Kaalapani

(1995- Before the film commences, the then Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, His Excellency Vakkom Purushothaman pays his official tributes to the martyrs and freedom fighters who were incarcerated in the Cellular Jail and sacrificed their happiness and lives for achieving independence for our motherland India.)

In August 1964, G. Sethu (Vineeth) of the Indian Army goes to the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, earlier infamously called as 'Kaalapani' during the British Raj, to find the whereabouts of his paternal aunt Parvathi's (Tabu) husband Dr. Govardhan Menon (Mohanlal), who had been deported to the Cellular Jail in Port Blair fifty years ago in 1915 during the British Rule. Sethu, upon the recommendations of the Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is helped by the jovial and funny Nair (Maniyanpilla Raju), an official in the administration to enquire about his uncle. Sethu visits the once dreaded colonial prison, which is now a national memorial monument and pays his tributes at the Martyrs’ Column dedicated to the heroes and martyrs who were incarcerated here during the struggle for achieving Indian independence. In an old room of the government office containing records of the prisoners held at the jail, Sethu comes across his uncle, Govardhan's records and learns his story.

Govardhan, a Malayali from a family of wealthy Hindu landlords, is a doctor and an Indian nationalist. He was expelled from his job at Poona for holding non-violent protests against the British Government. He believes in 'Ahimsa' and is against the forceful recruitment of Indians in the military by the British government to participate in the ongoing first World War. He encourages the people in his village to join the Swadeshi Movement and boycott British goods and clothes. He is against his feudal chieftain uncle's (Nedumudi Venu) loyalty to the British government. Govardhan and Parvathi fall in love with each other. He decides to marry her against his family's wishes. Parvathi is enchanted by Govardhan's personality and his patriotism.

But, fate acts otherwise and he is wrongly accused of bombing a train carrying 55 people, including British officials. On their wedding day, he was arrested leaving behind a shattered and emotional Parvathi. He was first sent to a jail in Madras, from where he was later deported to the Cellular Jail for a life-term of 25 years. While in the ship taking him and the other new men and women prisoners to the island penal colony, the British captain brutally shoots down certain male convicts infected with smallpox, as he believed the disease will spread throughout the ship. The dead bodies are then thrown in the Indian Ocean-Bay of Bengal route. In the Cellular Jail, hundreds of Indian prisoners from different parts of the country are incarcerated, including leading participants of the freedom movement. The extremely inhumane conditions faced by the prisoners in the jail are accurately depicted.

David Barry (Alex Draper) is a young sadistic and arrogant jailer who is of Irish descent and considers himself as 'the God of Earth' (as he decided the fate of the prisoners), while Len Hutton (John Kolvenbach) and his wife are kind-hearted English doctors. Veer Savarkar (Annu Kapoor) is also incarcerated and tries his best to keep up the spirit of the prisoners who were subjected to unbelievable forms of torture.

On his very first day at the sinister prison, Govardhan witnesses many brutalities inflicted upon him and the other prisoners by the British officials and their tainted Indian police servants. One of the prisoners, a Hindu Brahmin named Ram Lakhan (Tinnu Anand) is cruelly flogged and stripped of his sacred thread by the prison guards on the orders of the ugly, cruel, and villainous jail Warden Mirza Khan (Amrish Puri) (a physically powerful Pathan who was straight out from the Afghan Army and was adept of brutally beating the prisoners to the core and murdering them) when Ram Lakhan had refused to eat his food which had a dead lizard in it. Then, Govardhan is forced to lick and clean Mirza Khan's boots when the former tries to help a fellow prisoner who was ill.

Mirza Khan and Barry regularly incite communal hatred and violence between Hindu and Muslim prisoners, thereby implementing the British policy of 'divide and rule'. Khan asks Govardhan to convert to Islam and become his servant, but the latter refuses to do so. Savarkar is shown asking Govardhan and the other prisoners to stand in solidarity with Ram Lakhan.

Govardhan befriends Mukundan Iyengar (Prabhu Ganesan), a Tamilian revolutionary and a plump foodie who was jailed for committing terrorist activities in Calcutta. Mukundan constantly escapes from prison, but each of his escape attempts end in failures. He is caught every time and is mercilessly beaten up by Mirza Khan and the jail police. On his twelfth failed escape attempt, the Jail Court warns him with a death sentence if he tries to run from prison in the future. Mukundan believes in Tamil regionalism and Marxist principles to get rid of the British Rule. But, Govardhan always encourages him to address himself as a proud Indian instead of addressing himself as a Tamilian to promote oneness.

