Akhil Pillai

Dhurandhar Real Story Explained: Characters, Ending and Symbolism

What is the real story behind Dhurandhar? In Dhurandhar several real characters are clearly inspired by real officers, gang leaders, and terror figures, even if their names and details are changed for the screen.

In this article, we break down Dhurandhar — separating cinema from history. We look closely at the Dhurandhar real story, decode the real characters behind the reel roles, and examine which incidents are rooted in fact and which ones are deliberately simplified or dramatized. Not to glorify or accuse — but to understand what the film is really saying beneath the action and patriotism.

Dhurandhar Real Characters: Who Played Whom?

One of the strongest things Dhurandhar does is this: it doesn’t invent heroes and villains out of thin air. Most characters are shaped around real people who operated in the shadows — soldiers, gangsters, intelligence officers, and terrorists whose actions quietly shaped history. The names are changed, but the behaviour, ideology, and outcomes feel very familiar.

Let’s break down the Dhurandhar real characters and understand who they are actually inspired by.

Ranveer Singh as the RAW Agent

(Inspired by Major Mohit Sharma)

The reel character:
Ranveer Singh plays a deep-cover RAW operative who lives with anger, patience, and restraint at the same time. He is not shown as a loud patriot or a chest-thumping hero. Instead, he is quiet, methodical, and willing to disappear into the enemy’s world if that’s what the mission demands. His goal is simple — correct what he believes was a national failure.

The real story behind it:
This character draws clear inspiration from Major Mohit Sharma, one of India’s most respected special forces officers and an Ashok Chakra awardee.

Major Sharma infiltrated the Hizbul Mujahideen by taking on the identity of Iftikhar Bhatt. He lived among militants, earned their trust, gathered intelligence, and eliminated key terrorists from inside the network.

In 2009, during an operation in Kupwara, he was critically injured but continued fighting, saved two of his teammates, and killed four terrorists before being martyred. Dhurandhar doesn’t recreate his life exactly, but it captures the core idea — deep infiltration, moral isolation, and sacrifice without recognition.

Akshaye Khanna as Rehman Dakait

(Inspired by Rehman Dakait)

The reel character:
Akshaye Khanna plays Rehman Dakait as calm, intelligent, and terrifyingly practical. He doesn’t shout. Doesn’t rush. He runs Lyari like a system — controlling crime, politics, and terror logistics as one operation. On the ground, he is the film’s most visible villain.

akshaye-khanna-rehman-dakait-in-dhurandhar

The real story behind it:
Rehman Dakait was not fictional. His real name was Sardar Abdul Rehman Baloch, and he was one of the most feared gang leaders in Karachi. He rose from petty crime to running Lyari’s underworld, controlling extortion, kidnappings, arms, and protection rackets. For years, Lyari functioned almost like a parallel state.

Like in the film, he tried to move closer to legitimacy by forming the People’s Aman Committee and building political connections. His death in 2009, in a police encounter, remains controversial — many believe he outlived his political usefulness. The film stays close to this arc without naming names.

Sanjay Dutt as SP Chaudhary Aslam

(Inspired by Chaudhry Aslam Khan)

The reel character:
Sanjay Dutt plays a hardened Pakistani police officer who is not aligned to gangs, terrorists, or ideology. His loyalty is only to order. He hunts everyone — criminals, extremists, and political pawns — making him dangerous and unpredictable for all sides.

The real story behind it:
This character is almost a direct reflection of Chaudhry Aslam Khan, widely known as Pakistan’s toughest cop. As the head of Karachi’s anti-terror operations, he went after gangsters like Rehman Dakait and Taliban operatives with equal force.

He survived multiple assassination attempts. After a bomb attack on his home, his response was simple: “I will bury the attackers in the same rubble.” In 2014, he was killed in a suicide bomb attack. His death showed how deeply he had unsettled powerful networks.

R. Madhavan as Ajay Sanyal

(Inspired by Ajit Doval)

The reel character:
Madhavan plays the strategist — not the man pulling the trigger, but the one deciding when the trigger must be pulled. He represents the shift in thinking inside India’s security establishment: from restraint to retaliation.

The real story behind it:
The inspiration here is clearly Ajit Doval, India’s National Security Advisor and former RAW officer. Doval was directly involved in the IC-814 hijacking negotiations and later became the face of India’s aggressive counter-terror doctrine.

From surgical strikes to Balakot, his philosophy has been consistent — threats must be neutralised at their source. The film borrows his worldview more than his biography, using Madhavan’s character to voice that strategic shift.

Arjun Rampal as Major Iqbal

(Inspired by Ilyas Kashmiri)

The reel character:
Arjun Rampal plays the invisible villain — the handler, not the foot soldier. He represents state-backed terror, using criminals and extremists as tools rather than allies.

The real story behind it:
This role is inspired by Ilyas Kashmiri, a former Pakistani soldier who became one of Al-Qaeda’s most dangerous operatives. He was linked to multiple terror plots, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and was considered a master of guerrilla warfare.

Once described as a successor-level figure to Osama bin Laden, Kashmiri was reportedly killed in a US drone strike in 2011. In Dhurandhar, his character symbolises the system that enables terror — not just the men who carry it out.

The Real Story vs the Reel Story of Dhurandhar

The IC-814 Hijacking (1999): The film opens with the humiliating memory of India releasing captured terrorists, including Masood Azhar, in exchange for the lives of passengers on a hijacked plane. This event serves as the protagonist’s core motivation—a national shame he is desperate to avenge.

Operation Lyari: A significant portion of the film is set in the volatile Lyari district of Karachi, a lawless region ruled by powerful gangs. This is not a fictional backdrop; it’s based on the real Lyari gang wars that held Karachi hostage for years.

Fact vs fiction:
The emotional impact shown in the film is accurate. But the real event was far messier. Governments were under extreme pressure, options were limited, and every decision carried consequences. The film simplifies this into a clear moral trigger, while reality offered no clean answers.

The Heart of Democracy Under Siege: Parliament Attack (2001)

The real story:
On December 13, 2001, five terrorists linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed attacked the Indian Parliament. Using a vehicle with fake security markings, they breached the complex and opened fire. The encounter killed nine security personnel and a gardener. All five attackers were neutralised.

The Dhurandhar version:
The film does not recreate the attack in detail. Instead, it uses it as proof. In briefings and conversations, the Parliament attack is referenced as evidence that restraint had failed. That release in 1999 was followed by escalation, not peace.

This is where Madhavan’s character gains authority in the narrative. The old logic — patience, restraint, diplomacy first — is shown as outdated. The film positions this attack as the moment where covert retaliation becomes inevitable.

Fact vs fiction:
The connection between Kandahar and later terror attacks is real. But history is rarely linear. The film compresses years of intelligence failures, global politics, and regional instability into a straight line to make its argument clearer. It’s a simplification — but a deliberate one.

The 26/11 Connection That Changes Hamza’s Mission

How 26/11 is Referenced in the Movie:

The 26/11 attacks become the emotional and moral catalyst for Hamza’s betrayal of Rehman Dakait. Here’s the pivotal moment:

Hamza discovers that the weapons supplied by Rehman Dakait to various terror groups were used in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

This revelation is deeply disturbing to Hamza because it shows that his mentor—the man he worshipped as the “Sher-e-Baloch” (Lion of Balochistan), who claimed to fight for Baloch upliftment through schools, hospitals, and jobs—was actually complicit in terrorism that killed innocent civilians in India.

The Breaking Point:

When Hamza witnesses Rehman celebrating with ISI chief Major Iqbal after the “success” of the 26/11 attacks, something inside him shatters. This is the moment when Hamza’s loyalty transforms into hatred.

He realizes that Rehman has betrayed not just India, but his own people—the Baloch community he claimed to serve. Rehman has become nothing more than a puppet of the ISI, using terror to advance Pakistan’s strategic interests.

The Moral Justification:

This discovery provides Hamza with the moral justification he needs to execute his mission. He’s no longer just following orders from Ajay Sanyal; he’s now driven by a personal vendetta. Rehman’s involvement in 26/11 makes him, in Hamza’s eyes, a legitimate target who deserves to die.

The Economic Jihad: The De La Rue Fake Currency Scandal

The real story:
This is the least discussed, and arguably the most uncomfortable part of the film’s inspiration. For years, Pakistan’s ISI pushed high-quality counterfeit Indian currency into circulation. This wasn’t street-level forgery — these were “supernotes” almost impossible to detect.

The controversy deepened when allegations emerged that a British security printing firm, De La Rue, had supplied technology to both India and Pakistan.

Investigations later raised questions about decisions taken during the UPA era — monopoly contracts, ignored warnings, and extended agreements despite security concerns. The implication was disturbing: India’s economic security may have been weakened not only from outside, but also through internal policy failures.

In simple terms, fake currency funded terror, and systemic decisions allegedly made that easier.

The Dhurandhar version:
The film strips this story down. It shows fake currency as a Pakistani operation run through gang networks and ISI handlers. The focus stays external. There is no mention of questionable contracts, corporate responsibility, or Indian administrative failures.

From a storytelling perspective, this makes the narrative cleaner. Villains stay on one side. The system remains intact.

Fact vs fiction:
This is where the gap is widest. By avoiding the role of internal vulnerability, the film removes the most disturbing part of the real story.

The truth was not just about an enemy printing fake notes — it was about how fragile systems can be when oversight fails. Dhurandhar turns a story of institutional weakness into a familiar spy-versus-villain framework.

Dhurandhar Ending Explained: The Rise of a King, The Birth of a Monster

The Twist That Changes Everything: Who is Hamza Ali Mazhari?

Just as you’re processing Hamza’s ruthless ascent to power, the film delivers its most devastating blow. In the final moments, we learn the truth:

Hamza Ali Mazhari does not exist.

He is a carefully constructed identity, a mask worn by Jaskirat Singh Rangi, a death-row inmate from India.

Recruited by IB Director Ajay Sanyal (R. Madhavan), Jaskirat was given a new face, a new name, and a new life for a single purpose: to infiltrate Pakistan’s deepest terror networks and dismantle them from within. He is the ghost in India’s first-ever covert espionage operation of this scale.

This revelation is the key to the entire film. It reframes everything we’ve seen.

Hamza’s loyalty, his internal conflicts, his moments of brutality—they are all part of a deep-cover role played by a man who has sacrificed his very identity for his country.

The Ranveer Singh real identity Dhurandhar twist isn’t just a clever plot device; it’s a commentary on the profound psychological toll of espionage. To become the perfect monster, Jaskirat had to bury the man he once was.

The Ending Isn’t Victory — It’s Consequence

After eliminating Rehman and taking control of his empire, Hamza/Jaskirat (Ranveer Singh) is not shown celebrating power. Instead, he is disturbed.

He sees Rehman everywhere — in reflections, in silence, in memory. These are not literal ghosts. They are reminders.

He has become what he was sent to dismantle.

This is where Dhurandhar becomes uncomfortable. Jaskirat didn’t just defeat a system — he absorbed it. He now carries its violence, its logic, its moral weight. The mission succeeded, but the man did not remain intact.

The final moments push this further.

Hamza turns his attention to the real architect behind everything — Major Iqbal (played by Arjun Rampal), known within the system as “Bade Sahab.” The post-credits scene makes one thing clear: Dhurandhar Part 2 is not about expanding scale — it’s about escalation.

But the real conflict is internal.

Can Jaskirat continue this mission without fully losing himself? Or has he lived as Hamza for so long that there is no Jaskirat left to return to?

What Dhurandhar Is Really Saying

The ending of Dhurandhar does not celebrate triumph. It questions it.

The film asks something deeper than politics or patriotism:
When a nation sends a man into darkness to fight monsters, what happens if he survives — but comes back as one?

That is the true cost Dhurandhar leaves us with.

Sinners Movie Explained: The Ending, Vampires, and Hidden Meanings

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is one of those movies that doesn’t really end when the credits roll. On the surface, it’s a simple vampire film, but once you start pulling at the threads, you realise it needs a proper Sinners explained kind of discussion — especially the ending.

This is one of those films where the story is only half of what’s going on. The other half is hidden in small details, symbols, and choices the characters make. In this article, we’ll break down the ending, the post-credits scenes, the vampire rules, and the bigger meaning behind Sinners, not as a reviewer but as a fan.

[MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING: Do not read further if you haven’t seen the film.]

The Plot of Sinners: A Chronological Breakdown

The story takes place in October 1932, in a small town in the Mississippi Delta. Twin brothers Elijah “Smoke” and Elias “Stack” Moore come back home after many years away. They have lived rough lives, worked with gangs in Chicago, and fought in World War I. Both are carrying a lot of anger, fear, and tiredness from that life.

They don’t come back to start trouble. They come back with one simple plan: to open a juke joint. A place where Black people can eat, drink, dance, and forget their problems for a few hours. They buy an old sawmill for this. The place has a dark past. It was once used by white supremacists as a “killing floor” where Black people were murdered. Now they want to turn that place into something alive.

Now the brothers are bringing in people for their juke joint.

While all this is happening, something else is moving toward the town. An Irish vampire named Remmick has taken shelter with a local white family connected to the KKK. He slowly turns them into vampires too. When Sammie plays at the juke joint, his music does something strange. It feels like it opens a door between worlds. It attracts Remmick and his group.

The Characters: Who’s Who in Sinners

Before getting into the meaning and the ending, it helps to clearly understand who these people are and how they are connected. Sinners is not really a story about vampires first. It’s a story about a small group of people, their past, and the choices they make in one long night.

