I need informed consent!

Golam (Sphere, Malayalam, 2024)

Director: Shamjad.

This is an exciting whodunnit that fans of Agatha Christie would love. The only thing is that the story is not told in an investigative manner. True, it starts off as a perplexing case where a high-flying entrepreneur is found dead in the office washroom. When the inspector tries to write it up as an unfortunate accidental death, the young investigating just-out police-college ASP, Sandeep Krishna, is cocksure that he smells homicide.  

The ASP finds it difficult to understand how the victim could slip and fall to get a fatal head injury on a dry floor. Forensics do not discover any toxins or foul play. 

The initial interview with the office staff, CCTV, and good old police work failed to go anywhere. The only thing unusual is a box of tranquilisers in one of the staff's handbags. She claims she has insomnia.

An interview with the doctor who prescribed the tranquillisers shows that all the workers in the office suffer from some kind of ailment one way or another - miscarriage, alopecia, deteriorating eyesight, memory loss and others. After looking at their cases, the doctor proposed they could be guinea pigs for the Pharma company they work for. In collaboration with their US partner, the Pharma company developed a virus. At the same time, they were creating an antidote. The good doctor suspects that the workers were fed with vaccine-laced drinks. Skin sampling is done to gauge their response to the vaccine when they fingerprint themselves and report to work. The fingerprint has an adequate DNA sample for the scientists to analyse their response to teh virus, codenamed Red Virus.

The ASP came up with a complicated plan how all the ~14 workers could have devised a devious plan to kill off their boss for vengeance, dodging the CCTV camera, locking the boss in the washroom, fuming the washroom with CO₂ gas, drowning his COPD-diseased lung, falling and succumbing to hypoxia. A clever plot! 

What happens next is the clincher. The protractor is apprehended, but instead, the ASP goes on a witch hunt against the Pharmaceutical company. He goes solo, in commando gear, to infiltrate their high-security plant in the interior to expose the company's shenanigans. The filmmakers decide to end the movie, paving the way for a sequel.

The building where yellow fever experiments were

conducted to prove that it is not transmitted using 

infected clothing (fomites). Camp Lazear.

The story of avoiding infections is the story of mankind. As in HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds', the only thing that protects the human species from total annihilation is their protection against common pathogens, not modern weapons. In the process of developing this immunity, many have to sacrifice. The story of Yellow Fever in the 1900s comes to mind.

Yellow Fever was a pressing problem in southern tropical areas of the USA. Although it was common in Cuba, periodically, epidemics broke out in the US. It was thought it was brought by bad air, poor sanitation or infected bodily fluids. It is said that a Confederate Officer tried to assassinate Lincoln by sending him old, dirty garments of patients who died of Yellow Fever, hoping that he would die of Yellow Fever. He obviously did not.

Dr Carlos Finlay of Cuba toyed with the idea that Yellow Fever was spread by mosquitoes, but he was laughed at. In 1900, Dr Walter Reed of the US Army introduced the idea of controlled studies. By using human volunteers who were willing to endure being bitten by mosquitoes for science, he proved that Yellow Fever was transmitted by certain mosquitoes. An army personnel, Jesse Lazear, died from Yellow Fever after contracting the hemorrhagic form of the disease. 

Now, would anybody make such a sacrifice in this age and time? Is it even legal? The Pharma is more than willing to conduct these experiments for us, all in the name of saving mankind. The reason, however, which is not even printed in the fine print, is that of monetary gains. Sure, they would pay off their guinea pigs handsomely. This is, however, just a drop in the ocean for these conglomerates. It would hardly jolt them.