Ram Lakhan is forced by Mirza Khan and Barry to consume human excrement for going on a hunger strike to get his thread back. Without no alternative to escape from this torture, he commits suicide by jumping from one of the towers while being chased by the guards in the night. The next morning, his death is covered up as a case of simple suicide that he hung himself in the cell on the previous night. Savarkar and other political prisoners sense foul play in his death and encourage all prisoners to go on a hunger-strike. Many prisoners die after being forcefully fed by the jail authorities. Seeing the situation getting worse, the Chief Commissioner of the islands (Tom Alter) assures the prisoners that Ram Lakhan's death would be investigated and they will be allowed to practice their particular religious traditions.

In May 1916, a midnight escape attempt by Pandiyan (Delhi Ganesh) and his group of fellow prisoners is blown-up by the clever Moosa (a.k.a Kannaran) (Sreenivasan), a spy of Mirza Khan and Barry. The escaping prisoners are caught by Barry and the British soldiers. The prisoners were taking the help of German spies (one of them- a Tamilian, was working as an assistant port officer in the jail administration) and the secret contacts of Rash Behari Bose and other freedom fighters in the mainland and in Europe to escape and fight the British Rule once the plan succeeded. However, Pandiyan and his two lieutenants, Sethuraman and Dhanpal Singh are sentenced to death by the jail court. And their 40 other followers, who were let off by being awarded minor punishments by the court for escaping are instead betrayed. They are ruthlessly gunned down by the police upon the orders of Khan and Barry.

The news of this massacre is leaked out secretly by the benevolent Dr. Len and it spreads like wildfire throughout mainland India. It becomes a sensational issue to the effect that the Indian Press and Nationalist leaders like Subhash Chandra Bose and Chittaranjan Das compel the British government to set up an Enquiry Commission to investigate the massacre and the running of the Andaman jail, cases of torture meted out to prisoners, and cases pertaining to the arbitrary extension of prisoners' sentences. To see whether the prisoners speak the truth or not, Barry and Mirza Khan set up a fake enquiry commission with a British army officer disguised as its head. An outspoken prisoner Parmanand (Govind Menon), had to pay the price for speaking the truth in front of the fake commission as Khan brutally punctures his tongue with a metal plyer.

Govardhan stands out tall amongst the inmates and he always helps his fellow prisoners. To save Dr. Len's honour, he speaks the truth before the real commission under the leadership of Sir Reginald Craddock, when no prisoner was able to gather the strength for speaking after the warning that was issued through the torture inflicted on Parmanand. Due to Len's efforts and Govardhan's statement, the government-constituted commission decides to investigate the matter of torture meted out to the prisoners. Soon, each of the prisoners give their statements of being tortured and of the inhumane conditions existing in the Cellular jail to the representatives of the commission. A series of meetings are held between the Enquiry Commission officers, the Chief Commissioner, and the jail administration.

Then a bunch of fifteen prisoners escape from prison under the aegis of Mukundan, by bursting dynamite bombs to create commotion and confusion among the guards. Govardhan is also forced to escape with Mukundan to stop him. Most of the escaping prisoners drowned in the sea-storms. Finally four of them land on an unknown island which is a thick forest with tribals taking over it. Here the film even depicts Cannibalism, Paramanand out of hunger kills his fellow prisoner & eats his flesh. When Govardhan finds out the brutal act of Paramanand, he feels disgusting & as a result he is unable to hold his disgust, so Govardhan starts vomiting.

Parmanand is killed by tribals. Only the two protagonists, Govardhan and Mukundan survive. They have a risky interaction with the cannibalistic Andamanese tribals and indulge in a fight for either surrendering or not before the police instead of dying in the forests. However, they are eventually captured back. Govardhan owes up the blame for escaping before the jail court to save Mukundan from being hanged and is mercilessly beaten up by Khan and Barry. Mukundan repents and is remorseful. He apologises and promises his friend that he will never escape and will always address himself as a proud Indian.

Parvathi keeps waiting for Govardhan to come back. He too deeply misses her. Since the time he was imprisoned in 'Kaalapani', Govardhan was working in the jail Hospital. Mukundan falls in love with Bina Das, another revolutionary who was jailed here as she attempted to murder the Governor during the graduation ceremony of the University of Calcutta.

Govardhan narrates his story to Dr. Len and learns that the latter loves India, its diverse people and cultures, and can speak Malayalam as he was born and raised in Travancore, where his father was the personal physician to the Maharaja. After getting to know Govardhan closely, Len decides to help him prove his innocence and achieve his release.

However, the enquiry commission delivers its report in favour of David Barry and Len feels disappointed and humiliated. On one instance, Govardhan's back is seared with an iron box by Barry for speaking against him to the commission. Other prisoners who spoke the truth are also punished brutally. Yet, Dr. Len is adamant in his pursuit to keep up the spirit of the prisoners, winning them justice, and getting Barry and Mirza Khan punished.