The Moore Family and Their Circle

At the centre of the story are the Moore family.

Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore are twin brothers. Sammie is their younger cousin. Jedidiah, Sammie’s father, is a strict pastor. Annie is Smoke’s wife.

Smoke and Stack grew up together, fought together in World War I, and later worked for Al Capone’s gang in Chicago.

Smoke & Stack : The Gears

Smoke is the quieter and more thoughtful of the two. He is tired of violence and wants to build something that feels clean and honest. He is married to Annie, and they once had a baby who died. Smoke still carries that loss, and also the trauma of the war. His hands shake, and he cannot even roll his own cigarettes. Stack always does it for him. Smoke’s journey in the film is about slowly letting go of his violent “Smoke” identity and becoming Elijah again.

Stack is different. He is more emotional, more reckless, and more comfortable with violence. He also worked for Capone and fought in the war, but he seems less interested in leaving that life behind. He comes back partly to help build the juke joint, and partly because he wants to find Mary, the woman he loved before he left town.

Sammie Moore: The Heart of the Story

Sammie Moore is their young cousin. He is a gifted blues guitarist and the son of Pastor Jedidiah. He is caught between two worlds: his father’s church and his own love for music. He carries the guitar of Charley Patton, a legendary blues musician. Sammie is not just a performer in the film. His music is so powerful that it seems to open a door between worlds. He is the real heart of the story, and also the reason the vampires come.

Jedidiah, Sammie’s father, believes the blues is devil’s music and that it will destroy his son. He tries to stop Sammie from playing at the juke joint. In a dark way, his fears turn out to be right.

The Love Stories

There are two important relationships in the film.

Smoke and Annie are husband and wife. They lost their baby, and that loss broke something in both of them. Annie still believes in Hoodoo and in spiritual protection.

Smoke has mostly lost his faith. Annie is the emotional and spiritual centre of the group. She understands the vampire rules and tries to protect everyone. Her death is what finally breaks Smoke and pushes him toward his final sacrifice.

Stack and Mary were lovers before the twins left for Chicago. Mary waited for Stack for seven years and feels abandoned and bitter. When they meet again on the night of the juke joint opening, old feelings come back. Remmick turns Mary into a vampire, and Mary then turns Stack. In a tragic way, their love becomes the reason Stack is pulled into the vampire world. In the 1992 scene, we see that they are still together, still in love, but no longer human.

The Vampires

Remmick is the main vampire and the main villain. He is Irish and was once an immigrant who lost his own community and family. He understands what it means to be oppressed, but instead of standing with others, he chooses power. He is drawn to Sammie because Sammie’s music can cross the line between life and death. Remmick wants to use that power to see his own lost people again. His reason is human. His methods are monstrous.

Remmick turns the local Hogwood family (who are KKK leaders), Mary, and Cornbread. Mary then turns Stack. All of them become part of the same vampire group, connected by a kind of shared feeling or hive mind, but not dependent on Remmick to survive.

The Juke Joint Community

The juke joint is not just a building. It is a small community.

Delta Slim is an old and respected harmonica player. He represents the older generation of blues musicians. His presence gives the juke joint respect and meaning. He dies trying to protect others.

Pearline is a talented singer who is married, but still wants to perform. She represents the many women in blues history who had to balance family life and art. She is turned into a vampire during the attack.

Cornbread is the big, strong bouncer and security for the juke joint. He is loyal to the twins and one of the first people Remmick turns. His turning shows how fast the safe space is destroyed.

Grace Chow and Bo Chow are Chinese shopkeepers who run a grocery store. They are part of the real history of the Mississippi Delta, where Chinese immigrants often served Black communities when white businesses would not.

They have a daughter named Lisa. When the vampires threaten her, Grace invites them into the juke joint in anger and fear, breaking the protective barrier.

The Vampires and the Climax

The vampires, who cannot enter without an invitation, find their way in through betrayal.

Remmick turns Stack’s ex-girlfriend, Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), who then bites and turns Stack himself. The juke joint becomes a battleground. Smoke’s wife, Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), a Hoodoo practitioner, reveals the rules of these vampires: killing the head vampire (Remmick) won’t save the others, and they are connected by a hive mind.

The climax is a brutal siege. Many are killed, including the heroic Annie. Smoke is forced to fight his own brother, Stack, but ultimately spares him. As the sun rises, the remaining vampires are incinerated. Smoke, having sent Sammie to safety, stays behind to kill the arriving KKK members. He succeeds but is fatally wounded.

In his final moments, he sees the spirit of Annie and their deceased child, who call him by his true name, “Elijah.” He drops his cigarette and joins them in a peaceful afterlife.

Sinners Ending Explained: What Happens to Smoke, Stack, and Sammie?

The ending of Sinners is not confusing because it is complicated. It is confusing because it is quiet, emotional, and not very comforting. The film does not give everyone the same kind of ending. Each of the three main characters walks away from that night with a very different fate.

Smoke’s Sacrifice and Ascent to “Elijah”

After the vampire attack, Smoke sends Sammie away to safety. He knows that if Sammie stays, he will die. Smoke then stays back to face the Hogwood family, who arrive at dawn to finish their planned attack.

Before fighting them, Smoke removes Annie’s protective charms. This is important. It means he knows he might not survive, and he accepts it. He is not trying to be lucky anymore. He is choosing to stand and protect what little is left.

Smoke manages to kill them, but he is badly wounded. He sits down, lights a cigarette, and slowly bleeds. In his final moments, he sees Annie and their dead child. Annie calls him by his real name, Elijah, not “Smoke.” This is the first time in the film that name really matters.

All through his life, he has been “Smoke,” a man shaped by war and violence. In the end, he stops being Smoke and becomes Elijah again. He puts out the cigarette so there is “no smoke on her” and goes with them. He does not survive, but he finally finds peace.

Stack and Mary’s Immortal Fate (The Post-Credits Scene)

The first post-credits scene jumps to 1992. An elderly Sammie, now a legendary blues musician played by the iconic Buddy Guy, is performing in a Chicago club. In the audience are Stack and Mary, ageless and impeccably dressed. They are still vampires.

Stack does not die in the sun. After Smoke defeats him in the juke joint, he lets him go, but only after making him promise to leave Sammie alone forever. Stack keeps that promise.

Stack and Mary manage to escape into the shadows before sunrise. That is why they do not burn like the others.

That is why in the post-credits scene, we see them again in 1992. They are still vampires. They have not turned back into humans. But they are calm, well-dressed, and no longer feel like monsters.

By this point, Remmick is long dead, and the strange shared hunger that controlled them is gone. Over the years, they seem to have learned how to live with what they are. Stack still wears his “Stack” ring, which tells us something important: unlike Smoke, he has accepted this new identity instead of trying to escape it.

When they meet Sammie, they do not harm him. Stack explains that he kept his promise. They even offer Sammie immortality. Sammie refuses.

Sammie’s Choice: The Burden and Blessing of the Blues

Sammie survives, but he is forever haunted. He becomes the vessel for the story, carrying the music and the memory of that night. When Stack asks him about it, Sammie confesses that, despite the horror, it was “the greatest day of his life.”

This is the heart of the film. That day, for all its tragedy, was the only day they were truly free. They built a space for themselves, celebrated their culture, and fought for it. Sammie choosing to carry on with the blues, against his father’s wishes, is a testament to the resilience of his culture. The music is both his burden (it attracts monsters) and his salvation (it’s his identity and power).

The Deeper Meaning: Vampires, Blues, and Cultural Appropriation (Must Read)

Sinners uses the vampire genre as a powerful metaphor for cultural theft and historical trauma. This isn’t just a monster movie; it’s a story about America.

“To understand the Great Migration is to also understand for a long time our people’s home was the South. To migrate means to leave something behind.” – Ryan Coogler

The Vampires as Colonizers: Remmick and his group are not just here to drink blood. If that was the case, this would be a very simple vampire movie. They are here to take something.

They do not want to destroy Sammie’s music. They want to own it.

Remmick is not excited by Sammie because he is a good guitarist. He is excited because Sammie’s music can do something special. It can cross the line between life and death. It can call back memories, people, and worlds that are gone.

Remmick has lost his own people. He wants that connection back. But instead of building something of his own, he chooses the easier path: take it from someone else.

That is the real meaning of these vampires. They do not create. They only consume.

This is how cultural exploitation works in the real world too. Black music did not come from comfort. It came from work, pain, loss, and survival. Blues, jazz, rock, hip-hop — all of it came from lived experience. But again and again, someone else came, took it, cleaned it up, sold it, and walked away with the profit and the credit.

They enjoy the product. They do not carry the history.

That is exactly what Remmick is doing. He wants the power of the music without the life that created it.

The Power of the Blues: The film is Ryan Coogler’s love letter to the blues, inspired by his late Uncle James. The blues is the film’s lifeblood. It’s a force powerful enough to “pierce the veil” between life and death, to connect generations, and to attract gods and monsters alike. It represents the soul of the community, the one thing the vampires can’t create, only steal.

Unanswered Questions & Theories

Sinners leaves a few things open on purpose. Not because the story is incomplete, but because some parts are meant to stay a little uncomfortable and open to thought. Here are some of the biggest questions and the most likely answers.

Why are Stack and Mary so peaceful in the 1992 epilogue?

With Remmick’s death, the shared hunger and pressure of the hive mind is gone. Over the next 60 years, Stack and Mary learn to live with what they are instead of fighting it.
They are no longer driven by Remmick’s desperation, but by their own quieter, leftover humanity and their affection for each other. Stack also keeps his promise to Smoke and never goes after Sammie, which tells us that not everything human in him is dead.

Why didn’t Stack and Mary burn in the sun like the others?
- The other vampires do not die because of shared pain. They die because of the sun. Stack and Mary simply escape into the shadows before sunrise.
- Mary runs away after seeing Annie die, and Smoke spares Stack on the condition that he leaves Sammie alone. That is all that saves them.
Why is the movie called “Sinners”?
- Because everyone is a sinner in someone’s eyes. Sammie is a sinner to his father for playing the blues.
- Smoke and Stack are sinners for their criminal past.
- Remmick is a sinner for his violence.
- The film asks us to question who defines sin. Is it a sin to create art that the church deems demonic? Is it a sin to fight for your own freedom? The title challenges our black-and-white view of good and evil.
Is the film setting up a sequel?
- Yes. The 1992 scene shows that Stack and Mary are still alive, still together, and fully comfortable with what they are. Their story is clearly not over, and the film leaves the door open to explore what kind of life they have been living all these years.

Hidden Details and Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed

Coogler packed the film with incredible details. Here are just a few:

Red vs. Blue: Smoke and Annie are consistently associated with the color blue, representing spirituality and wisdom (“haint blue” is a traditional color used to ward off spirits). Stack and Mary are linked to red, symbolizing blood, passion, and danger.
Wakanda Forever: In the church rafters, the crossed beams at the very top are a subtle tribute to Chadwick Boseman, forming the “Wakanda Forever” gesture.
- The reason this detail is read as a tribute is because of Ryan Coogler’s personal history with Chadwick Boseman. Coogler and Boseman worked closely together on Black Panther, and Boseman’s death deeply affected him. Coogler has spoken before about how much Boseman meant to him not just as an actor, but as a person and as a symbol.
Smoke’s Shaking Hands: Smoke’s hands tremble throughout the film, a sign of his PTSD from WWI. It’s why he can’t roll his own cigarettes and Stack always does it for him. After Stack’s death, Smoke is forced to take a cigarette from a man he just shot.
Historical Nods: The film is rich with real history, from the role of Chinese grocers in the Delta to the origins of tamales in the region, brought by Mexican migrant workers.

The Point of This “Sinners Explained” Article

Sinners is a masterpiece of genre filmmaking, a thrilling and heartbreaking exploration of history, family, and the enduring power of art.

The film is about loss, about memory, and about what happens when someone takes something that does not belong to them and calls it their own. The real sin in this story is not breaking a religious rule. It is stealing a people’s culture, their voice, and their story.

The film ends with a simple idea: monsters can kill people, but they cannot kill what people leave behind. As long as the song survives, something true survives with it.

Dhurandhar Real Story Explained: Characters, Ending and Symbolism

Sinners Movie Explained: The Ending, Vampires, and Hidden Meanings

Eko Explained: The Hunter, The Hunted, and The Unseen Master

Dies Irae Explained: The Ghosts We Create From Guilt

Eko Explained: The Hunter, The Hunted, and The Unseen Master

Dinjith Ayyathan – Bahul Ramesh, EKO is their third collaboration, after Kishkindha Kaandam and part of Bahul’s animal trilogy after Kerala Crime Files Season 2. And with Eko, it becomes clear that Bahul Ramesh is not interested in neat thrillers or clever twists. In both KCF and EKO, he is saying similar things- power that hides behind care, and loyalty that slowly erases free will. This article is not a “what happened in the climax” summary. This is an attempt to understand the psychology of Eko, decode its symbols, and explain the unanswered questions the film deliberately leaves behind.

Spoiler Alert: We will be explaining the entire movie, including the climax.

The World of Eko: A Story That Begins With Absence

The story begins with a void.

Kuriachan — a legendary dog breeder, trainer, fixer, manipulator — has been missing for six years.

What matters is this:
Everyone is still orbiting around Kuriachan, even in his absence.

