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Nizhalkuthu

Nizhalkuthu
Nizhalkuthu5.jpg
DVD cover
Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Produced by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Joël Farges
Written by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Starring Oduvil Unnikrishnan
Sukumari
Music by Ilayaraaja
Cinematography Mankada Ravi Varma
Sunny Joseph
Edited by Ajith
Distributed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan Productions
Artcam International
Les Films du Paradoxe
Release date
  • 7 September 2002 (2002-09-07)
Running time
90 minutes
Country India
Language Malayalam

Nizhalkuthu (English: Shadow Kill, French: Le Serviteur de Kali, Malayalam: നിഴല്‍ക്കുത്ത്) is a 2002 Indian film directed, written and co-produced by Adoor Gopalakrishnan. The film explores the recesses of the human consciousness. The film stars Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Narain, Murali, Sukumari, Reeja, Nedumudi Venu, Vijayaraghavan, Jagathi Sreekumar and Tara Kalyan. It premiered on 7 September 2002 at the Venice Film Festival in Italy.

The title of the film Nizhalkuthu (Shadow Kill) refers to a popular play Nizhalkuthu Attakatha, adapted from the Mahabharata, about the inherent unjustness of certain punishments. In the play, the Kauravas force a witch hunter to kill the Pandavas by stabbing their shadows. However, the witch hunter's wife finds this out and is enraged. To punish her husband by making him feel what Kunti, the mother of Pandavas must feel, she kills their child in the same way.

The film reflects that death penalty is probably in the same vein. We may---like the witch hunter's wife---be handing out punishments that are equally ridiculous under the false perception that we are doing justice, if not being directly criminal like the witch hunter.

Adoor's usual cinematographer Mankada Ravi Varma filmed half of the project. But he was later replaced by Sunny Joseph, since the former fell ill and was later found to be suffering from Alzheimer's disease.


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