| Director | Venu |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
Anjali Arakkal, a freelance journalist, while interacting with a retiring jail superintendent named Rama Moorthy for ghostwriting his autobiography, meets C. K. Raghavan, a prisoner convicted for double homicide serving 20 years even after his official term in jail. Raghavan was arrested for killing his wife and the daughter of his employer, yet he occasionally proclaims his innocence.
With Moorthy's information, the young journalist discovers that Raghavan writes. She gets access to his writings in which Raghavan interprets the world around him in his own way. Raghavan writes sentences like "Does the reflected image in a mirror look back at him or does it accept him and come along with him?"; "A prison should be a place for people to understand their mistakes and correct them rather than a place for punishment"; and "Life is a struggle before death". All this attracts Anjali to the mystery that Raghavan has built. Further, Raghavan's outlook on freedom and responsibility with his own brand of philosophy impresses Anjali, and she decides to write a feature about him.
The featured article gains much attention, and proposals come for publishing Raghavan's biography with his philosophies. Anjali decides to use this opportunity to make a name for herself with Raghavan's cooperation. Raghavan is very happy about the newly gained attention he is receiving. Anjali decides to visit Raghavan in jail and process his release from jail. After release, she finds accommodation for him and compels him to write up events and their interpretation to make it a book, though Raghavan hesitates. Later, while Raghavan is lollygagging, he meets up with his aspirants, and they invite him for a drink. Under influence there, he reveals his ideology about freedom as "Removing elements that obstruct the person is known as freedom. If it happens at home, it is called domestic abuse. If it happens in society, it is a revolution. Irrespective of where it happens, where there is revolution, blood will spill". Anjali reaches the limit with Raghavan's lollygagging and reacts badly in the presence of her colleague Mohan. Mohan advises Anjali not to pressure a person who was reluctant to come out of jail. Anjali faces a problem when the deadline to submit the book material is approaching, and Raghavan has not even started writing. Above that, other journalists are trying to get the full picture of Raghavan's story. She decides that it is best to move Raghavan to an undisclosed place.
The publishers pressure Anjali. The new accommodation and lack of facilities irk Raghavan. Anjali's marriage seems almost fixed with Chackochan, and she decides to leave the book publishing project and settle the deal in court. Anjali meets with Raghavan, gives him his diary and money received from jail for his rehabilitation, and lashes out at him for his stubbornness and complaints that the various accommodations and surroundings did not suit him. Raghavan smirks at her and gives her the full script of the story. Skimming through it, she comes to grips with the reality of Raghavan's true nature. Fear creeps under her skin. Raghavan tells her that he wants a new accommodation, wanting to go back to jail. With that, he murders her with one blow to the head.
Finally, Raghavan is shown peacefully sleeping in jail. Photos of Anjali, along with those of his other victims, are seen pasted near the jail wall as trophies of his victory over his own psychotic idealization of freedom.