Irakal 1985

Mathews aka Mathukutty [Thilakan] builds an empire as a ruthless Syrian Christian rubber baron, turning sharp business sense into power and weaving a web of favors with cops and labor leaders to secure his grip. His operations span rubber, marijuana, and hooch, creating a sprawling, self-protective machine where profit and fear go hand in hand. The foundation of this world rests on calculated decisions, quiet coercion, and a willingness to bluntly punish anyone who strays from the path of control. In this harsh landscape, Mathukutty’s reach extends into his own family, shaping destinies from the shadows of his success. His eldest son, Koshy [K. B. Ganesh Kumar], serves as the second-in-command, a mirror of his father in ruthlessness and a steady hand for the violent undertakings that keep the business running. Koshy’s presence underscores the dangerous coupling of family loyalty with criminal enterprise, a combination that makes dissent a liability and obedience a necessity.

Sunny Mathews [Sukumaran], the younger son, is introduced as a more troubled, but seemingly milder, presence—a drinker who reels against the suffocating gravity of his father’s empire. He is a regular appetite for rebellion, yet his resolve often dissolves into passivity, leaving him stuck in a system that prizes power over personal freedom. The family’s inner circle is completed by Annie [Srividya], Mathukutty’s daughter, whose life is marked by conflict and excess. Described as a nymphomaniac, she shows little warmth for her husband Andrews [Nedumudi Venu] or their child, and she moves through her marriage with a chilling detachment. Each month, under the pretense of a quarrel with Andrews, Annie returns to her maternal family’s fold to pursue an affair with Unnunni [Mohan Jose], a rubber employee who becomes part of the family’s tangled web. This pattern remains a secret from Mathukutty and Koshy, who assume Annie’s husband bears the blame for family strife and chastise him for supposed faults in the marriage.

Meanwhile, Baby, the youngest son and an engineering student, enters the story with a disturbing curiosity about murder and blood. He displays early antisocial tendencies, a sign that grows clearer as the narrative unfolds. In a brutal initiation of college life, he raggs a junior and uses an electric wire to strangle him, an act that lands him in suspension and drives him back to his home with a heavy, unspoken burden. The junior’s injuries are reported in the headlines as a ragging incident gone too far, a simplification that the family accepts as the price of keeping up appearances. Baby clutches the electric wire as a memento of that moment, and his uncle, a bishop, senses something deeply wrong but finds it hard to reach the troubled boy. The atmosphere inside Mathukutty’s household becomes a dangerous echo chamber for Baby’s growing darkness.

The plot thickens as Baby uncovers Annie’s ongoing affair with Unnunni and decides to act on his visceral anger. In a brutal night scene, he strangles Unnunni in the tools shed where they meet, and then stages the death as a suicide. The family, pressed by fear of police and scandal, disposes of the body to wipe away any trace of foul play, maintaining the appearance of a tragedy rather than a crime. Baby’s paranoia and appetite for violence intensify, feeding frightening dreams and a persistent impulse to murder those around him. He also harbors feelings for Nirmala [Radha], a village girl from a poor family who loves him but understands the crushing weight of caste and class divides that separate them. Nirmala’s affection is real, but her social reality complicates any possibility of a future with Baby.

Nirmala’s life takes a turn when she ends her relationship with Baby after becoming engaged to Balan [Venu Nagavalli], a man from the same neighborhood who represents a different, more stable path. The shift unsettles Baby, who cannot easily let go of what he has with Nirmala. The story then follows Nirmala’s mother as she fixes her daughter’s wedding to Raghavan [Ashokan], a rubber tapper who is also a friend of Baby. Baby makes another violent bid by attempting to strangle Raghavan, but his plan is thwarted when Raghavan recognizes him and alerts the police. The net closes around Baby as law enforcement closes in and the family confronts the consequences of their choices.

As tensions mount, Baby disappears into hiding, only to reappear with a revolver in hand. In a chaotic confrontation, he shoots at Koshy and, when his father shouts at him to stop, at Mathukutty as well. Mathukutty narrowly avoids the fatal shot, but Koshy is struck—injured, not fatally—during the ensuing struggle. In a final, devastating turn, Mathukutty shoots Baby with his own rifle, ending the violent arc of his son and sealing a grim end to a family built on wealth, deceit, and moral compromise. The family’s relentless pursuit of money has blinded them to the danger that lurks within their own ranks, culminating in a tragedy that underscores the corrosive power of greed and the fragility of human ties.