{Winner! FIPRESCI Prize, Mumbai Int"l Film Festival 2003} {Winner! Silver Lotus Award, Best Regional Film (Malayalam), National Film Awards India 2003} In 1940s pre-independence India, in the southern princely state of Travancore (a constituent of present day Kerala), as elsewhere in the country, death by hanging is a prevailing penal practice. There lives a hangman named Kaliyappan who struggles with the guilt and implications of his occupation. He realizes that often the executions that he carries out are a result of politics and not justice. His son, an idealistic follower of Gandhi, rejects his father"s way of life. One day Kaliyappan receives orders to prepare for another hanging, which is due to take place in a couple of days. His preparations include rigorous prayers and penance. As the day draws closer, he becomes more and more perturbed. Just before the execution, Kaliyappan sits down with his friends for a traditional drink. To pass time, one of them starts telling a story about a young abused girl. As the story proceeds Kaliyappan begins to imagine the young victim to be his own daughter. The overpowering thoughts completely shatter his mental framework and he is unable to perform the execution. The task is then handed over to his son, who faces a difficult choice.