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A wounded mother

The Mirror Crack'd (1980)

Director: Guy Hamilton

Gene Tierney was acclaimed for her great beauty in Hollywood. She was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1944 and even had a brief affair with JFK before he had political ambitions. After a performance at a World War 2 fundraiser event, she was kissed by a fan convalescing from rubella. Unbeknownst to her, she was in her early stage of pregnancy. She went on to deliver a baby with multiple birth defects due to congenital rubella syndrome. Gene Tierney spent the rest of her life emotionally disturbed caring for her baby. When Agatha Christie read about the actress in 1962, her creative juices must have worked overtime to imagine the feelings of a grieving mother.

Gene Tierney

Of course, there cannot be Agatha Christie's whodunnit with no murders. 

Ms Marple, in 1953, is residing in a small village in the English countryside. A film crew comes to the village to do some shooting. In midst of all the excitement, the villagers also witness a couple of murders. Ms Marple, with the help of her 'favourite' nephew from Scotland Yard, gets to the bottom of it all.

The movie saw the appearance of many stalwarts of yesteryears in the twilight of their careers. It saw Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, Tony Curtis and Kim Novak. Angela Lansbury was there as Ms Marple. Lansbury's career was, of course, still flying high, and she went on to complete 12 seasons of 'Murder, She wrote' from 1984 to 1996.

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Put those grey cells to use!

Death on the Nile (1978, 2022)

Director, Actor: Kenneth Branagh.

Almost 85 years after its publication, readers and moviegoers are still discussing Agatha Christie's novel, 'Death on the Nile'. Her recurring character, the eccentric Belgian detective Hercules Poirot still excites writers and readers alike.

After watching almost the whole season of Poirot's TV series, I thought it would be pertinent to compare David Suchet's role as Poirot to the two other actors who tried to create this character - Peter Ustinov and Kenneth Branagh. In reality, maybe 10 over actors tried their hand at giving life to this moustachioed fictional character.

David Suchet as Poirot

Personally, I vote David Suchet as the best Poirot actor. Maybe I had too much time indulging in the complete Poirot TV series. The TV series, episodes over episodes, builds a more composite image of the detective and exposes more and more of his personality as he delves deep into his cases. Suchet's portrayal shows an obsessive-compulsive man with his quirky habits. He gave an aura of a chirpy middle-aged man with a dark past behind him.

Kenneth Branagh as Poirot

Kenneth Branagh's 2022 Poirot is a bitter man who never got over losing his wife-to-be. He carries the burden of guilt for requesting her to take the train trip that proved fatal. He seems to be holding his sorrow on his sleeves. Poirot's usual comical antics seem missing as the tone of melancholy overhangs any possibility of a fun moment.

The Ustinov version, in my opinion, is the least appealing of the three that I have watched. In the 1978 version, he looks more like a bystander, and other actors seem to overshadow his presence. 

Top R - Bottom L
Tony Randall, Albert Finney (Oscar nominee), Peter Ustinov, Ian Holm,
David Suchet, Alfred Molina,  Kenneth Branagh, John Malkovich.

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A priceless gem

And Then There Was None (Miniseries, 3 episodes; 2015)
BBC

I heard about this book even way back in Standard 6. I remember that we, young pre-pubescent boys, were intrigued by its title, 'Ten Little Niggers'. That was, of course, its original title when Agatha Christie wrote the book in the UK in 1939 and was based on a rhyme from minstrel shows and children's games. The poem goes to tell how ten blacks end up dead in ten different ways. In the story, the 10 murders happen similarly as described in the poem, but not so a pretty straightforward way.

When the book was reprinted in the USA, due to the sensitivities of the word 'nigger' even back then, it was renamed with the last line of the poem when old the figures died - 'and there was none'. Later publications also used the title 'Ten Little Indians', an 1869 poem and 'Ten Little Soldiers'. This book has the reputation of being the best selling book, selling over 100 million copies.