Len's efforts pay off, when he goes to Calcutta in December 1919 to meet the Viceroy and when the British government in mainland India orders the Andaman administration to transfer all the female prisoners to Alipore jail and Veer Savarkar back to the mainland. But, when Viceroy Lord Chelmsford was not ready to sanction Govardhan's release order, Dr. Len persuaded the Viceroy that he would resign from the prison hospital and would go to England to fight Govardhan's case and win him justice. Fearing this, the Viceroy shortens Govardhan's imprisonment by sanctioning his release order. Yet, Len is unsuccessful in having sixteen men released whose sentences have been arbitrarily extended by Khan and Barry. One of them is Mukundan.

Len visits Govardhan's village on 22 December 1919 and meets Parvathi. He tells her that Govardhan is going to return home next week and she becomes emotional. Parvathi treats Len as her elder brother and excitedly waits for her husband to return. Before leaving, Len excitedly tells her to be on time at the railway station to receive Govardhan.

Meanwhile, back in the island, Mirza Khan and Barry hatch a plan to incite a prison riot to kill the sixteen prisoners. As the duo feared that Dr. Len will be victorious in bringing the release orders for those men, thereby exposing the duo and putting them in mockery. They felt that their prestige was in danger and they could become a laughing stock before everyone. The duo carry this out by ordering Moosa to kill Musaliar (Sankaradi), an influential Muslim prisoner who acts as a cementing force between Hindu and Muslim prisoners. The murder of the leader is planned in such a way to make it appear as if Musaliar was murdered by Hindu prisoners. And then to quell the riot that ensues, Khan mercilessly shoots down the sixteen prisoners, along with many other innocent men. Seeing this bloodbath, Moosa repents. He had been promised to be released from the island by Mirza Khan if he kills Musaliar. But he becomes insane when Khan betrays him by pointing a gun on his forehead.

It is later learned by the two wicked jailers that Mukundan has not been shot, since he secretly escaped with Govardhan upstairs to the cell upon the advice of guard Ahmed Kutty (Cochin Haneefa), when all the prisoners were taken to the courtyard on the pretext of an inspection to find Musaliar's murderers (and then the shootings take place). Mukundan is taken on the pretext of meeting Mirza Khan and Barry. He is shot dead by Khan.

Seeing his friend's dead body, Govardhan is angered to the greatest extent. He throws down Barry from one of the towers (Barry became paralyzed after the fall and was transported to Calcutta where he later died, as stated in the end of the film) and kills Khan by strangling him - the very next day when Dr. Len returns with Govardhan's release order. Len is shattered and becomes emotional to know that his dear friend will now face the gallows. As English law is very clear about the sentence regarding a capital offence, Govardhan is sentenced to death by the jail court for murdering Mirza Khan and for the attempted-murder of jailer Barry. Before being hanged, he prays that his motherland India achieves her independence and that his sweetheart Parvathi ('Parvathi-kutty') is always blessed and protected by the Almighty.

All this is shown in intermittent flashbacks when Sethu reads his uncle's diary entries which were written by the latter during his stay in prison. An emotional Sethu returns to Kerala after knowing Govardhan has already been hanged to death 45 years ago. He decides not to tell the truth to the innocent Parvathi, who grows into an elderly lady without knowing what had happened to her guiltless husband. He prays to all the Gods to give him the strength to tell lies to his aunt that he met Govardhan as her wait of 50 years would have been in vain and she would be shattered. She still keeps waiting for Govardhan to return. The film shows an Indian woman being cruelly denied her innocent husband and the opportunity to enjoy a married life with him and bear him children. The film ends with Sethu lying to his aunt that he met Govardhan and talked to him about her, compelling her to shed tears of happiness and hope, indicating she will never come to know about Govardhan's death and will keep waiting for him to return for the rest of her life.

Through this film, a powerful message is conveyed to the entire nation, that millions of Indians, be it renowned or unsung freedom fighters and their families, such as Govardhan, had sacrificed their youth, happiness, and lives to win India her independence. The present and future generations should always use this 'hard-earned freedom' for good purposes and respect the sacrifices of lives made to achieve it .

The music was composed and conducted by Ilaiyaraaja. K. S. Chithra was the only female singer in all the versions, while male singers kept changing from version to version.

Track list

All lyrics are written by Gireesh Puthenchery, except where noted.

All lyrics are written by Arivumathi.

All lyrics are written by P. K. Mishra, except where noted.

National Film Awards 1995

• Best Art Direction – Sabu Cyril
• Best Cinematography – Santosh Sivan
• Best Audiography – Deepan Chatterji
• Best Special Effects – S. T. Venky

Kerala State Film Awards

• Second Best Film – Mohanlal (producer), Priyadarshan (director)
• Best Actor – Mohanlal
• Best Cinematography - Santosh Sivan
• Best Art Director – Sabu Cyril
• Best Music Director – Ilaiyaraaja
• Best Processing Lab – Gemini Colour Lab
• Best Costume Designer – Sajin Raghavan

• Kaalapani at IMDb