Munnariyippu

Anjali, a freelance journalist, interviews retiring jail superintendent Rama Moorthy as she begins ghostwriting his autobiography. The conversation hints at a larger, dangerous world behind the prison system. This initial encounter plants the seed for a deeper investigation into the double homicide saga tied to Rama's era.

During her inquiry, Anjali meets C. K. Raghavan, a prisoner who has spent twenty years for a double murder but insists he is innocent. His unwavering insistence casts doubt on the official verdict and invites Anjali to probe his side of the story. The encounter marks the shift from profile to investigation.

As Anjali delves into Raghavan's writings, she encounters a worldview filtered through his own idiosyncratic lens. His reflections on perception, guilt, and freedom begin to shape her understanding of the case and his truth. The passages pull her deeper into the mystery and challenge her sense of objective reality.

Publishers push for a complete biography that could redefine Raghavan's legacy, pressuring Anjali to tell his story on his terms. The potential bestseller heightens the stakes and threatens to compromise her objectivity. Anjali grapples with balancing professional ambition and ethical boundaries.

Raghavan tacitly approves Anjali's approach and begins to participate in the documentation process. Anjali starts collecting material, with the support of his followers who help frame his self-portrayal. As material accumulates, the line between fact and self-mythologizing becomes blurred.

With publishers demanding more, Anjali navigates the logistics of Raghavan's release and possible relocation to a discreet place. She arranges living space for him and asks him to write more about events and their meanings, but he hesitates and drifts. The administrative pressure tests their uneasy alliance.

At a night out with aspirants, Raghavan articulates a stark philosophy of freedom: removing elements that obstruct the person equals freedom, whether in domestic life or society. His provocative views unsettle Anjali and deepen the aura of control he wields over the project. The exchange crystallizes the power dynamics shaping the biography.

The project strains Anjali's personal life, including her prospects of marriage with Chackochan. The risk to her future intensifies the tension surrounding the story and her safety. The relationship becomes a mirror of the ethical compromises the piece demands.

Confronting Raghavan with the diary, the rehabilitation money, and his criticisms of accommodations, Anjali forces a reckoning with his narrative. He answers with a calm, almost knowing smile and delivers the complete script of his story, tightening his hold over the truth. The power shift signals that the journalist is losing control over the subject.

Raghavan reveals his true intent: he wants a new accommodation and a return to jail, signaling a dangerous turn in their collaboration. Anjali senses the danger but has already pushed for a revised approach to the piece. The tension peaks as the boundaries between truth-telling and manipulation blur.

The conflict culminates in violence when Anjali is struck by Raghavan and dies from a single blow to the head. The film closes on the stark image of Raghavan back in his cell, with photographs of Anjali and his victims arranged on the wall as trophies. The ending probes the cost of pursuing a sensational story at any ethical price.

In the aftermath, Raghavan sleeps in his cell while the faces of those he shaped into his narrative watch from the jail walls. The final tableau prompts a meditation on power, control, and the price of liberation. It asks how easily truth can be bent when the hunger for an extraordinary story eclipses humanity.