Ten Little Niggers (Frank Green) 1869

Ten Little Indians (Septimus Winner) 1868

Ten little nigger boys went out to dine One choked his little self, and then there were nine. Nine little nigger boys sat up very late. One overslept himself, and then there were eight. Eight little nigger boys travelling in Devon One said he'd stay there, and then there were seven. Seven little nigger boys chopping up sticks One chopped himself in half, and then there were six. Six little nigger boys playing with a hive A bumblebee stung one, and then there were five. Five little nigger boys going in for law One got in chancery, and then there were four. Four little nigger boys going out to sea A red herring swallowed one, and then there were three. Three little nigger boys walking in the zoo A big bear hugged one, and then there were two. Two little nigger boys sitting in the sun One got frizzled up, and then there was one. One little nigger boy living all alone He went and hanged himself and then there were none.

Ten little Injuns standin' in a line, One toddled home and then there were nine; Nine little Injuns swingin' on a gate, One tumbled off and then there were eight. Refrain: One little, two little, three little, four little, five little Injuns boys, Six little, seven little, eight little, nine little, ten little Injuns boys. Eight little Injuns gayest under heav'n, One went to sleep and then there were seven; Seven little Injuns cutting up their tricks, One broke his neck and then there were six. Six little Injuns kickin' all alive, One kick'd the bucket and then there were five; Five little Injuns on a cellar door, One tumbled in and then there were four. Four little Injuns up on a spree, One he got fuddled and then there were three; Three little Injuns out in a canoe, One tumbled overboard and then there were two. Two little Injuns foolin' with a gun, One shot t'other and then there was one; One little Injun livin' all alone, He got married and then there were none.

ref: Wiki

Many versions of this murder mystery story have been out in many languages, in newspaper serials, books, plays, movies and miniseries. Essentially, eight guests are invited to spend the weekend on a secluded island by unknown hosts, Mr and Mrs Owen. The invitees (a mix of retired army men, surgeon, aristocrat, teacher, governess, judge) and the two helpers have a dark history behind their regular appearance. Their misdoings are announced, and slowly one by one, they drop dead like flies. Fear mounts as each suspects the other as the murderer, and the guessing game starts of who the next victim could be.

I had the chance to watch the 1945 movie version and this 2015 BBC miniseries version. The 1945 one, as the whole story had to be rushed through one and a half hour duration, it failed to create depth in its storytelling. I enjoyed the 2015 one as it shows through various flashbacks what mistake each character had done wrong in their lifetime. There is a kind of moral dilemma whether what they did was wrong or justified. There was also a Tamil version of this story - 1967 Athey Kangal done in Eastman colour. If the BBC version excelled in storytelling and characterisation, the Tamil version made up in terms of pleasing eye-catching costumes and the ear-worm inducing songs and dances that have lingered in Tamil moviegoers minds all this while.

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When you see the light, you may wish you did not!

Agatha Christie's Poirot (S13E05) Curtain: Poirot's Last Case
(Final Episode, 2013)

This must easily be the saddest of all of Hercule Poirot's episodes. Throughout this episode, the tone set is sombre, and a tinge of melancholy hung around every scene. Times have changed. Poirot is quite ill, arthritic and is wheelchair-bound. He is physically challenged, but his mind is not. His sidekick, Captain Arthur Hastings, is aged, recently widowed and has an adult daughter. 

Hastings is invited to the Styles, the place they had solved their first case together. Poirot needs Hastings to be his ears, eyes and legs to complement his razor-sharp 'grey cell' to 'prevent' an imminent murder. The identity of the murderer is only known to Poirot but is kept away from a frustrated Hastings.

David Suchet

Many deaths still happen during their stay, and together the identity is known only much later, after Poirot's demise! Yes, this is the last case of Poirot, and the fictional detective dies in a way that can be construed as suicide. 

Agatha Christie wrote this story during World War II and kept it safe for thirty years and was published in 1975. It was the last novel published before her death. The book was both anticipated and dreaded by fans for it contained Poirot's death. Many of Agatha Christie's fans refused to read it. For old time sake, this 2013 TV adaption brought in the initial duo of David Suchet and Hugh Fraser, who appeared as Poirot and Hastings respectively, when the first episode of the series came out on ITV in 1989.