Some want revenge.
Few want justice.
Some want answers.
And one person wants nothing except his master back.

That absence is the engine of Eko. Kuriachan may not be physically present for most of the film, but his control lingers everywhere — in people, in stories, in fear, and most importantly, in loyalty.

People, Dogs, and Masters: Understanding the Characters of Eko

1. Kuriachan (Saurabh Sachdeva)

Who he is: A notorious dog breeder and trainer with a dark reputation. He is known for his exceptional ability to control dogs and has connections with police, army, and even Naxalites. He owns acres of hills near the Kerala-Karnataka border in a remote area called Kaattukunnu.

Relation to the story: He is the central mystery. The entire film revolves around his disappearance and the search for him. Everyone is looking for Kuriachan – some to find him, some to kill him, some to get answers.

Why he matters: Kuriachan is not just a dog trainer – he is a manipulator of both animals and humans. He treats people like dogs, training them for blind loyalty. He has multiple families, cheats people, and uses his cunning to escape consequences. His most loyal “dog” is not an animal but a human – Manikandan.

2. Mlaathi / Soyi (Biana Momin)

Who she is: Kuriachan’s Malaysian-born wife. Her real name is Soyi. She is an elderly woman living alone in Kuriachan’s isolated hill estate with her caretaker Peeyoos and the dogs.

Relation to Kuriachan: She is his wife, but their relationship is built on lies. Kuriachan manipulated her into marrying him after framing her first husband Yosiah in British Malaya during World War II. She believed Yosiah was dead, but he was actually imprisoned.

Her revenge: She doesn’t kill Kuriachan. Death would be too easy. She keeps him alive but imprisoned – the same “protection” that was actually “restriction” that she suffered under both her husbands.

3. Peeyoos / Manikandan (Sandeep Pradeep)

Who he is: The young caretaker living with Mlaathi Chedathi. But this is a lie. He is NOT the real Peeyoos. His real name is Manikandan – Kuriachan’s most loyal follower, his “human dog.”

Backstory: Manikandan’s parents were Naxalites. They committed suicide by igniting a stick of dynamite while hugging each other. Young Manikandan witnessed their dead bodies. Kuriachan took him in after this trauma and molded him into a ruthless, blindly loyal enforcer.

Relation to Kuriachan: He is Kuriachan’s right-hand man. He has killed for Kuriachan. When Kuriachan disappeared, Manikandan came to Kaattukunnu disguised as “Peeyoos” (a caretaker Mlaathi’s children had arranged) to find his master. He sends money to the real Peeyoos to keep him quiet.

Why he is there: He is searching for Kuriachan. Unlike others who want to harm Kuriachan, Manikandan wants to find and rescue his master. He is the only truly loyal person to Kuriachan.

4. Mohan Pothan (Vineeth)

Who he is: A former close friend and associate of Kuriachan. He was recently released from jail after serving time for a crime Kuriachan framed him for.

Why he is there: He comes to Kaattukunnu seeking revenge and also searching for a rare dog breed. He brings a female dog in heat, hoping to lure Kuriachan’s male dogs and through them, find Kuriachan. Also, it confirms whether the dogs are still under the control of their master or not.

What happens to him: Mohan visits Mlaathi and reveals the truth about Kuriachan’s betrayal – that her first husband Yosiah was not killed but imprisoned. This revelation triggers Mlaathi’s revenge. Later, Mohan is killed by dogs – pushed off a cliff. Mlaathi ordered this killing as revenge for his role in destroying her life in Malaysia.

5. The Navy Officer (Narain)

Who he is: A mysterious ex-Navy officer who arrives at Kaattukunnu searching for Kuriachan.

Relation to Kuriachan: The exact details are not revealed, but Kuriachan cheated or betrayed him in some way. He has a personal vendetta.

Why he is there: He wants to find Kuriachan, likely to confront or kill him. He represents one of the many people Kuriachan has wronged over the years.

6. The Two Truckers / Undercover Policemen (Binu Pappu, Ranjith Shekhar)

Who they are: Two men posing as loggers/truckers. They are actually undercover policemen hunting for Kuriachan.

Why they are there: To find and arrest Kuriachan.

What happens: Manikandan discovers their true identity and kills them to protect Kuriachan.

7. Appootty / Appunni (Ashokan)

Who he is: A local man in Kaattukunnu who knows Kuriachan and his history.

Relation to Kuriachan: He is loyal to Kuriachan, like a “loyal dog.” He helps hide information about Kuriachan and protects his secrets.

Why he matters: He provides exposition about Kuriachan’s legendary abilities with dogs. He also spreads the rumor that Mlaathi practices “Malayan black magic” – which is actually just villagers’ xenophobia. The truth is simpler: she controls the dogs through care and feeding.

8. Pappachan (Saheer Mohammed)

Who he is: Another local character who shares stories and information about Kuriachan.

Role: He helps build the mythology around Kuriachan – the “infinite chronicles” that everyone talks about but no one fully knows.

9. Yosiah

Who he was: Soyi’s first husband in British Malaya. He was a skilled dog trainer who trained rare breed dogs. His dogs were fiercely loyal to him.

The Malaysia Flashback: The First Prison

Soyi was married to Yosiah, a skilled dog trainer. His dogs were fiercely loyal, so loyal that they would not let anyone near her. On paper, this was protection.

In reality, it was a cage.

Soyi could not leave the house.
The dogs would stop her.
Her safety came at the cost of her freedom.

This is the first time Eko introduces its central idea:
protection that removes choice is not kindness.

When Kuriachan and Mohan Pothan arrive by boat, the dogs sense danger immediately. They bark. Block access. They refuse to let Soyi step outside.

This is one of the film’s most important insights:

“No human can measure another human like a dog can.”

The dogs were not controlling Soyi.
They were protecting her from Kuriachan.

Betrayal in Malaysia: Where Everything Breaks

Kuriachan wants two things:

Yosiah’s rare dogs
Soyi herself

With Mohan Pothan’s help, Kuriachan frames Yosiah for a crime. Yosiah is imprisoned. Kuriachan tells Soyi her husband is dead.

Heartbroken, isolated, and with no way out, Soyi accepts Kuriachan’s “rescue”.

This is not love.
This is abduction disguised as salvation.

She is taken to India. To Kaattukunnu.
From one prison to another.

The Lie That Sustained a Lifetime

For decades, Mlaathi lives a lie.
Her marriage, her loyalty, her silence, all built on falsehood.

The truth is revealed by Mohan Pothan.

Vineeth as Mohan Pothan

Mohan is not a hero. He is not a saviour. Mohan is a man consumed by Karma. He gave ideas to Kuriachan to frame Yosiah, now Kuriachan betrayed him too, got him imprisoned, destroyed his life.

In his anger, Mohan tells Mlaathi the truth:

Yosiah was never dead.
He was imprisoned.
Kuriachan lied.

This revelation shatters Mlaathi. Her entire life with Kuriachan was built on a lie. He didn’t save her – he kidnapped her. He didn’t love her – she was just another trophy, another thing to control.

Her Patience is what we see next.

Mlaathi’s Revenge: How She Became The Master

Mlaathi does not confront Kuriachan.
She does not scream.
She does not seek sympathy.

Mlaathi, the seemingly powerless woman, begins her own hunt. She uses the one tool Kuriachan taught her to value above all else: loyalty.

As she tells Peeyoos,

“Feeding the dogs is like claiming ownership.”

While Kuriachan was away with his mistresses and business, Mlaathi was quietly feeding his dogs, transferring their allegiance from their loud, absent master to their silent, present one. She became the unseen master.

Loyalty shifts.

Not suddenly.
But completely.

When Kuriachan finally comes to hide in his secret cave, the trap is already set.

The dogs surround the cave.
The dogs, now loyal to Mlaathi, become his jailers
They do not let him leave.

Kuriachan is alive.
But he is contained.

He is fed just enough to survive — through bamboo containers, delivered by dogs.

This is not revenge through violence.
This is revenge through mirroring.

The same protection that imprisoned Soyi now imprisons Kuriachan.

The Central Theme: Protection vs Restriction

At its core, Eko is not about dogs, crime, or revenge.

It is about control disguised as care.

Protection, when imposed without choice, becomes restriction.
Loyalty, when conditioned, becomes obedience.
And obedience, when absolute, destroys identity.

Every major character in Eko exists somewhere on this spectrum.

The Loyal Dog: Who is Peeyoos?

While Mlaathi’s revenge unfolds, another drama plays out. The caretaker, Peeyoos, is not who he seems. He is Manikandan, Kuriachan’s most loyal disciple—his “human dog.”

Manikandan’s backstory is a tragedy. His Naxalite parents committed suicide with dynamite, leaving him an orphan.

Kuriachan took the traumatized boy and forged him into a ruthless weapon, what Kuriachan gave Manikandan was not healing.

This is shown in a subtle way. While the Navy officer is showing the movie to Pappachan, we can hear a background voice-over from the film where a boy asks someone for food, and the other person offers him food.

It was purpose through obedience.

He is in Kaattukunnu disguised as a caretaker for one reason: to find Kuriachan.

Manikandan is the only one searching for Kuriachan out of pure, unwavering loyalty. He kills the undercover cops and, he is the one who removed the break cable and attempts to kill the Navy officer, all to protect a master he hasn’t seen in years.

The Ending Explained: Two Endings, One Truth

The climax of Eko is a masterclass in subtle storytelling, offering two interpretations that both lead to the same terrifying conclusion for Manikandan (disguised as Peeyoos).

Manikandan discovers the bamboo container used to feed Kuriachan. He smells it, and the memory of the Malaysia flashback clicks into place.

The Bamboo Container: This is the most powerful symbol. It’s a direct visual echo of how Yosiah’s dogs fed him in Malaysia.

Mlaathi uses the very method of her first husband’s imprisonment to imprison her second.

In the climax, Manikandan checking Bamboo sticks and rice

He knows. He confronts Mlaathi, ready to force the truth from her. But her dogs surround him, a silent, growling wall of protection.

This is where the brilliance of Bahul Ramesh’s script shines. It’s not about what happens next, but what has already happened.

Ending 1: The Prisoner

In this interpretation, Kuriachan is still alive, trapped in the cave. Mlaathi is his eternal jailer. Manikandan is now trapped in a horrifying stalemate: the only person who knows his master’s location is the one person he cannot touch. He is frozen, a loyal dog with no master to serve, forced to live in the shadow of his master’s captor.

Ending 2: The Judge, Jury, and Executioner

This is the darker, more subtle ending, hinted at by a crucial visual clue. Throughout the film, we see 5-6 dogs around Mlaathi’s house.

In the final confrontation, 12 dogs appear.

Where did the extra dogs come from? They are the guards from Kuriachan’s cave.

Mlaathi has called them back. Why?

1.Kuriachan is dead. Her revenge is complete. She may have finally poisoned his food. The guards are no longer needed.

2.She needs them to control Manikandan. Now that he knows the truth, he is a threat. She has summoned her full army to deal with him.

When Manikandan sees the expanded pack, his eyes fill with tears. He understands. His master is either dead or his fate is sealed, and Mlaathi is now demonstrating her absolute power. This is her checkmate. She has not only imprisoned Kuriachan but has now neutralized his most loyal follower, forcing him to witness her total victory.

The Doubts Eko Doesn’t Answer Directly

Why the Name Eko?

This can be interpreted in multiple ways-

In Japanese, it can mean “transfer of merit.” From Kuriachan to Mlaathi there is an absolute transfer of power.

In Sanskrit, it relates to “Ekam” or “one,” signifying that the dogs obey only one true master.

It also, of course, refers to the echo of Kuriachan’s past sins coming back to haunt him.

Who killed Mohan Pothan?

Mlaathi. She ordered the dogs to push him off the cliff. Her revenge was not just for Kuriachan, but for everyone who had a hand in her lifelong imprisonment, including his co-conspirator.

The Thought Eko Refuses to Let Go

Overall Eko is more than just a mystery thriller; it is a complex psychological drama that rewards patient viewing. I would say, it’s an extension of Kerala Crime Files Season 2, written by Bahul. You can see the similar character shades in Ambili, Ayyappan and Jaison.

The film ends with this standoff. Mlaathi has won. Kuriachan is her prisoner forever or might be dead. Manikandan is neutralized. The Navy Officer has his answer but cannot act on it.

The hunter has become the hunted. The master has become the prisoner. The protector has become the jailer.

This is the echo – the “Eko” – of the past. What Kuriachan did to Soyi in Malaysia has come back to him in Kerala. The manipulation, the lies, the control – all of it echoes back as his punishment.

Kerala Crime Files Season 2: Why, How, and Climax Explained

Dhurandhar Real Story Explained: Characters, Ending and Symbolism

Sinners Movie Explained: The Ending, Vampires, and Hidden Meanings

Dies Irae Explained: The Ghosts We Create From Guilt

How Rahul Sadasivan Redefined Malayalam Horror — Explained

Avihitham vs Ore Kadal: How Malayalam Cinema Portrays Infidelity

The Spirit World of Kantara Chapter 1: A Thematic Study

Dies Irae Explained: The Ghosts We Create From Guilt

If you’ve seen Rahul Sadasivan’s Dies Irae, you know it’s not your usual horror movie. It doesn’t give you answers, it asks you to question. You come home, and the silence feels a little heavier. Here we are decoding the unanswered questions and symbols from Dies Irae..

