Thiruvananthapuram: Even as Keralites reel from the revelations about 47-year-old woman Jolly Joseph having allegedly murdered six of her family members over 14 years, there are reports that the chilling saga is likely to be adapted into a film.
A local newspaper reported that the murders that took place in Koodathayi and Kodenchery in Kozhikode district are likely to be made into a movie featuring Malayalam superstar Mohanlal in the lead, playing the role of an investigation officer.
Producer Antony Perumbavoor was quoted as saying that a detective storyline that had been made for a Mohanlal film was being altered to mirror the Koodathayi killings.
The allegations against Joseph are fodder for any murder thriller: A daughter-in-law who is unhappy with an overbearing mother-in-law eliminates her by feeding her mutton soup laced with cyanide. The father-in-law who grows suspicious about his wife’s demise is next in line to be killed.
Their son dies next, and then his maternal uncle who expresses suspicions is also murdered. In between, police turn a blind eye to the post mortem report that shows the presence of poison in her husband’s body.
The ‘black widow’ then targets her husband’s cousin’s wife and daughter, killing them both.
Also in the plot are a telecom employee who provides her with SIM cards, a sub-registrar who helps her to forge will documents and land registration, politicians from two different parties who facilitate her land and property deals, and a fortune-teller who supplies some ‘magic’ dust that is found in the pocket of her husband when he dies.
To add to the mix, there is the daily visit of the lead actress to a leading engineering education centre, where she is familiar to the canteen staff, and for extra effect there is the scene of police exhuming bodies from two cemeteries.
Two Agatha Christie titles could play in the mind of the director when he searches for a name for the movie — ‘Murder Most Foul’ and ‘And Then There Were None’.
