Gopalakrishnan’s hero is Kaliyappan, an executioner in southern India, who enjoys the monetary rewards of his position but can no longer bear the solitude or guilt. More often than not, the executions he participates in are the result of politics rather than justice. As the film opens, Kaliyappan has just hanged someone he is certain was innocent - and the guilt is literally killing him. “Empathy is a complex process. It is defined as the projection of one’s own personality into the personality of another in order to understand him or her better. How does one develop a feeling of kindredness and have concern for another fellow being? How does someone else’s agony and pain become your own? How does it torment you and make you feel guilty and remorseful? I try to explore here the unknown terrain of the conscious and the unconscious and wonder at the puzzle of the two meeting and merging into each other.” (Production Notes)