearan ...
as Mathews / Mathukutty
*
P. C. George (actor) as Koshy Mathews
*
Sukumaran
Edappal Ponnamkuzhi Veettil Parameswaran Sukumaran Nair (10 June 1948 – 16 June 1997), known mononymously as Sukumaran, was an Indian actor and producer of Malayalam films. Sukumaran became a popular film star in Malayalam cinema during the 1 ...
as Sibi Mathews
*
Srividya
Srividya (24 July 1953 – 19 October 2006), also known as Sreevidya, was an Indian actress best known for her work predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, along with few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. In a career spanning for 40 years, ...
as Annie
*
Nedumudi Venu
Kesavan Venugopal (22 May 1948 – 11 October 2021), better known by his stage name Nedumudi Venu, was an Indian actor and screenwriter from Kerala, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 500 films, primarily in Ma ...
as Andrews, Annie's husband
*
Radha
Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...
as Nirmala
*
Venu Nagavally
Venu Nagavally (16 April 1949 – 10 September 2010) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and director best known for his work in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam film industry. He has directed 12 films. Son of writer, commentator, and broadcaster Nagav ...
as Balan
*
Ashokan as Raghavan
*
Innocent
Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience.
In relation ...
as Aniyan Pillai
*
Bharath Gopi
Gopynathan Velayudhan Nair (2 November 1937 – 29 January 2008), popularly known by the stage name Bharat Gopy, was an Indian actor, producer and director. He was one of the first actors to be associated with the New Wave cinema movement in ...
as Fr. Stephen
*
Azeez
Aziz ( ar, عزيز, , is an Arabic male name. The feminine form of both the adjective and the given name is Aziza.
''Aziz'' in Arabic is derived from the root ''ʕ-z-z'' with a meaning of "strong, powerful" and the adjective has acquired its m ...
as Ramakrishnan, the police inspector
* Chandran Nair
*
Mohan Jose
Mohan Jose is an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He has acted more than 100 films. He came into movie industry portraying villains and later began acting in different comedy and character roles. He is the son of famous singer Pappukutty Bhag ...
as Unnunni
*
Kannur Sreelatha
Kannur Sreelatha is an Indian actress from Kannur who is best known for her work in Malayalam cinema. Making her debut with the movie ''Prashnam Gurutharam'', directed by Balachandra Menon, she has acted in many stage plays before entering into ...
as Nancy, Sibi's wife
*
Shammi Thilakan
Shammi Thilakan is an Indian actor and dubbing artist who is active in Malayalam films. He is the son of veteran actor Thilakan. He lent his voice for Napoleon in ''Devasuram'', Prem Nazir in ''Kadathanadan Ambadi'' and for Nassar in ''Ghaza ...
as Cyril, Baby's classmate
* Sabu Oommen as Gopan
Analysis
The film is an in-depth exploration of the psychology of violence. The film's theme in undertones depicted political conditions of the country during that time including
The Emergency.
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...
and her son
Sanjay Gandhi
Sanjay Gandhi (14 December 1946 23 June 1980) was an Indian politician and the younger son of Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. He was a member of parliament, Lok Sabha and the Nehru–Gandhi family. During his lifetime, he was widely expected ...
is symbolically presented by Thilakan and Ganesh respectively in the film, though George didn't say it directly. Film critic K. B. Venu noted similarity between the film's story and the
Koodathayi Cyanide Murders case. Some consider ''Irakal'' as the first dark movie in Malayalam and is regarded as one of the best works of George. Certain critics cite the 2021 film ''
Joji'' could have taken inspiration from this film with regards to theme.
Awards
The film won four
Kerala State Film Awards
The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala and since 1998 the awards have been bestowed by Kerala State Cha ...
for
Second Best Film,
Second Best Actress for
Sreevidya
Srividya (24 July 1953 – 19 October 2006), also known as Sreevidya, was an Indian actress best known for her work predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, along with few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. In a career spanning for 40 years, ...
and
Second Best Actor for
Thilakan
Palappurathu Kesavan Surendranatha Thilakan (15 July 1935 – 24 September 2012) was an Indian film and stage actor who appeared in over 200 Malayalam films. Thilakan was known for his elaborate method acting, realistic and spontaneous appearan ...
.
Best Story for
K. G. George
Kulakkattil Geevarghese George (born 24 May 1946) is an Indian film maker and screenwriter who worked in the Malayalam cinema. He was the founder of a new school of film making in Malayalam cinema, along with Bharathan and P. Padmarajan, in ...
. In 2016, George was awarded the
Muttathu Varkey Award
Muttathu Varkey Award for contributions to the field of Malayalam literature is instituted by the Muttattu Varkey Foundation in memory of novelist Muttathu Varkey. The award was instituted in 1992 and as of 2012, it carries a purse of 50000, a c ...
for writing the screenplay of the film. It was for the first time in the history of the prestigious award that a screenplay was chosen to be awarded.
References
External links
*{{IMDb title, 0214799
1980s Malayalam-language films
1985 films
1980s psychological thriller films
Films directed by K. G. George