Some deaths leave a stillness: Abhilash Pillai remembers the man behind ‘Pathaam Valavu’

Screenwriter Abhilash Pillai has penned a heartfelt note following the death of Shankaranarayanan, a man who once made headlines for killing the person who raped and murdered his daughter. Pillai reveals that the 2022 Malayalam film ‘Pathaam Valavu’, which he wrote, was inspired by Shankaranarayanan’s life and a conversation the two had years ago.

The film, directed by M. Padmakumar and starring Suraj Venjaramoodu and Indrajith Sukumaran, was lauded for its intense emotional depth and moral complexity. Now, Pillai’s revelation adds another layer to its narrative weight.

Reflecting on Shankaranarayanan’s passing, Pillai says that some death announcements leave behind a strange and heavy numbness. “The person doesn’t have to be someone close to us,” he writes. “Yet their story lingers. Yesterday, I came across such news. I don’t know if that death deserves the weight I’m giving it now, but I do know that the man who died had once made headlines, headlines that made every parent of a daughter silently applaud.”

Shankaranarayanan had been imprisoned for taking justice into his own hands, killing the man who sexually assaulted and murdered his daughter, Krishnapriya. For many, his act was both shocking and stirring, triggering a deeper conversation about justice, grief, and the limits of human endurance.

“I don’t have a direct answer if you ask me who he was to me,” Pillai said. “But all the films I’ve written have emerged from real events that happened around me. ‘Pathaam Valavu’ was one such story—born from a conversation I had years ago with a stranger.”