Dies Irae is a story built on guilt, obsession, and the ghosts we create inside our own heads. Spoiler Alert: We will be explaining the entire movie, including the ending.

The Story: A Rich Brat, a Ghosted Girl, and a Stolen Hair Clip

We meet Rohan (Pranav Mohanlal), a rich, self-absorbed guy living in a huge, empty mansion. He has everything — money, parties, friends — but cares about very little. His life is easy.

Then he hears about Kani (Sushmitha Bhat), a former classmate who has died by suicide. They had a brief fling, and he ghosted her. He gets a little worried. Did she leave a note? Could he be in trouble?

He goes to her house, not really to pay respects, but to check for anything that might incriminate him. While there, he sees her hair clips. He picks one up and takes it home.

It’s a small, thoughtless act. But it’s the mistake that unleashes hell.

The Haunting: Who is the Real Ghost?

Back in his mansion, strange things start happening. Rohan feels someone in his bed. He sees a dent in the mattress next to him. His hair is gently caressed, just like Kani used to do. And then there’s the sound — the faint, chilling jingle of anklets (chilanka).

At first, Rohan thinks it’s Kani. It makes sense, right? He wronged her, and now she’s back for revenge. But the haunting gets more violent. He is dragged, thrown, and attacked. This doesn’t feel like Kani.

This is where the film plays its first trick on you. As many fans on Reddit correctly pointed out, there isn’t one ghost in this story. There are two.

1 The Gentle Ghost: The one that caresses his hair. The one that feels like a sad memory. That’s Kani.

2 The Violent Ghost: The one that attacks him and Kani’s brother, Kiran. This is someone else entirely.

Rohan finally sees this violent spirit — a thin, terrifying man wearing the anklets. The mystery deepens. If it’s not Kani, then who is it? And why is he here?

The Investigation: Uncovering a Story of Obsession and Black Magic

Rohan, terrified, seeks help from Madhusudhanan (Gibin Gopinath), a contractor who has prophetic visions. Together, they dig into the mystery. They learn that Kani’s anklets are also missing. The ghost must be connected to both the hair clip and the anklets.

Their search leads them to a man named Philip — a quiet, strange man who was obsessed with Kani. He used to stare at her from a distance, but never had the courage to speak.

But the final piece of the puzzle is the most disturbing. Philip is the son of Elsamma (Jaya Kurup), the old woman who used to work as a domestic help in Kani’s house. And Philip is dead.

The Horrifying Truth: A Mother’s Love Turned Monstrous

Here is the full, dark story that Rohan and Madhusudhanan uncover:

Philip was dying of cancer. His mother, Elsamma, was heartbroken. Her prayers to God went unanswered, so she turned to a darker path. She decided that death would not be the end for her son.

Using her access to Kani’s home, she stole Kani’s belongings — her hair clip, her anklets. She performed black magic rituals to tie her son’s spirit to these objects. Her twisted idea was that if Philip couldn’t have Kani in life, he would be bound to her in death.

When Philip died, his mother didn’t bury him. She kept his decomposing body in a hidden room in her tiny, old house, with Kani’s anklets fused to his decaying feet. She was feeding a demon born from a mother’s desperate, monstrous love.

When Rohan took that hair clip, he didn’t just take an object. He took a cursed anchor, inviting Philip’s violent, obsessive spirit into his home.

The Climax: Fire, Wrath, and a Severed Leg

The final confrontation is pure chaos. Rohan and Madhusudhanan find Philip’s corpse. Elsamma, completely unhinged, attacks them with an axe. The corpse itself seems to come alive.

They realize they need to destroy the anklets to break the curse. But the anklets won’t come off the decomposed body. In a moment of desperation, Rohan cuts off the corpse’s leg, anklets and all, and throws it into a fire.

The spirit of Philip is banished in a blaze of fire and rage. The house burns down. It seems over.

The Ending Explained: You Can’t Escape Your Ghosts

The film is not just a simple revenge story. It’s a story of two very different kinds of hauntings happening at the same time.

Why Rohan Helped Elsamma?

Look at Elsamma (Jaya Kurup), Philip’s mother. She was a mother broken by grief. Her actions weren’t driven by logic, but by a desperate, maddening love for her dying son. She performed black magic and hid a corpse not because she was a monster, but because she couldn’t let her son go.

This is what makes her character so terrifying. She is both a villain and a victim. Her love is what creates the monster. She is a perfect example of how the film uses human emotion — not supernatural evil — as the true source of its horror.

This understanding is what makes Rohan help her in the end. There we see a helpless mother, and a matured Rohan.

Is Kani’s Ghost Still haunting Rohan?

This is the final, chilling twist of Dies Irae. Rohan escaped Philip, the ghost of obsession. But he can’t escape Kani, the ghost of his own guilt. He abandoned her, and that is a debt he now has to pay. The film ends with his scream of terror, realizing his haunting has only just begun.

Dies Irae means “Day of Wrath” in Latin. It’s about a final judgment. But in this film, the judgment doesn’t come from God. It comes from the people we hurt.

The true horror of Dies Irae is not the supernatural. It’s the idea that our actions create their own ghosts. And some ghosts don’t want to hurt you. They just want to sit with you, forever, to make sure you never forget.

So in the end, the film doesn’t ask us to forgive Rohan. It asks us to watch him face the consequences of his actions. And that’s what makes the horror so effective. We’ve all been Rohan at some point. We’ve all hurt someone and moved on without looking back. Dies Irae forces us to imagine what it would be like if we couldn’t move on. If the person we hurt came back and sat with us, forever.

The Unanswered Question: Why Was Kiran Attacked?

The movie never tells us why Philip’s ghost violently attacks Kani’s brother, Kiran..

Was Kiran secretly involved in Kani’s death? Did he do something to her? The film gives us no proof, but the attack feels too personal to be random. Philip’s ghost is focused. He attacks Rohan, the man who had a relationship with Kani. So why Kiran?

One theory is that Philip’s obsessive spirit was jealous of everyone in Kani’s life, including her own family. He wanted to possess her completely, and anyone who was close to her was a threat.

Another, darker theory can be that Kiran’s grief was complicated. Maybe he felt guilty about not protecting his sister, or maybe there was a family secret we never learn about. The ghost’s attack could be a punishment for something we, the audience, are not allowed to see.

The film’s refusal to answer this question is what makes it so brilliant. It leaves a space for us to wonder, to debate, and to feel uneasy. The horror isn’t in the answer; it’s in the not knowing.

The Chilanka and the Hair Clip: Cursed Objects or Emotional Anchors?

Small details often hold the biggest clues. If you listen to the chilanka (anklet) sound, it wasn’t the sound of someone walking or running. It was the sound of someone tapping their foot, like a dancer but not a dancer (no proper rhythm). This was Philip, a non-dancer, wearing the anklets of Kani, the dancer. It’s a creepy, perfect detail that shows how he is trying to become a part of her, even in death.

And then there’s the hair clip. Rohan steals it, and that’s what starts the haunting. He thinks if he returns it, the curse will break. But it doesn’t.

Because in the final scene, the hair clip is back on his bed. Kani’s ghost brought it back to him.

This confirms that these objects are not just cursed items from a typical horror movie. They are emotional anchors. They are physical representations of guilt and obsession. You can’t get rid of them by simply throwing them away. Because the feeling they represent is still inside you.

What Dies Irae Gets Right About Modern Horror

Most horror films today rely on jump scares, loud music, and CGI monsters. Dies Irae does the opposite. It uses silence, shadows, and human emotion. Dies Irae doesn’t try to shock you every five minutes. It tries to make you feel something deeper — guilt, regret, fear of your own actions.

This is what Rahul Sadasivan understands. Horror is not about the monster. It’s about the person running from the monster. And sometimes, the person and the monster are the same.

Dies Irae is not a film you watch for fun. It’s a film you watch to feel something uncomfortable, something real. And that’s why it works.

How Rahul Sadasivan Redefined Malayalam Horror — Explained

If you enjoy breaking down hidden clues, twisted endings, and unanswered questions, you’ll love these analyse of Rahul Sadasivan’s narrating style.

How Rahul Sadasivan Redefined Malayalam Horror — Explained

If you look at Bhoothakaalam, Bramayugam, and Dies Irae, you will immediately notice something different, this is not the usual horror. Rahul Sadasivan brings a new kind of fear into Malayalam cinema, one built on psychology, silence, and emotional depth. In this article, we decode his subtle filmmaking style by analysing Bhoothakaalam, Bramayugam, and Dies Irae in detail.

Hope you might have already notice what he avoids:

No exorcism drama
No psychiatrist or priest suddenly entering to “solve” things
No loud scare tricks
No “hero saviour” — even Madhusoodhanan in Dies Irae is scared like us.

They are stories of ordinary people trying to escape something that quietly follows them — sometimes from outside, sometimes from inside.

That is Rahul’s trick.
He makes you uncomfortable slowly, using psychology, silence, and things we carry in our hearts but never speak about.

The House Matters More Than the Ghost

In most horror movies, the ghost is the hero.
But in Rahul’s films, the house is the main force.

In Bhoothakaalam, that home feels suffocating, like sadness has settled there over years. And in Bramayugam, the old illam becomes a trap, holding secrets and power games.
In Dies Irae, we have a modern luxury villa that still feels empty and cold.

Rahul uses everyday spaces — kitchen, bathroom, staircase, bedroom — and turns them into areas you suddenly notice more when you go home at night.

For visionary filmmakers, space is not just a backdrop — it becomes part of the emotion. Some directors use rooms, corridors, and silence better than dialogue.

For example, in In the Mood for Love, the narrow corridors and tight apartment hallways make us feel the unspoken tension between the characters. The walls almost hold their secrets.

In Billy Wilder’s The Apartment, the office floor and the lonely apartment show how crowded life can still feel empty. Even in Kubrick’s The Shining, long hotel hallways are enough to create anxiety before anything supernatural appears.

These films prove one thing: space can talk. It can show loneliness, fear, temptation, or pain without a single line of dialogue. Rahul Sadasivan uses this same idea in Malayalam horror.

He does not create a haunted house.
He makes you think about your own house after the film ends. You go home and think, “Why does my house suddenly feel so quiet?”

His horror isn’t about the building; it’s about your relationship with your space.

Bhoothakaalam: The Cramped Apartment

Central Theme: Depression and the fear of mental health

Setting: Middle-class apartment in the midst of a bustling city (not an isolated mansion)

From Rahul Sadasivan’s interview (Times of India):

“I was very particular about the house, once the story and screen was completed. Since it’s a horror movie, and has paranormal elements, the house becomes a character, at one point. Instead of going for a cliché mansion or deserted bungalow, I wanted a house that seemed normal, in a relatable neighbourhood. Our requirement was a single storeyed house with three bedrooms.”

In Bhoothakaalam, the cramped spaces and minimal effects create a terrifying atmosphere. Whatever pain Vinu and Asha already have, the house quietly absorbs it, makes it heavier, and sends it back to them. So instead of getting better, they keep sinking deeper into fear and hopelessness..

Bramayugam: The 17th Century Mana

Central Theme: “Oppression is a cycle, it never stops”

Setting: Dilapidated, labyrinthine 17th-century mansion

The mana in Bramayugam acts as a physical manifestation of a corrupt power structure. It creates entrapment — the night lasts longer than the day, and the characters seem stuck in an endless time loop.

Dies Irae: The Luxury Villa

Central Theme: “when you have everything outside, the battle begins inside.” The film explores how emotional hunger inside us creates its own demons.

Setting: Villa that “screams luxury in every corner”

Function: The luxurious villa becomes a gilded cage, amplifying the protagonist’s profound sense of isolation despite (or because of) its opulence.

Also, you can see that there three different homes in Dies Irae

Rohan’s luxury villa
Kani’s home: A middle class home
Eliamma (Jaya Kurup): A tiny old home made of wood and bricks.

In Dies Irae, each home carries its own ghost, no matter how big or small the space is. Rohan lives in a luxury villa, yet that house is the most haunted — not just by a spirit, but by guilt, ego, and his inability to face his own actions.

Kani’s middle-class home feels cursed to her family, not because of spirits, but because of grief and the emotional wound.

And then there is Eliamma’s tiny old house, where she feeds a demon. Three different homes, but the same truth: a house becomes haunted when the people inside cannot let pain go. Fear is not about walls or wealth — it follows who we are.

Rahul Sadasivan vs James Wan: Two Different Ways to Create Fear

Rahul Sadasivan doesn’t make “loud” horror.
You won’t see sudden jump scares every few minutes or ghosts screaming into the camera. That style works for some films, but Rahul is not interested in shocking you for one second and moving on.

He wants something else — he wants the fear to sit with you.
Not run at you.
Just sit quietly, like a thought you can’t shake off.

This is very different from the James Wan school of horror. Wan builds fear like a roller-coaster — loud, fast, and engineered for instant reaction (Conjuring, Insidious can be examples). It works, no doubt, but sometimes those scares vanish the moment the lights come on. Rahul does the opposite. He doesn’t chase your heartbeat; he quietly gets into your head.

Rahul treats horror like a natural extension of life.
Problems we don’t talk about, guilt we carry, sadness we ignore — he uses these emotions as real ghosts. And that’s why you feel uneasy. Not because something jumped at you, but because somewhere it feels real.

When Rohan talks about Kani to Madhu, you may connect with either Kani or Rohan.
When Asha and Vinu fight, you may think about your mother or your own past.
And when Potti says, “You can’t have a second chance,” we feel the pain of loss and oppression.

