Patrick Graham: ‘Popular culture wrongly suggests serial killers are evil geniuses’

He allegedly raped and strangled 16 girls, was convicted on two counts of rape and homicide, and is now being thought-about for a launch after serving a 16-year jail sentence. Docubay’s documentary, The Dupatta Killer, chronicles the case of Goa’s infamous serial killer, Mahanand Naik, and his 16 victims. However director Patrick Graham—who made his writing and directorial debut with Ghoul (2018), adopted by Leila (2019)—claims that his focus was on the victims, the survivor and the household left behind, not the perpetrator. Apparently, quite a few true crime tales have been written on the case, with Vijay Varma-starrer Dahaad (2023) additionally loosely based mostly on it. In dialog with mid-day, Graham decodes why he doesn’t prefer to concentrate on the perpetrator when chronicling such crimes, and why he took the case.

Edited excerpts from the interview.

When did the concept of constructing a documentary on Mahanand Naik’s crimes strike?
Docubay had been in touch with journalist Mukesh Kumar in Goa, who had carried out a variety of investigation on this case. He had additionally written a e book on it. It was one of many worst serial-killer circumstances in India. When the platform approached me with the story, I learn it to determine what me about it, and whether or not I’d be the suitable [person] to do it.

(From left) Mahanand Naik and journalist Mukesh Kumar

What stoked your curiosity on this case?
[I was keen] to gauge what makes a lady susceptible to somebody like Mahanand Naik. How does he prey on a selected subsection of the society? One other factor that I discovered attention-grabbing was a survivor, a younger lady whom he abused over a interval of years. She was one of many individuals who got here ahead and was instrumental in placing him behind bars. Though her rape was handed at trial courtroom, it was quashed at Excessive Courtroom. To me, that was a tragic story as a result of this lady, who did a lot, hasn’t acquired justice.

Did you ever really feel your personal sense of justice coming in the way in which?
Certain. I’m not skilled as a journalist; I’m a filmmaker and storyteller. That enables me to method these items from my very own perspective. So, I kind opinions and need to categorical them. However on the identical time, taking into account that there’s all the time a dialogue and debate available, none of what I feel in regard to this case is proven within the documentary. I’d like to think about it extra as a conversational place to begin.

Did you attempt assembly Mahanand Naik in jail?
Sure, however he didn’t need to be interviewed as a part of this documentary. We already had an interview with him that was performed by our investigative journalist, Mukesh Kumar.

Since there’s speak about his impending launch, do you assume he has reworked?
That’s the massive query we’ll go away the viewers with. It ought to be as much as a panel of psychologists, police specialists and forensic specialists with coaching to resolve that. It shouldn’t essentially be as much as the courtroom of public opinion as a result of individuals are emotional. Do I feel {that a} man who kills so systematically can change? Personally, I’m unsure, however the arduous proof that we have now is his private outlook on these murders. He doesn’t admit to any of them. Some would say that he has paid his dues and is now not a menace to society. That’s one facet of the argument. As an illustration, there’s Father Fernandez, who’s appearing as Mahanand’s guarantor; he doesn’t consider that Mahanand could possibly be able to such crimes, and says that God forgives. However there’s additionally the opposite facet—if he hasn’t admitted to his crimes, hasn’t apologised or proven repentance, then to me, that’s a big level.

Why didn’t you delve into Mahanand’s psyche within the docu?
There’s a restrict to what we are able to do in an hour-long documentary. Generally, an excessive amount of consideration is given to serial killers. Well-liked tradition wrongly means that serial killers are evil geniuses. However I feel they’re simply malfunctioning, damaged human beings. I’m rather more within the victims, in what makes them so susceptible than simply one other rehashing of an perception right into a serial killer. Personally, I don’t discover serial killers attention-grabbing.

If the main target is on the survivor and victims, why is it known as The Dupatta Killer?
He’s the central driving drive, the one inciting the incident. We didn’t have a lot to go on when it got here to the evaluation of his behaviour. There have been no relations whom we might speak to. We might provide conjecture by means of the technique of criminologists and psychologists, which we did. Mahanand turns into a stereotype on the finish of the day.

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Girls raped and strangled to loss of life