Kaalapani

In 1965, G. S. Sethu of the Indian Army goes to Ross Island, Kaalapaani to find the whereabouts of his aunt Parvathi's husband Govardhan Menon, who has been sent to jail in 1916 during the period of British rule. In an old room containing record of prisoners held at the jail, Sethu comes across Govardhan's records and learns his story.

Govardhan, a doctor and Indian nationalist, is wrongly accused of bombing a train carrying 55 people, including British officials. On his wedding day with Parvathi, he is deported to a cellular jail at Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. There, hundreds of Indian prisoners are incarcerated in the cellular jail, including leading participants of the independence movement.

David Berry is a sadistic jailor who is of Irish descent, while Len Hutton is a kindhearted English doctor. Savarkar is incarcerated and tries his best to keep the spirit of the prisoners going despite unbelievable torture.

Parvathi keeps waiting for Govardhan to come back. Due to Len's efforts, the government decides to investigate the matter of the torture meted out to the prisoners. 14 people are ordered to be released. One of them is Mukundan, Govardhan's friend. David and the jail warden Mirza Khan hatch a plan to incite a prison riot and shoot down 13 prisoners while they are escaping. Mukundan refuses to escape and is taken on the pretext of meeting the Chief Commissioner, and is shot and killed. Seeing Mukundan's dead body, Govardhan throws down David from one of the towers and kills Mirza Khan by strangling him. Govardhan is hanged to death.

All this is shown in intermittent flashbacks. Sethu, after knowing Govardhan has already been hanged to death 45 years ago, decides to not tell the truth to his aunt as her wait of 50 years would have been in vain. The film ends with Sethu lying to her that he met Govardhan and talked to him about her, indicating she will never come to know about Govardhan's death and will keep waiting for him for the rest of her life.

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

On 31 May 1996, P. S. Joseph from India Today wrote, "This ambitious venture by a director known for his comedies in Malayalam, and some competent films in Bollywood like - Muskurahat (1992) and Gardish (1993), does not carry the impact it ought to. Despite its flashes of brilliance and exceptional photography, and a Rs 3.10 crore budget - the largest ever for a Malayalam film - Kaalapaani does not linger in the memory after you leave the cinema hall."[8] However, he praised Sabu Cyril's art direction calling it "exceptional" and Amrish Puri's performance writing, "The redeeming feature is Amrish Puri - the inimitable actor with a menacing voice and remarkable screen presence. He walks tall in the prison, epitomising the brutality and viciousness of the British Raj."[8] Kalki magazine reviewing Tamil dubbed version Siraichalai praised the performance of Mohanlal but felt Prabhu was wasted while also criticising modern wardrobe choices for a periodic subject and concluded a film that should have reached international standards like Schinder's List, in the course of the story, nationalism is beaten, Prabhu-Mohanlal friendship, division and tragedy hence revenge thus becoming ordinary fare.[9] D. S. Ramanujam of The Hindu reviewing Tamil version wrote "To make a film on pre-Independence days, particularly about the dark deeds of the British and their lackeys manning the notorious Andaman prison is a formidable task. It calls for meticulous planning to capture the mood of that period right from the costume, arms and ammunition, locations and other details. Director Priyadarshan can be really proud of the outcome in Kalaipuli International's Chiraichalai which is a rare movie exceptionally good in all departments of film production".[10] In January 2021, Gokul Nair of Film Companion wrote, "A great deal of effort has been out into making Kaalapaani, one of Priyadarshan's darkest films. The violence depicted is graphic and accurate, be it the mass shootings, the severe beatings, or other forms of torture."

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), R.Mohan (co-producer)
• 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