What Rahul Sadasivan’s Horror Really Talks About

On the surface, Rahul’s films look like ghost stories. But if you watch closely, there is always something deeper running underneath. The fear is just a tool — the real subject is what people quietly go through inside their minds.

The Ghost of Depression in Bhoothakaalam

In Bhoothakaalam, the haunting blends with mental health, trauma, and the weight of hopelessness.
The central theme of Bhoothakaalam is depression and the fear surrounding mental health — generational trauma and emotional silence.
The most powerful moment is Vinu’s fear — “the fear of our loved ones not understanding us.”

Two-thirds of Bhoothakaalam is drama about a clinically depressed mother and a troubled son’s dysfunctional relationship, and the remaining one-third focuses on haunted-house elements.
You start wondering whether the ghost is real, or if it is grief taking shape.

Power, Isolation, and the Illusion of Equality in Bramayugam

In Bramayugam, the horror isn’t only about black magic or ancient curses. It’s about power — who controls it, who suffers under it, and how fear keeps systems running for generations.

The illusion is not the ghost; it’s the illusion of egalitarianism. Those who wish to keep you beneath them will first make you sit beside them like an equal, creating a false sense of equality. They use that feeling in you to establish themselves as the bigger person, to whom you owe gratitude for being treated “undeservingly” as equals.
No offence to comrades or communists, but this illusion is something we have seen across revolutions in history.

Look at the song Adithyan Illathe — a cry for help, portraying the sorrow of bondage, sung exactly when planning to break free. Everything is connected. The victims are not waiting for an exorcist.

The Ghosts Made by Desire & Wrath, Not Spirits

And in Dies Irae, the supernatural mixes with guilt and emotional hunger in modern life. The film touches upon desire, obsession, and the wrath that follows.

Rahul simply shows people, their fears, and the world they live in. And when the supernatural enters that space, it doesn’t feel separate. It feels like it was always there, hiding behind the curtain of everyday life. That’s why his stories stay in your head — they talk about ghosts outside and the ghosts inside.

Also, in Dies Irae, I love the way Madhusoodhanan realises his abilities. It reminded me of Nolan’s Batman moments — Madhu discovering the strength he had long ignored, and rising in the second half to confront the evil.

A Team That Understands Rahul’s Vision

Rahul’s films look and sound the way they do not just because of him, but because he works with a team that understands his rhythm.

Cinematography: Shehnad Jalal

Rahul’s visual language works because of cinematographer Shehnad Jalal (alumnus of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute).

Shehnad and Rahul plan deeply before they shoot.
They storyboard, visit locations together, and decide how silence, darkness, and stillness should look. Rahul’s VFX and animation background helps him visualise shots in advance — nothing is accidental.

That’s why in Bhoothakaalam, close-ups feel like someone breathing down your neck. In Bramayugam, the monochrome world looks like a folklore nightmare — like the pages of an ancient palm-leaf manuscript moving on screen. The mansion doesn’t feel like a set; it feels like a memory.

And small choices — like the low-angle shot of Mammootty’s shadow towering over another man — show how visual ideas come from trust and collaboration, not chance.

Sound & Silence: Christo Xavier and Team

Horror dies if sound is lazy. Rahul knows that. So does composer Christo Xavier, along with sound designers Jayadevan Chakkadath, M.R. Rajakrishnan, and Raja Krishnan.

I love the way they use Silence.
Silence is not empty — it has weight.

Instead of constant scary music, sound arrives slowly. Sometimes all you hear is a hair clip snapping, a ghungroo, footsteps in another room. These sounds feel ordinary — and that’s why they make your stomach tighten.

That’s why scenes like the “passage of time” sequence in Dies Irae or a casual conversation turning chilling work so deeply — the sound pulls the floor from under you without warning.

Editing: Shafique Mohamed Ali

Finally, Rahul’s films hold tension because of editor Shafique Mohamed Ali. He doesn’t cut for speed — he cuts for mood.

Sometimes a scene stays longer than you expect.
Sometimes it ends just before you feel safe again.

Editing in horror is timing, and Shafique knows when to let silence stretch and when to snap it. That’s why Rahul’s films never feel rushed or broken — each moment lands.

A Horror Film That Follows You Home

Rahul Sadasivan isn’t trying to entertain you for two hours and send you home relaxed. His films don’t end when the credits roll. They quietly come with you.

You think about the house, the silence, the feeling that something was always there in the corner. Once you switch off your bedroom light, and suddenly the room feels a bit too still. You hear a sound from the kitchen, and for a second, you pause.

Not because you saw a ghost in the film — but because the film reminded you that fear doesn’t always scream. Sometimes it just waits.

That’s Rahul’s style:
Not horror that tries to scare you.
Horror that reminds you you are already scared — only you don’t talk about it.

Share your thoughts as comments.

Dies Irae Explained: The Ghosts We Create From Guilt

Dies Irae is a story built on guilt, obsession, and the ghosts we create inside our own heads. Here we are decoding the unanswered questions and symbols from Dies Irae..

For more stories check here.

Avihitham vs Ore Kadal: How Malayalam Cinema Portrays Infidelity

Avihitham by Senna Hegde is a simple satirical film. Co-written with Ambareesh Kalathera. What makes it interesting is how it touches on female desire and infidelity, a theme that has often been explored in Malayalam cinema in very different ways. To understand this better, let’s look at how female desire is portrayed in Avihitham compared to Ore Kadal, a layered and emotionally complex film.

The movie opens with a striking quote: “They weigh us, they measure us, and then they decide our worth.” This line perfectly sums up the essence of the film.

A Scandal in the Dark: How Avihitham Unfolds

One night in Ravaneshwaram, Kasaragod district, the local loafer Prakashan (Ranji Kankol) spots two people secretly making out. From a distance, he recognises the man as Vinod (Vineeth Chakyar), who works at a flour mill.

He can’t see the woman’s face because of the darkness. Since the act happens near the house of Nirmala (Vrinda Menon), who lives there with her daughter and mother-in-law while her husband Mukundan (Rakesh Ushar), a carpenter, is away at work, Prakashan assumes she must be the woman.

What follows is an elaborate, supposedly foolproof plan by Prakashan and a group of men, including Nirmala’s husband and his family, to catch the lovers red-handed.

Avihitham’s treatment is similar to Senna’s previous flick Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam, but there, the climax hit hard, forcing us to introspect and empathise with the victims.

Here, due to weak writing and the absence of strong turning points, the audience may struggle to empathise with the secret lover or her choices. The flat narration and preachy, predictable dialogues at the end make it even weaker.

Characters That Speak Louder Than the Plot

Why someone enters an illicit affair is often reduced to a single reason — “the husband is not caring” — but I expected more nuance from a director like Senna Hegde.

That said, I liked how he wrote certain characters. For example, Tailor Venu concludes that the woman was Nirmala based purely on her body measurements, which he claims to calculate in darkness — cleverly echoing the opening line: “They weigh us, they measure us, and then they decide our worth.” Similarly, Prakashan’s voyeuristic pleasure and Mukundan’s blind trust in everyone except his wife add layers to the village dynamics. Senna builds the soul and core of Avihitham on a strong foundation, but the film loses its grip by the end.

Now, let me draw a parallel between Ore Kadal by Shyamaprasad and Avihitham. This might help explain why I find the climax of Avihitham more of a mockery than a solid, emotionally convincing moment.

(Read this only after watching Avihitham.)

The Climax That Missed Its Reflection

Senna Hegde is known for holding a mirror to small-town social structures with a dry, observational tone. But in this case, the way the film ends — with Geetha explaining her actions almost in a moral-preachy way — can feel like it’s trying to “justify” a personal choice that’s actually morally and socially complex.

Geetha is a housewife in Avihitham. She is married to Mahesh, a carpenter from a typical patriarchal community. He is a male chauvinist who believes women should obey and follow men. In their world, being expressive or caring is considered a sign of being “henpecked.” Geetha develops a love interest in Vinodh, a mill owner, and they begin meeting near the bathroom at night to have sex.

Director Senna Hegde justifies this relationship through Geetha’s dialogue in the climax, where she says Mahesh never cared about her feelings, never listened to her, and didn’t even allow her to watch her favourite TV serial. Vinodh, on the other hand, listened to her worries. In a preachy tone, the film ends with Geetha delivering a few lines explaining her actions — and then the story simply wraps up.

**Why ‘Avihitham’ Climax Didn’t Work for Me**

1. Patriarchal setup vs individual choice

Yes, Geetha’s husband Mahesh is portrayed as a classic patriarchal male, emotionally unavailable, controlling, and dismissive. That part is very real in many households.
But patriarchy doesn’t automatically justify infidelity.
What it explains is why she might feel suffocated, not why she must cheat.

The emotional neglect here sets the context, not the moral defence.

2. Emotional connection vs sexual escape

From what the film shows, Geetha’s relationship with Vinodh happens in secret, in a bathroom corner at night, repeatedly.
There’s no serious conversation between them on screen beyond her venting.

That clearly points to a physical and emotional outlet, but more heavily leaning on sexual release and escapism than a deep, emotionally meaningful connection.

So when the film suddenly ends with a “justifying” monologue, it feels like it’s trying to frame lust as liberation, which isn’t automatically valid or convincing.

3. Problem with preachy justification

A stronger script would have let the act speak for itself or shown its consequences, instead of Geetha explaining it in a moralising way.

When the movie uses her explanation as the final word, it:

Silences other perspectives (e.g. the betrayal involved, Mahesh’s flaws notwithstanding).
Flattens the complexity of such relationships into a “good vs bad” binary.
Feels emotionally manipulative to the audience, telling us what to feel, instead of letting us decide.

The film clearly wanted to keep Geetha’s identity as the “surprise” element, which is probably why Senna avoided showing her perspective or building parallel emotional layers around her character.

But that choice comes at a cost, the climax ends up depending entirely on a preachy dialogue to justify her actions. If they didn’t want to reveal her directly, they could have still hinted at her emotional state through other female characters or parallel situations. That would have allowed the film to show the greyness of both characters and make the ending feel more earned and organic.

Orey Kadal’s Deepti vs Avihitham’s Geetha

Deepti’s Journey in Ore Kadal: Plot

Now let’s look at Ore Kadal, directed by Shyamaprasad and based on the Bengali novel Hirak Deepti by Sunil Gangopadhyay. Starring Mammootty as Nathan and Meera Jasmine as Deepti, the film explores how human desires and social realities often clash in messy, painful ways.

The story is about Deepti, a young housewife whose husband is struggling to make ends meet. Their life is full of financial stress and emotional distance. One day, she meets Nathan, an older social scientist who helps her during a tough moment. Slowly, their bond grows — but while Deepti starts to develop deep feelings, for Nathan it’s just a physical connection. This difference in how they see the relationship changes her life completely, pulling her into guilt, pain, and emotional turmoil.

This layered storytelling gives the film a quiet but powerful emotional weight, making it very convincing, even though Ore Kadal and Avihitham speak about similar themes in the end.

Avihitham vs Ore Kadal: A Question of Depth

1. Context vs depth

In Avihitham, Geetha’s affair with Vinod happens quickly, physically, in secrecy, and the script tries to justify it in one dialogue, framing it as “Mahesh didn’t care about me, but Vinod listened.”
It simplifies a very complex human situation.
In Ore Kadal, Deepti’s relationship with Nathan is not just about physical desire. It begins with:
- Economic and emotional vulnerability,
- Intellectual awe,
- Gradual internal transformation.

She doesn’t enter the relationship out of rebellion but is slowly pulled into a web of emotions, class dynamics, and personal longing.

This depth makes a huge difference in how we perceive her choices.

2. Character motivation

Geetha is reacting to her husband’s control and neglect. Her relationship is an escape, not an evolution.
It is more lust and rebellion than layered love. Even the movie doesn’t give us more than a shallow justification.
Deepti is a woman crushed by economic dependence, class inferiority, and intellectual loneliness.

Nathan represents everything missing in her life: intellect, security, attention, and a kind of forbidden freedom.

Even when the relationship is exploitative in a subtle way, her emotional investment is genuine.

This is why you may felt empathy for Deepti but not for Geetha.

3. Filmmaking choices

Avihitham ends with a preachy justification, almost spoon-feeding the audience how to feel.
It takes a moral stand: “she was right to do this because her husband was wrong.”
Ore Kadal does the opposite: it does not justify or condemn.
It simply shows the consequences, love, guilt, loneliness, madness.
It treats Deepti as a human being, not a symbol for rebellion or morality.

This subtlety gives viewers the space to think and feel.

4. Lust vs longing

In Avihitham, the relationship is framed around physical meetings in a corner at night. It never explores why she’s drawn to Vinod beyond “he listens.”
In Ore Kadal, Deepti’s longing for Nathan is shown through:
- Her hesitation to meet him,
- Her emotional dependency,
- Her heartbreak when she realises he doesn’t love her.
  This isn’t just sexual, it’s a deep emotional entanglement.

This is why Deepti’s actions feel more tragic than immoral.

5. Why is my reaction different

I instinctively felt Geetha’s act was just about desire and rebellion, because the film gave me no real emotional bridge to her decision.
But I felt Deepti’s act was understandable, even if not “right,” because the film made me walk through her inner world step by step.

That’s the power of layered writing.

Avihitham: simplifies morality: “bad husband = justified affair.”
Ore Kadal: complicates morality: “broken woman → human desire → guilt, collapse, pain.”

