The film is about the lives of prisoners in British India who are brought to Kālā Pānī. The name Kalapani is derived from the mode of imprisonment in British India. Ilaiyaraaja composed the music, the cinematography was by Santosh Sivan, and the editing by N. Gopalakrishnan. The film introduced Dolby Stereo into Malayalam cinema. It was made on a budget of ₹2.50 crore, making it the costliest Malayalam film made until then.[1]
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.
A meticulous plan to escape from jail is formed by 40 prisoners under the leadership of 3 people. However, Kanaran reports the matter to the British authorities. The court orders the 3 leaders to be hanged until death and the others to be punished in a minor fashion. However, as per the order of Mirza Khan, the other people are also shot to death.
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.
Sankaradi as Kunju Muhammad Musaliar, an influential Muslim prisoner who advocated for Hindu-Muslim unity
Nedumudi Venu as Sreekandan Nair, Govardhan's maternal uncle, who was a local chieftain and a loyalist to the British Rule
Delhi Ganesh as Pandiyan, a prisoner who have done many nationalistic activities who attempted to escape from prison, later he were sentenced to death.
Sreenivasan as Moosa, a prisoner and a spy of Mirza Khan who instigated communal riots in the prison
Cochin Haneefa as Ahmed Kutty, a kind hearted and patriot guard in the jail
Maniyanpilla Raju as Nair, an official in the Andaman & Nicobar administration of independent India
Tinnu Anand as Ram Lakhan, a Hindu prisoner who was tortured by force feeding non vegetarian food and human faeces
Director Priyadarshan co-wrote the screenplay with screenwriter, T. Damodaran. The basis for the story were existing accounts of life in cellular jail, particularly excerpts from biographies of political leaders of the Indian Independence Movement. Most of these excerpts covered the ruthless routine of prisoners in jail, under the command of Jailer David Barry, Major James Pattinson Walker and Petty officer Mirza Khan.[3][4][5]
Pre-production
While the Pre-World War Iports were recreated on the Andaman Islands, several huge sets were built on a 1.5 acres space in Murugalaya Studio, Chennai to replicate the Cellular Jail. In Madras, the sets of Cellular Jail cost about Rs 12 lakh to build on 1.5 acres at the Murugalaya Studio. Apparently, director Priyadarshan was adamant and determined to be faithful to the details of the era. He says: "The Andamans had not seen a horse in 20 years. We had to carry four horses there at a cost of about Rs 3 lakh. When the filming was over, we presented them to the Andamans administration."[1] Prior to the making of the film, Prabhu had broken his knee and during his recovery phase, put on considerable weight. In order to accommodate his physique into the script, Priyadarshan altered the character to make him eat constantly in the film.[6]
Filming
The budget of the film, ₹2.5 crore (equivalent to ₹14 crore or US$1.7 million in 2023), was much larger than the average ₹1 crore for a Malayalam film at the time.[1] The shooting was completed in 72 days at Andaman and Nicobar Islands, several parts of Kerala and Chennai. Post production took more than four months to complete. Composer Ilaiyaraaja completed his symphonic score in 16 days; audiographer Deepan Chatterji completed the sound design and mix in 90 days. This is the first Malayalam film to recorded in Dolby Stereo.[7]
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.
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]