This episode is heart wrenching one. Here, we see Poirot using his grey cells to crack the case and trying to answer some philosophical questions about life, death, and doing the right thing as he approaches the tail-end of his career and his life, which we will see at the end. Poirot puts himself in a precarious position in the end, but with the hope of forgiveness from the Almighty. In the end, he realises that a wrong must be done for the greater good. 

Au revoir, Poirot. Goodbye, till we meet again!

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Nobody promised a rose garden!

Raat Akeli Hai (A lonely night, Hindi; 2020)
Netflix

Everyone enjoys a delightful whodunnit every once in a while. The problem with most Indian movies is that the said story eventually becomes too outlandish as the movie drags on for over two hours and the screenwriters rushing to tie all loose end into a jumble. But not this one. It has Agatha Christie's trademark storyline written all over it. It goes on round and round, shifting the suspicion from one character to another. In the midst of all these, some subplots give the story more punch.   

A dead body starts the narration. No one is beyond suspicion, and everyone has something hidden in their proverbial closet. Everyone has a valid reason to be the murderer but an alibi as well. Good old detective work solves the case at the end.

A wealthy tycoon is found dead on his bed on the night of his second wedding to a girl younger than his daughter. The tycoon is a nasty chap who had lost his wife to a highway robbery cum murder five years earlier. His family which includes his adult son, daughter, sister and first wife's brother are all unhappy with the old man's marriage to his young bride, a lady of questionable reputations who came into the house as his mistress. With every member of this patriarchal clan having a perfect reason to commit the murder, in walks an inspector. Of course, the maids know more than they are willing to talk.

After watching the movie, only then you realise that you have seen it all before. Yes, it is a remake of 'Knives Out' starring Daniel Craig as the inspector. If 'Knives Out' was more of a light-hearted comedy, 'Raat Akeli Hai' is a dark drama that deals with the unsavoury truths of society where wealth and power bring with it evil intentions and ability to get away with murder. On the other hand, being stuck in the lower rung of society also pushes one to commit heinous crimes of desperation and helplessness. 

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The association: Chance or loose?

Grandmaster (Malayalam; 2012)

At one look, everything looks disjointed. Random occurrences happening at casual intervals with seemingly no single loose association. Only when we find a singular thread that holds each of it together, can we make sense of it. 

This happens more often than we think it does. These casual links may give closure to the apparently unexplainable things around us. That too carries with it an oversimplification. The urge to provide a simple explanation to everything can be labelled 'conspiracy theory'.

To navigate life, to steer through the choppy waters, it sometimes helps to be overanalytical. Like a chess grandmaster, it is useful to look at the trend, look for the pattern and anticipate far in advance what the next assault by the opponent be. Let us be checkmated right under our noses.

This Malayalam film had its story based on Agatha Christie's 'ABC Murders'. Keeping to the demands of the local flavour, the tale has been geared towards family bonds, husband-wife relationships and divorce (and subsequent union, of course).

Chandrashekar, a disillusioned senior police officer, a pencil pusher, disenchanted with police work is intrigued with a random letter that came to the department. The writer signed Z, challenged him to prevent a murder in a town that starts with the letter 'A' -Adithyapuram. Like that the killings on till the mystery finally unfolds.

An interesting watch if you do not mind seeing an oversized 50-year-old man (Mohanlal)swerving around to give that killer kicks to the baddies.

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Still looking for that perfect murder!

ABC Murders (BBC Miniseries; 2018)
Original Story by Agatha Christie

Even though it was written in 1936, this story still excites many. Somebody said that the only person would execute a perfect murder would be Agatha Christie. This 2018 version comes with a slight change of characters and a little alteration in the storyline. Poirot is portrayed, not as a renowned Belgian detective, but a pastor with a very dark past. He is seen as a broken man who is disillusioned with religion and humanity on the whole. His encounter with refugees in the First World War plays recurrently in his mind. He subconsciously questions the omnipotence of God when the church where the refugees took refuge from the Germans were bombed.