I felt like Senna Hegde tries to explain; but Shyama Prasad reflects.

And that’s why Ore Kadal lingers in your head long after it ends, whereas Avihitham might leave a feeling of imbalance or superficiality.

Final Thoughts: Avihitham vs Orey Kadal

Now, I do agree, you can’t compare apples and oranges. You can’t put a black humour satire next to a complex, layered feature film. Yet, the reason I’m making this comparison is because of what I witnessed in the theatre.

Many people were openly abusing Geetha’s character; some even shouted, “slap her!” That clearly shows whatever Senna Hegde was trying to communicate didn’t connect with a large part of the audience.

If the intention was to create a mirror for society, then the writing needed to be more serious and layered. And that’s exactly where Ore Kadal becomes a good example. Avihitham is still running in theatres, while Ore Kadal is available to watch on YouTube, and both offer two very different ways of handling the same sensitive theme.

The Spirit World of Kantara Chapter 1: A Thematic Study

In one word, if I define Kantara: Chapter 1, it is a magnum opus. Louder and more prudent than the first Kantara. I would like to compare it to the Indian version of Apocalypto. Why?

The Apocalypto Parallel

Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto (2006) is more than just a survival thriller set in the Mayan world. In the film, nature feels harsh, but it plays by clear rules. If you’re strong and smart, you survive; if not, you don’t. Human systems, on the other hand, twist those rules.

Slavery, sacrifice, and the hunger for power create cruelty that doesn’t come from nature. The message is that people themselves end up corrupting what was once simple and balanced.

Kantara: Chapter 1 is built on similar lines. On one side, a human system backed by hunger for power and ego—people who believe everything in this world exists for them to hunt and feed, where bloodshed is a hobby.

On the other side, another set of humans who worship every element of nature. They believe the world is protected by gods who appear in the form of tigers, pigs, trees, and land. Kantara is the clash between these two sets of humans.

Tracing the Beginning

In Kantara, we saw Guliga and his power. Here, we are tracing its beginning. The film aims to explore how ancient beliefs, rituals, and conflicts started. It asks: Where does the divine or supernatural tradition come from? How did current struggles arise from those roots?

Spiritual or divine forces (through rituals, deities) are not separate from nature—they are entwined with it.

Kantara Chapter 1: Rishab Shetty’s Masterclass

Kantara is a masterclass by Rishab Shetty in world-building, balance between spectacle and story, and creating sync between character arcs and conflicts. The pacing and structure work beautifully for a big-budget entertainment-focused film.

Most importantly, some Telugu directors should learn from him that chanting Sanskrit hymns or just showing Shiva on screen is not how you set up emotional or spiritual resonance. Rishab nails it at its best. The way he established that spiritual and divine forces are not separate from nature—but deeply tied to it—is such a brilliant thought. Sarvam Khalidham Bramha

The World of Kantara and Bhoothaloka

The world of Kantara is inspired by the concept of Bhoothaloka. To understand Kantara Chapter 1, you need to know this tradition first.

In Tulu Nadu, a coastal area in Southern India, people still follow an old tradition called Daiva Aradhane or Bhoota Kola. It is a way of worshipping spirits through rituals, stories, music, and dance. These rituals act like a bridge between humans and the divine. This is the inspiration for Kantara.

“Bhoota” is derived from the Sanskrit bhūta, meaning “spirit,” “past,” or “creature.” However, in Tuluva culture, a Bhoota is not a ghost but a guardian spirit, a powerful being worthy of reverence.

The Ritual of Bhoota Kola

A Bhoota Kola is a night-long ceremony where the spirit enters the human world through a performer. This performer, called a paatri, belongs to hereditary families like the Nalike or Pambada. From a young age, he is trained in dance, songs, and discipline to carry the spirit safely.

Before the ritual, the paatri purifies himself with fasting and celibacy. During the ceremony, his face is painted with bright designs, he wears a skirt of coconut leaves, brass anklets, and a tall headpiece. Music with drums and pipes fills the air.

The pāḍdana, an oral epic in Old Tulu, is sung to narrate the story of the spirit—its birth, deeds, and why it is worshipped there. As the song continues, the performer goes into trance, shaking and convulsing, until the spirit takes over his body. At that moment, villagers believe he is no longer human—he has become the Daiva.

A core belief is that these spirits were once living beings who walked the earth—heroes, ancestors, or animals of totemic importance. Some were human beings who died tragically fighting injustice. This makes the spirit world very personal and ancestral. Tuluvas believe that all people join Bhoothaloka after death. It is very similar to Kerala’s Theyyam concept. This is the answer to why Rishab Shetty’s character vanishes into Bhoothaloka in Kantara.

Guliga: The Enforcer Spirit

Among the hundreds of Daivas worshipped in Tulu Nadu, Guliga holds a position of prominence and fear. He is primal, powerful, and often violent—his role is to serve as the ultimate enforcer of divine law.

The Origin of Guliga

The pāḍdanas of Tulu Nadu tell us how Guliga was born. In Kailasa, the home of Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati once brought Shiva a pile of ash. Inside was a strange stone. Shiva threw it away, and from that stone, Guliga was born.

From birth, he was wild. He had two unstoppable traits: endless hunger and violent fury. He tried to swallow the sun, drank Lord Vishnu’s celestial lake, and devoured the blood of elephants and horses. His hunger only stopped when Vishnu offered his own little finger to eat.

But Guliga’s ferocity was too much for the heavens. Vishnu sent him down to Bhoothaloka, the world of spirits. This was not just punishment—it was duty. Guliga was made the Kshetrapala, the guardian of the land, to protect boundaries and watch over people. His story explains why he is both feared and worshipped: a force of chaos tied to sacred purpose.

Guliga’s Role

Because of this, Guliga became the strict enforcer among the spirits. While Daivas like Panjurli protected prosperity and harvests inside the village, Guliga guarded the edges—fields, borders, and family lands. He punishes without mercy, sometimes with death. That is why people fear him but also trust him to uphold dharma.

Shrines for Guliga are simple: just an uncarved stone under a sacred tree. He is older than temples—raw and elemental.

Guliga Kola

The Guliga Kola is one of the most fearsome rituals. The paatri purifies himself, then transforms into Guliga with paint, costume, and dance. The performance is wild and violent—torches in hand, frenzied steps, terrifying presence. Unlike gentler Daiva rituals, Guliga Kola includes raw meat and blood from sacrificed chickens, symbolising his hunger.

When Guliga takes over the paatri, the entire village believes it is no longer a man before them, but Guliga himself—raging, punishing, and protecting.

The Many Faces of Guliga

Rudra Guliga – fierce form, punishing injustice.
Tantra/Mantra Guliga – linked to fire and esoteric rituals.
Kathale Guliga – Guliga of darkness and mystery.
Nethara Guliga – Guliga of blood and sacrifice.
Agni Guliga – Guliga of fire, with torch rituals.
Raja Guliga – royal form tied to justice and rule.
Rahu Guliga – the most violent, linked to chaos and eclipses.

These are not separate gods but different forms of the same primal energy.

The Deeper Meaning of Guliga

Guliga’s story is more than fear. He was born from stone and ash—raw matter, not life. His hunger is chaos itself, strong enough to swallow the sun. The gods did not kill him—they gave his chaos a purpose. He became guardian of the land, punisher of injustice, keeper of balance.

This reflects a deep Tulu idea: order is not built by destroying chaos, but by containing it, honouring it, and making it serve the community.

Chamundi: The Tiger Goddess of Tulu Nadu

Chamundi is another powerful Daiva in Tulu Nadu. She shows how local beliefs merged with big pan-Indian traditions. She is not just borrowed from Hindu scriptures—in Tulu Nadu, she blended with local spirits and became a unique guardian tied to forests and land.

From Chaundi to Chamundi

Long ago, people worshipped Chaundi, sister of Guliga, along with Jattiga and Rahu Guliga. She was one of the oldest Daivas of the land. Later, as Vedic and Puranic ideas spread, Chaundi was linked to Chamundi, a fierce form of Devi, the Mother Goddess. In Mysore, Chamundeshwari became the royal goddess. But in Tulu Nadu, Chaundi did not vanish—she blended with Chamundi, keeping her old roots while gaining new prestige.

Pilichamundi: Tiger and Goddess Together

The most famous form is Pilichamundi. Pili means tiger in Tulu, and Chamundi is her Sanskrit name. This fusion connects the tiger spirit of Tulu Nadu with the pan-Indian goddess.

Tulu Nadu once had dense forests where tigers threatened people, cattle, and crops. To turn fear into protection, people worshipped the tiger spirit. Over time, this spirit merged with Chamundi. This is ell established in Kantara Chapter 1, with the tiger sequences in the first half.

One pāḍdana says a tiger was born from an egg offered to Shiva and Parvati. The tiger killed Shiva’s cow, and instead of destroying it, Shiva sent it down to earth. There, it became a protector of the same cattle and crops it once harmed.

This theme—wild beings punished yet given purpose—is the same as Guliga and Panjurli.

Thus, Pilichamundi is not just Chamundi riding a tiger. She is the tiger and goddess fused into one. Local people preserved her Tulu name Pili, while linking her with the prestige of the Great Goddess. It was not replacement, but blending. That is why she remains one of the strongest Daivas today.

Final Word

Overall, Kantara: Chapter 1 is a magnum opus—with its visuals, themes, performances, and music. It goes beyond entertainment, bringing alive the ancient spirit world of Tulu Nadu. By blending myth, folklore, and cinema, Rishab Shetty has created India’s answer to Apocalypto, a tale where nature, spirit, and humanity are inseparably bound.

Kantara Chapter 1 is a must watch, and I am eagerly waiting for Chapter 2.

Moothon in Lokah: Myth, Aliens, or Something More?

When Lokah: Chapter 1 dropped, we met Neeli, Chathan, and Odiyan. But behind all of them, one name kept surfacing — Who is Moothon (With Mammootty voice over). A mysterious power controlling immortals, never shown, only hinted at. So, who is Moothon?

The Epic of Gilgamesh (an epic from ancient Mesopotamia)

To answer that, we need to look beyond Kerala’s Aithihyamala. From the film’s title card itself, there’s a hint pointing towards ancient Mesopotamian myths, where gods, aliens, and immortals often overlap.

While explaining the flashback, we see child Neeli looking at a cuneiform text — the wedge-shaped script of ancient Mesopotamia — carved inside the cave.

This links the beheaded idol that Neeli sees to Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess.

So, this mesopotamian connection makes sense.

But let me tell you, I’m doubtful whether the makers used actual Mesopotamian scripts here or not, because it looks more like the Zonai script from the video game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

TL;DR – The Moothon–Enki Theory

The people of ancient Mesopotamia, living between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, imagined the world as shaped by a vast family of gods and goddesses (much like the Greeks or Hindus). This pantheon was not just a group of divine figures, but a complex society — with rules, rivalries, leaders, and conflicts.

Understanding this divine family is the first step to understanding the Mesopotamian world — and, perhaps, Moothon’s place within it in Lokah.

Our theory connects Moothon to the Mesopotamian deity Enki, as reinterpreted by Zecharia Sitchin’s “ancient astronaut” theory.

In this view, Moothon is a powerful Anunnaki leader who created and protected humanity, standing against destructive gods like Ishtar. This article breaks down the myths and fringe theories that support this connection — and explains how Lokah might be reworking them.

The Beginning of Creation in Mesopotamian Myth

Before the world existed, myths say there was only water in chaos. From that endless ocean came two mighty forces:

Apsu – the spirit of fresh water flowing under the earth.
Tiamat – the spirit of the wild, salty sea.

When their waters met, life began. The first gods were born — younger, restless, and full of energy. But their noise disturbed their parents. This tension set the stage for a cosmic conflict, one that shaped the heavens, the earth, and the world humans live in today.

Anu, the Sky Father

At the very top stood An (called Anu by the Akkadians). He was the god of the sky, the highest authority, and known as the “Father of the Gods.”

Human kings claimed their right to rule came from him.
His authority was called anûtu (“Anu-power”).

Yet despite his supreme title, Anu was distant. He lived in the highest heaven, he rarely came down to interfere with gods or humans.

The day-to-day world was instead shaped by more active gods like Enlil. This mirrored Mesopotamian politics: a high king ruling over many city-states, while local governors held real influence.

Who is Enlil?

The Anunnaki: The Great Gods Who Gave Orders

The most important gods in mesopotamian myths were the Anunnaki (“those of royal blood”). They were the children and grand children of An (Anu) and Ki (Antu).

Their main role: deciding the fate of humans.

The most famous group was the “seven gods who decide”:

An (Anu) – god of the sky
Enlil – god of air and storms
Enki (Ea) – god of water and wisdom
Ninhursag (Antu) – goddess of earth
Nanna (Sin) – god of the moon
Utu (Shamash) – god of the sun and justice
Inanna (Ishtar) – goddess of love and war

In early stories, the Anunnaki ruled as high gods in heaven. Later, they became judges of the underworld, showing how beliefs about death evolved.

The Ruling Triad: A Model for Lokah’s Power Struggles?

Even though Anu was the high king of the gods, he did not rule alone. He shared his power with two other great deities, forming what myths describe as a ruling triad.

