KOCHI: Malayalis always have a penchant for crime thrillers and that’s the reason why filmmakers go after real-life crime incidents for movie themes. In fact, the sensational Sr Abhaya murder case of 1992 was a topic for a 1999 movie ‘Crime File’ directed by K Madhu. The plot of the movie revolves around the murder of Sr Amala who was found dead in a well adjoining her convent.
The investigative thriller scripted by AK Sajan and actor Suresh Gopi in the lead was a hit at the box office. The movie could easily connect with the Malayali audience as it touched on incidents similar to that in Abhaya murder case. "The film was an effort to relate to the sensational case and we feel we have done justice to it," said K Madhu.
He said as a director, the case generated much interest in him because of the suspense factor and the twist and turn the probe underwent in the course of probe. "We decided to make a film on it as the case generated a lot of interest among the people," he added.
Though the CBI has been there in the country since the 1960s, it was a 1988 Mammootty film Oru CBI Dairy Kurippu by director K Madhu that gave a new brand value for CBI in Kerala and familiarised Malayalis with the scientific "dummy test" in crime investigation, which was also followed in Sr Abhaya case to rule out the suicide angle.
SN Swamy, scriptwriter of Oru CBI Dairy Kurippu, said the Malayali audience easily connected with movies made on real-life crimes because they follow news of such sensational cases. "Right from the time of actors like Prem Nazir, there were movies based on crime thrillers. But the plot could be simple. It was only in the later stage that movies started focusing on different forensic and scientific investigation methods used by agencies to probe the case. The 1982 movie Yavanika by director KG George was a real trendsetter that gave a new dimension to crime thrillers," he said, adding that the dummy test introduced in 'Oru CBI Dairy Kurippu' became a hit among the people as it was a scientific procedure followed by CBI in a real case to find whether it was a suicide or murder.
Though the dummy test in the movie with punch lines like "Dummy to dummy, five feet" became a troller's meme later on social media, it’s the same dummy test which proved crucial in bringing murder angle to light in Sr Abhaya case also.
It was on April 7, 1995, the CBI made some experimental tests in the well using a full-sized dummy of Sr Abhaya where her corpse was found. An expert forensic team scotched the theory of suicide after analysing the results of the dummy test.