John Malkovich gives an excellent portrayal of Poirot. His backstory makes us want to know more of the mysteries that haunt him day and night. We yearn to discover that voice that constantly playing in his head.

An interesting miniseries.


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The devil in us?

Murder at Orient Express (2017)

What was supposed to be an Agatha Christie's whodunnit turned out to be highly philosophical one. Sure, we all, by now must be quite familiar with the quirky Inspector Hercule Poirot and his peculiar ways of solving crimes. Here Mon. Poirot carries with him a baggage of a melancholic past and tries to make sense of the actions of mankind; his penchant for criminal activities, his failure to follow the path acceptable as the correct one should be.

A single action has many repercussions. A single turn of event that goes against our desires strains our relationships, changes our perspective of the future, increases anxiety, induces phobia, shatters confidence, brings psychosomatic maladies, destroys families literally and metaphorically as well as destroys the whole community in more ways than we realise.

All after all the generations of our existence, we still succumb to our primal desires to be blinded by anger and emotions. At the crucial time of reckoning, our hearts (and other organs) dictate our next moves. The decisive and critical mind is kept shut from the equation. Bypassing rational thinking, we are left to deal with the after-effects of our mindless actions. Pretty soon, we would realise that the hole that we have dug soon metamorphose into a rapid quicksand which engulfs us.

Is forgiveness an option to start a clean slate? Unfortunately, it is not so simple. We never learn from our mistakes. We only turn wiser, not to repeat our earlier that got us caught in the first place. We jostle, we snake, we burrow, and we squirm to deny all wrongdoings. We blame the devil in us that control our sense and hope to get a get-out-from-jail card.

From the greatest mystery writer!

And Then There Were None (1945)

After watching S. Balachander's Nadavu Iravil, the 1965 Tamil movie based on Agatha Christie's story (And Then There Were None, Ten Little Niggers, Ten Little Indians), I decided to go for the Real McCoy.

For a movie made in older times, it was quite well paced. Even though they were many characters, all ten of them, all appeared different - all with different traits and idiosyncrasies. They could hold the suspense despite the dearth of colour, gore and loud, frightening musical score.

The story starts with eight visitors reaching a secluded island bungalow for the weekend in the middle of nowhere at the invitation of a certain Mr and Mrs U N Owen. The peculiar thing is that the hosts do not show up. Two temporary servants serve them. These ten people are left with the company of each other and communication to the mainland was cut off. All ten visitors, at one time of their lives, were privy or responsible for somebody's death. A judge had sentenced an innocent man to death. A doctor had operated a patient under the influence of alcohol to cause his demise. A lady had tormented her sibling to hang herself and so on.

Just like in the lyrics of the satirical poem, Ten Little Indians, the guests die in the same circumstances, one by one. The cat and mouse game of guessing who the murderer goes on. No, the butler is not the killer!

An exciting watch with witty dialogues as well.

A Tamil whodunnit!

Nadu Iravil (Tamil, In the middle of the night;1965)
Director: S Balachander

Another obscure film from the annals of the not-so-popular list of old Tamil movies is Nadu Iravil, directed by a multi-talented director, S Balachander, a talented veena player who also acts in this thriller drama. This flick is based on Agatha Christie's 1939 novel 'And then there were none' (a.k.a Ten Little Niggers).

Initially shunned by distributors for its unique storyline and the dearth of melodious songs, which was typical of blockbusters those days, the reels were in cold storage for about five years before Balachander financed and distributed it himself to astounding success!