Enlil – God of air, wind, and storms. The son of Anu and Ki, he was often the most powerful god in action. While Anu stayed distant, Enlil carried out the decisions of the gods and eventually became the active head of the pantheon.
Enki (Ea) – God of water, wisdom, and creation. Known for his cleverness, Enki was seen as a friend to humans. He often warned them about the harsh plans of the other gods, like in the story of the Great Flood.

Together, Anu (sky), Enlil (air), and Enki (water) ruled over the three great domains of the universe.

Family Tree of Mesopotamian dieties Enki & Enlil

In Lokah, this triad can be seen as a model for hidden cosmic power struggles, where Moothon (like Enki) is the quiet protector, and Ishtar plays the enforcer.

Ningal, the Great Lady, and Nanna, the Moon God

In Mesopotamian myths, one of the most important divine couples was Ningal and Nanna. They ruled over the night sky and the fertile lands, and together their family explained much of how the world worked.

Ningal, the Great Queen

The name Ningal means “Great Lady” or “Great Queen.” She was the daughter of Enki, the god of water and wisdom, and Ningikuga, the goddess of reeds and marshlands. Because of this, Ningal was strongly connected to the wetlands of southern Mesopotamia — the very place where Sumerian civilisation grew. She was the protector goddess of the great city of Ur.

Nanna, the Moon God

Ningal’s husband was Nanna, called Sin by the Akkadians, the god of the moon. He ruled the cycles of the night sky and was linked to the measurement of time, since the months were counted by the phases of the moon.

Like Ningal, Nanna’s main temple was in Ur, and their marriage was celebrated in myth. Stories about their union were told to teach the value of family and marriage in Mesopotamian society.

Their Divine Family

Together, Ningal and Nanna created a family that reflected the natural order:

Utu (Shamash), the sun god of justice
Inanna (Ishtar), the goddess of love and war, is linked to the planet Venus. Ishtar was also known as the “Queen of Heaven”.

This family gave people a complete picture of the world. Ningal, born of water and reeds, represented the fertile earth. Nanna, as the moon, ruled the rhythm of the night sky.

From Myth to Sci-Fi: The Zecharia Sitchin Theory

In Mesopotamian myth, the sky god Anu ruled as the “Father of the Gods.” From his bloodline came powerful deities, and they are the Anunnaki.

Later, Zecharia Sitchin’s book The 12th Planet (1976) spun a radical theory: the Anunnaki were not gods, but aliens from Planet X (Nibiru).

The Anunnaki were aliens from a hidden planet called Nibiru.
They came to mine gold to repair their atmosphere.
When the work became too much, they created humans (mixing their DNA with Homo erectus).

According to Sitchin, humans were not born to worship, but born to work.

Zecharia Sitchin was not a historian, but a writer with a very bold idea. He believed they were just advanced humans from space with technology that looked like magic to ancient people.

Why This Theory Resonates with Lokah

This idea matches Lokah’s tagline: They Live Among Us.

Moothon as Enki → the one who gave knowledge, always protecting humanity.
Ishtar as antagonist → bitter and destructive, still hunting.

Lokah reimagines these conflicts through its immortal characters.

Want to know more? It’s too long to read, but worth if you are really interested.

The 12th Planet – Nibiru

According to Sitchin, their home was a hidden planet called Nibiru, which moves around the sun in a very long orbit, taking 3,600 years to come close to Earth. He called it the “12th Planet” if we count the Sun, Moon, and Pluto as planets.

Why They Came to Earth

He claimed the Anunnaki came here 450,000 years ago for a practical reason — to mine gold. They needed it to repair their own atmosphere, by turning the gold into fine dust to protect their planet. This was not about spirituality, but pure survival.

The Creation of Humans

But the work was hard. The Anunnaki workers themselves got tired of digging. To solve this, their leaders created a new species. Sitchin says they mixed their own DNA with that of Homo erectus, an early human. The result was Homo sapiens — us. Not born to worship, but born to work. In his telling, humanity was created as a slave race.

Why It’s Controversial

Sitchin’s story is exciting, but historians do not accept it. His translations of Sumerian texts are disputed, and mainstream archaeology sees the Anunnaki as mythical gods, not aliens. Still, his theory became popular because it mixes myth, science fiction, and conspiracy in one package.

The Gift of Civilization

After creating humans, the Anunnaki did not stop at making miners. They also gave humans knowledge and skills. According to Sitchin, this is why Sumerian civilization appeared so suddenly, with advanced ideas in astronomy, farming, and city life.

The Anunnaki even set up cities and declared themselves as gods. To control people better, they introduced “kingship” — where humans ruled on their behalf, acting as a link between the masses and their alien overlords.

The Great Flood: A Planned Extinction

As humans grew in number, their noise and rebellions irritated Enlil, one of the Anunnaki leaders. Around the same time, a disaster was coming: Sitchin says the orbit of their planet Nibiru would pull on Earth, breaking the Antarctic ice sheet and causing a global flood.

Enlil wanted to use this flood as a chance to wipe out humanity. The council agreed not to warn humans. But Enki, who had helped create mankind, disagreed. He secretly told a loyal human (known as Utnapishtim in Mesopotamian myth, or Noah in the Bible or Matsya Purana from hinduism) to build a huge boat. In it, he saved his family and the seeds of all living things.

As the waters rose, the Anunnaki watched from orbit in their ships.

A New Beginning and the Wars of the Gods

When the waters went down, Earth was empty. The Anunnaki realised they had made a mistake — they still needed humans. So, they helped the survivors rebuild civilisation.

But peace didn’t last. Two factions of the Anunnaki fell into conflict:

Enlil’s side – strict rulers, focused on order and punishment.
Enki’s side – scientists and creators, closer to humanity.

These clashes were fought not just with words but with wars over resources and cities. Sitchin even reinterprets old stories like the Tower of Babel as battles between alien factions, with humans used as soldiers in their fights.

Nuclear Calamity and Departure

The conflict reached its worst point around 2024 B.C. One faction used nuclear weapons to destroy the Sinai spaceport and nearby cities like Sodom and Gomorrah, so they would not fall to the enemy.

The Fall of the Anunnaki and the Rise of Moothon

In Sitchin’s story, the nuclear blast of 2024 B.C. changed everything for the Anunnaki.

Enlil: The End of a Reign

Enlil, the commander, was the one who pushed for the nuclear strike, along with his son Ninurta and the council of gods. The plan was simple: stop Enki’s son Marduk from taking over the Sinai spaceport and becoming supreme.

But it backfired. The nuclear cloud — remembered in ancient texts as the “evil wind” — drifted east into Sumer, Enlil’s own land. People died, rivers turned toxic, fields went barren. Sumer collapsed almost overnight, and with it, Enlil’s authority.

The great age of Enlil was over. He and his family had no choice but to leave their ruined cities and scatter.

Enki: The Long Game Pays Off

Enki had opposed the use of nuclear weapons, and though he too saw the destruction as a tragedy, it cleared the path for his side.

His firstborn son Marduk (Ra in Egypt) rose out of the chaos as the strongest.

With Enlil’s cities destroyed and the spaceport gone, there was no one left to block Marduk. The council was forced to recognize his supremacy.

For the first time, the “Enlilship” — the status of chief god — passed to Enki’s line. The long rivalry between the brothers was decided.

Ishtar: The Fallen Queen

Ishtar (Inanna) was tied to Enlil’s clan. She had fought bitterly against Marduk, trying to restore her city Uruk as the center of power. But when Sumer fell, so did her temples, her cult, and her influence.

Her rivalry with Marduk ended in defeat. While Sitchin’s texts don’t give her much detail after the disaster, she was left weakened, just another displaced power in the aftermath.

The Departure of the Gods

Sitchin’s final claim comes in his book The End of Days: after centuries of trying to recover, the Anunnaki eventually left Earth around 556 B.C.

The last temples closed, the myths hardened into religion, and humans were left to run history alone. But the gods promised they would return.

How Lokah Might Use This

Now let’s bring this back to Lokah. The film begins with Ishtar sending assassins to capture Neeli, who is hiding in a burning building, holding something secret. At the same time, we hear Moothon calling Neeli back.

This connects perfectly with Sitchin’s framework:

Moothon could be Enki, the one who always protected humanity, the giver of knowledge, the voice that calls Neeli home.
Ishtar, bitter after her defeat, still acts as an antagonist, hunting Neeli just as she once hunted Marduk’s followers.

Final Thoughts – What Do You Think?

Is Moothon really Enki, the protector of humanity? Or is he another hidden figure from Mesopotamian lore?

Share your own Lokah theories in the comments below!

Lokah Detailed Explanation

Lokah Chapter 1 (2025) Explained

So, you just finished watching Lokah: Chapter 1, and you might have questions. Who exactly are these immortals? Who is Dulquer, and what is he doing as a Ninja? And what’s with that surprise ARM–Maniyan connection at the end? This blog will walk you through the climax, explain the roles of Neeli, Chathan, and Odiyan, and highlight all the unanswered questions that set the stage for Chapter 2.

Lokah vs Minnal Murali: A Different Superhero Blueprint

We have Minnal Murali, our first superhero film from Mollywood. While Minnal Murali was a complete story about one hero’s origin, Lokah is designed as the first part of a larger film series. It introduces a new world and many characters to build a foundation for future stories.

Lokah: A Full Plot Summary (Spoilers)

Nasleen as Sunny & Kalyani Priyadarshan as Chandrah (Neeli)

The story of Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra is an origin story that introduces the main character and her world.

The film is set in modern-day Bengaluru.
The central character is Chandra (Kalyani Priyadarshan), mysterious with a difficult past. She works night shifts at a café.
Living across from her are three unemployed men—Sunny (Naslen), Nijil (Arun Kurian), and Venu (Chandu Salimkumar). They notice her strange behaviour. Sunny develops a crush and curiosity about her.
Chandra is revealed as a Yakshi called Kalliyankattu Neeli, inspired by Kerala folklore. In the myths, Neeli terrorised Panchavankadu and was impaled by Kadamattathu Kathanar.
In Lokah, Kathanar (Sunny Wayne) once impaled Neeli, but later he liberated her after realising she was a good spirit who was fighting against evil men. In modern times, his descendants run a secret hotel in Bengaluru where immortals gather. They are controlled by a supreme power called Moothon, whose identity remains unrevealed.
The conflict begins when Chandra’s co-worker is threatened by an organ trafficking gang. She steps in, revealing her superhuman powers.

Later, the director reveals glimpses of many other immortals—like Chathans, Tovino in the form of a magician in Bengaluru, and Dulquer Salmaan is playing the character of Odiyan (Ninja fighter).

Analysis of the Screenplay

The screenplay for Lokah was written by the director, Dominic Arun, with additional screenplay and dramaturgy by actress and writer Santhy Balachandran.

In 2017, when Tharangam came out, I thoroughly enjoyed it because of its narrative style and black humour. Even his short film Mrithyumjayam (a noir short film) worked for me.

Dominic Arun’s First Short Film

What went wrong with Tharangam was its racy screenplay and intricate plot that used non-linear sequences, animation, and split screens to create a dynamic viewing experience. But many felt it was too overwhelming and complex.

In Lokah, the film’s main plot is very simple. I felt the story did not have enough complexity. The script focuses more on introducing the world of Lokah and its many characters than on telling a complicated, self-contained story. This focus on world-building is a key part of its design as the first chapter of a franchise.

Santhy Balachandran’s contribution to the screenplay is significant. Her work on dramaturgy suggests she helped shape the story’s structure and its mythological themes, ensuring the folklore elements were woven into the modern superhero narrative in a meaningful way. Her views on a patriarchal society are also layered in Lokah.

How Lokah Uses the Superhero Formula

Superhero films typically follow the hero’s journey. Let me explain that with my favourite superhero Batman:

Origin and Backstory – Bruce Wayne witnesses his parents’ murder.
Call to Action – He decides Gotham needs a protector.
Training or Preparation – Learns combat and stealth from the League of Shadows.
Initial Confrontation (Setback) – Faces Joker but suffers losses like Rachel’s death.
Low Point / Dark Moment – Bane breaks him and Gotham falls.
Final Battle and Transformation – Returns, defeats Bane, and finds a life beyond Batman.

Lokah follows a similar structure, but with non-linear narration.

Is Chandrah a Vampire? Why is she Immortal?

Chandra, as a child, was infected with a mysterious virus. She became a Yakshi, called Neeli. This is inspired by Aithihyamala, where Kalliyankattu Neeli was a Yakshi eventually liberated by a priest called Kadamattathu Kathanar.

But Santhy gives an alternate ending here: Neeli was not evil. Kathanar gave her freedom to do good, and she continued fighting evils across centuries, living on as an immortal.

Now in Bengaluru, she keeps a low profile and works night shifts. This is clearly inspired by vampire stories (Even chandra’s super speed is inspired from MCU Quick silver effect)—where someone bitten also becomes a vampire, avoiding sunlight as they age.

If you notice, during the Kiliye Kiliye song, Chandra enters Sunny’s house only after he invites her inside. This is just like the scenes in Sinners, where vampires can enter a home only if they’re given permission. That’s another hint that Chandra is actually a vampire.

People might ask: Why doesn’t Kalyani look old even after hundreds of years? The same reason—Santhy and Dominic Arun are portraying Kalyani’s character, Chandra, as a vampire-like immortal who was infected by a virus. Vampires reach maturity faster and then stop ageing.

She confronts an organ trafficking gang. The editing by Chaman Chacko is brilliant here, along with the narrative style. A grandfather (played by Vijayaraghavan) tells the story of how a little girl became a Yakshi and fought against mercenaries of an evil king, while in parallel, the director shows us modern-day Neeli, aka Chandra, fighting against organ traffickers.

So the rise of Chandrah in the modern day and past is presented in parallel. It answers, how she became a vampire.

Who is the Goddess in the Cave

While explaining the flashback, we see child Neeli looking at a cuneiform text — the wedge-shaped script of ancient Mesopotamia — carved inside the cave.

This links the beheaded idol that Neeli sees to Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess.

14 Immortals & They Live Among Us Book

Vijayaraghavan’s character Daniel is revealed to be the author of the book They Live Among Us. He is researching 14 immortals who live among us. These include Maadan, Marutha (likely played by Santhy Balachandran or Ahana Krishna, since Marutha is a female spirit), Chathan (Tovino), Yakshi (Kalyani), Odiyan (Dulquer), and possibly Bhootham/Jinn (Soubin). This is my assumption, based on Aithihyamala.

Lokah Ending Explained: The Final Battle & Post-Credit Scenes

In the end, Neeli, aka Chandra, kills the villain. Like in old myths, immortals have a weak point—the heart. This mirrors how Kathanar once tied Neeli in the past, piercing a holy knife into her heart.

After that, we see Odiyan (Dulquer) killing a few gangsters at the hotel. Chronologically, this happens before Kalyani’s fight at the same hotel. Then we get Tovino’s character, Chathan, asking someone how he managed to find him. The reply is about a viral video, where Tovino—as a magician—performed the trick of tying a shoelace in Bengaluru.

Now if we look back, in the very beginning, Naslen’s character talks about this: “I am trying to tie my shoelace the way that magician did.” That line connects directly to Chathan’s reveal.

Then, the Guest (played by Vijay Menon) asks Chathan about a picture he received from some architects who explored a cave. The picture looks exactly like Tovino. Chathan explains that there might be nearly 389 Chathans in the world who look exactly the same as him.

And here comes the real connection in the second post credit scene: we are shown Maniyan’s picture (from the film ARM, where Tovino played a mysterious character named Maniyan).

Now it all ties together — Maniyan mostly lived in caves, and his death was mysterious. Maniyan moves fast, and we can see his magical powers, so it’s fair to assume he might be a form of Karimkutty Chathan or Theekkutti Chathan.

That’s where the movie ends, leaving us with the hint that Maniyan could also be one of these Chathans.

How Maniyan( ARM) Can Be A Chathan

As per mythology and folklore, when Lord Shiva and Parvati disguised themselves as Valluvan and Valluvathi, they had two children named Karuval(Goddess) and Kuttichathan. Another story says Lord Shiva’s encounter with a beautiful forest woman named Koolivaka led to the birth of Vishnumaya Kuttichathan.

So, in all popular stories, Kuttichathan is essentially a form of Shiva. Now, if you look at the Bhairava song in ARM, the entire song is about dualism. In Hindu mythology, Bhairava is Shiva’s most wrathful form.

That connection makes the logic correct: the makers can absolutely bring Maniyan into the world of Lokah. And if they do, it would be a powerful addition to the universe.

But the real question is this: if Maniyan is indeed a Chathan, will Listin Stephen (the producer of ARM) agree to make Maniyan part of the Lokah universe?

Cultural Innovation: Kerala’s Myths in a Superhero Template

This shows that the film relies heavily on the conventional superhero template for its plot progression, choosing not to innovate structurally.

But Lokah’s innovation is not structural or deconstructive—it is cultural. The film does not parody the superhero genre or fundamentally question the morality of its hero. Instead, its main contribution is cultural transposition.

It takes the largely American superhero template, adds vampire-like features, and grounds it in a specific non-Western mythological framework: the folklore of Kerala.

The central premise of the film—that immortal beings from these legends exist in today’s world—is summed up in one idea: They live among us.

And I’m happy this is not another poor imitation of a Hollywood superhero or vampire movie sprinkled with Sanskrit verses (which is mostly what Tollywood does).

The Immortals Explained: Who Are They?

Chandra = Kalliyankattu Neeli.

Chathan = Tovino’s Kuttichathan is a mischievous but powerful spirit. Some myths say that when Kuttichathan was killed and his body torn apart, every piece became a new Chathan. This explains why there are hundreds of Chathans. Karim Kuttichathan, Vishnumaya Kuttichathan, Pulakkutti Chathan, Neerkkutti Chathan and Theekkutti Chathan are the prominet ones.

Odiyan = Dulquer’s shape-shifting assassin. Odiyans were fighters. Their primary method was assassination through fear. The source of an Odiyan’s power came from a secret and gruesome ritual that created a magical oil called Pilla Thailam (literally, “child oil”).

Possibly others: Maadan, Marutha, Bhootham/Jinn.

Together, they form a clandestine immortal society that has lived among us for centuries.

Daniel’s Secret Motive (Fan Theory)

Vijayaraghavan’s Daniel is introduced as the author of They Live Among Us, writing under the pen name Joseph Dominic. At first, he looks like a researcher documenting immortals, but his actions raise bigger questions. Why does he meet Nachiappa, the infected police officer? He collect his blood, why? Why he is doing this research?

One possible theory is that Daniel’s obsession is personal, not academic. We see hints that his granddaughter suffers from a chronic illness. If true, Daniel’s entire research may not be about revealing immortals to the world — it’s about finding a cure.

If Lokah explores this, Daniel could become one of the most morally complex characters in the universe. A grandfather trying to save his family at any cost, even if it means reviving antagonists, experimenting with immortal blood, or breaking the balance between good and evil.

And if Moothon’s control is already pulling strings, maybe Daniel isn’t just researching — maybe he’s unknowingly working for the antagonists. That twist would make him less of a mentor figure and more of a tragic player caught between love for his granddaughter and manipulation by a greater power.

Too many Questions For Lokah Chapter 2

The ending leaves us with more questions than answers. If Maniyan is really one of the 300 Chathans, what does that mean for the larger Lokah universe?

Who is Moothon? How many more immortals are hiding in plain sight? What was the mission Kalyani was trying to accomplish in the opening scene? Who is Ishthar?

Read About Moothon and his Link between Mesopotamian Dieties Here.

Is the organ trafficking gang leader Gajendran a reincarnation of the old evil king, since they look the same?

Nishanth Sagar’s character Prakash says, “Even you are a daughter to Moothon!!”—what does that mean? Why did Neeli have to come to Bengaluru in the first place, and what was her motive?

Did she already know about Gajendran’s organ trafficking and plan to kill him? And why is Dulquer’s Odiyan killing so many gangsters at the hotel?

These are questions that Lokah Chapter 1 doesn’t answer—but maybe it doesn’t need to. For now, it has given us Neeli, Chathan, and Odiyan. The rest of the story waits in the shadows.

For More Reviews and Analysis: click here

Constable Kanakam: Season 1 Review & Explained

Constable Kanakam streaming on ETV Win, directed by Prasanth Kumar Dimmala starts with a promising idea — a rural village near a mysterious forest, a series of missing girls, and a constable (Varsha Bollamma) trying to connect the dots. The story thread is genuinely gripping, with the right mix of folklore, temple traditions, and a murder mystery that builds well towards a solid ending. Here is my detailed review of Constable Kanakam starring Varsha Bollamma.

Overused Templates & Poor Execution

“A serial killer with a childhood trauma” – oh, not again!!!! Unfortunately, that’s what waiting for you in Constable Kanakam.

The making is below average, with poor CGI & cliched lazy writing that breaks the immersion. Character establishments feel cliched, and the psycho backstory with childhood trauma is something we’ve seen too many times before. The attempts at showing women empowerment are there, but instead of feeling natural, they look force-fitted and artificial.

Technicals & Performances

Cinematography (Sriram Mukkapati)
The camera work is neat, especially in capturing the rural landscapes, temple shots, and forest sequences. The visuals create the right mood for a village mystery, even when the making elsewhere feels average.

Editing (Madhav Kumar Gullapalli)
One of the strongest aspects of the series. The pacing is sharp, transitions are smooth, and even the reveal sequences are stitched well. Without this editing, the show could have felt much slower.

Music (Suresh Bobbili)
The background score feels familiar, often reminding us of Saripodhaa Sanivaaram OST. Instead of bringing originality, the music leans heavily on cinematic tropes. It supports the scenes but no freshness.

Performances

Varsha Bollamma is impressive, balancing innocence and determination in her role as Kanakamahalakshmi.

varsha bollamma & Rajiv Kanakal in a scene constable kanakam

Srinivas Avasarala plays the president with controlled menace, good presentations at the climax portions.

Rajeev Kanakala once again slips into the zone of a helpless man, but his overused expressions make it feel repetitive.

The supporting cast — Ramana Bhargava, Megha Lekha, Sunny Naveen — are serviceable but don’t leave a lasting mark.

Constable Kanakam Explained (Spoilers Ahead)

For those who want the full breakdown — here’s the story in detail:

Adavigutta, Constable Kanakam and Missing Cases

Kanakamahalakshmi (Varsha Bollamma) works as a constable in a small village that sits on the edge of the dense Adavigutta forest.

The place is steeped in old beliefs and is watched over by a centuries-old temple, where the respected village president also holds authority. But beneath the quiet rural life — young girls keep going missing, villagers believe there is something wrong with Adavigutta.

When Kanakam’s best friend Chandrika disappears, Kanakam realises this is no ordinary case. She decides to dig deeper, uncovering secrets buried in both the forest and the faith that governs the village.

What do crows and Sanjeevani sticks have to do with it?

On her night duty at the Adavigutta checkpost, Kanakam notices an unusual number of crows circling the area. She learns that their nests hide Sanjeevani sticks, rare items linked to old rituals. Someone has been cutting down these nests, collecting the sticks, and using them for tantrik practices.

The deeper she looks, the clearer the pattern becomes. Every time a girl disappears from the village, it’s a full moon day. The time when such tantrik is believed to be most powerful.

This realisation shifts the case completely. It’s no longer just about missing girls — Kanakam is staring at a connection between black magic, missing case of Chandrika, and Adavigutta’s secrets.

Who is the man with the Trishul tattoo?

A witness says he saw a man doing black magic in Adavigutta forest, and on his back was a Trishul tattoo. Kanakam starts chasing this lead. First, she meets the old tattoo artist Bakthuraalamma, asking if she ever drew such a tattoo. The old woman denies it straight away.

Next, Kanakam checks a villager covered in tattoos from head to toe — but he doesn’t have the Trishul either. Still restless, she goes to the jatra festival, because that’s when most men walk shirtless. She scans the crowd, but again finds nothing.

Just when it feels like a dead end, something catches her eye — a snake coiled around a Trishul. The image rings a bell. She remembers seeing the exact same picture once in a doctor’s file back in the village.

Who Is Vikram Singh? Is he the Killer?

The file belongs to Dr.Hanumanth Rao, who redirects her to Vikram Singh, an ex-military man in Delhi.

Vikram explains that after surviving a terrorist attack at Kedarnath, his 25-member unit all got Trishul tattoos as a tribute to Lord Siva.

But in the group photos, one man is missing — the cook. He was from the South and known for making Mandasa Kova sweets. That one missing soldier’s description connects back to Mallibabu, a village chef who also practices tantrik rituals.

The Final Act: Adavigutta Mystery

Kanakam goes back to Adavigutta, following her trail of clues. She doesn’t expect to meet the president there, but suddenly he appears in front of her. For a moment she is shocked — because a temple priest had once said the sweets Mandasa Kova for rituals came from the president himself. That link makes everything fall into place.

Before she can even react, the president attacks her. Kanakam is caught off guard and struggles to defend herself. Just then, Constable Sathi Babu jumps in, fighting to protect her. The fight turns rough inside the forest — Kanakam, still hurt, somehow gathers strength, grabs her belt, and lashes out at the president.

The strike throws him off balance. Memories of his abusive father beating him with a belt come rushing back, and he begins to hallucinate, seeing Kanakam as his father. In that moment of weakness, Kanakam pins him down. With Sathi Babu’s help, she finally arrests the president.

Why did the president kidnap girls? What’s the motive?

Under interrogation, the president’s childhood trauma spills out:

He had killed his own mother when he was young.
His uncle Mallibabu raised him, teaching him both sweet-making and black magic.
He later served as a military cook, learning more occult practices.
After becoming president and temple head, he exploited temple records to track girls born under his mother’s birth star, Bharani Nakshatra.
On full moon nights, he kidnapped them for rituals to bring his mother’s soul back. But the mantras only made the girls faint, never succeeding. To cover his tracks, he murdered and buried them in a farm.

Ending & Season 2 Hook

The final shock comes when the president reveals that Kanakam’s birth star is Bharani Nakshatra — making her his true target. On the night Chandrika went missing, his plan had been to kidnap Kanakam. But a villager named Babji interfered, saving her unknowingly. Since Chandrika didn’t share the birth star, she was never meant to be a victim.

The president is arrested, but the bigger mystery remains unsolved — if Chandrika wasn’t kidnapped by him, then where is she? This unanswered question sets the stage for Season 2. So season 1 is not giving clues about Chandrika; for that, we need to wait till season 2.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Constable Kanakam Season 1 is an average series. The core story is strong, the mystery holds till the end, and the village backdrop works.

But the poor production values, forced messaging, and predictable character arcs stop it from being memorable. Worth a watch if you’re curious about small-town thrillers, but don’t expect high standards.