In the typical whodunnit fashion, the story's setting is in a big isolated bungalow on a remote island, entirely cut-off from civilisation. On the island lived an old couple, Dayanandham and his mentally challenged wife (probably PTSD), Pandari Bai, in recluse, with his comical butler (Cho) and a reliable bald-headed handyman. A doctor (Dr Saravana, S Balachander himself) visits them periodically to give them medical consultations. On one of his visits, Dr Saravana tells Dayanandham that he (Daya) is inflicted with a lethal form of leukaemia. Against Daya's insistence, the good doctor decides to bring in Daya's relatives for a weekend retreat at the island. Apparently, Daya had settled down on the island after an ugly encounter with them. His wife's condition may somehow be related to their behaviour. As Daya's days are numbered, the doctor thought it would be wise to get the whole family together; his brothers, sisters, and dependents.

The whole plan turned to be a disastrous one. It became a shouting match with Daya telling his relatives off that his monies will not go to them despite their admission of past mistakes. On top of that, one by one, people start dying like flies, being murdered in cold blood.

The premise of the movie is to track down the killer on the prowl! In the midst of all these, the elderly couple finds a gem in the form of their niece, Raagini (Sowkar Janaki).

The Lady Vanishes

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The mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie

The Guinness Book of World Records lists her as the best-selling novelist of all time, and according to her estate she is outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. But what Agatha Christie is perhaps best remembered for is her mysterious disappearance in December 1926.
Submitted by: Emma Mason

At shortly after 9.30 p.m. on Friday 3 December 1926, Agatha Christie got up from her armchair and climbed the stairs of her Berkshire home. She kissed her sleeping daughter Rosalind, aged seven, goodnight and made her way back downstairs again. Then she climbed into her Morris Cowley and drove off into the night. She would not be seen again for eleven days.

Her disappearance would spark one of the largest manhunts ever mounted. Agatha Christie was already a famous writer and more than one thousand policemen were assigned to the case, along with hundreds of civilians. For the first time, aeroplanes were also involved in the search.

The Home Secretary, William Joynson-Hicks, urged the police to make faster progress in finding her. Two of Britain’s most famous crime writers, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, and Dorothy L. Sayers, author of the Lord Peter Wimsey series, were drawn into the search. Their specialist knowledge, it was hoped, would help find the missing writer.

It didn’t take long for the police to locate her car. It was found abandoned on a steep slope at Newlands Corner near Guildford. But there was no sign of Agatha Christie herself and nor was there any evidence that she’d been involved in an accident.

As the first day of investigations progressed into the second and third – and there was still no sign of her – speculation began to mount. The press had a field day, inventing ever more lurid theories as to what might have happened.

It was the perfect tabloid story, with all the elements of an Agatha Christie whodunnit. Close to the scene of the car accident was a natural spring known as the Silent Pool, where two young children were reputed to have died. Some journalists ventured to suggest that the novelist had deliberately drowned herself.

Yet her body was nowhere to be found and suicide seemed unlikely, for her professional life had never looked so optimistic. Her sixth novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, was selling well and she was already a household name.

Some said the incident was nothing more than a publicity stunt, a clever ruse to promote her new book. Others hinted at a far more sinister turn of events. There were rumours that she’d been murdered by her husband, Archie Christie, a former First World War pilot and serial philanderer. He was known to have a mistress.

Arthur Conan Doyle, a keen occultist, tried using paranormal powers to solve the mystery. He took one of Christie’s gloves to a celebrated medium in the hope that it would provide answers. It did not.

Dorothy Sayers visited the scene of the writer’s disappearance to search for possible clues. This proved no less futile.

By the second week of the search, the news had spread around the world. It even made the front page of the New York Times.

Not until 14 December, fully eleven days after she disappeared, was Agatha Christie finally located. She was found safe and well in a hotel in Harrogate, but in circumstances so strange that they raised more questions than they solved. Christie herself was unable to provide any clues to what had happened. She remembered nothing. It was left to the police to piece together what might have taken place.

They came to the conclusion that Agatha Christie had left home and travelled to London, crashing her car en route. She had then boarded a train to Harrogate. On arriving at the spa town, she checked into the Swan Hydro – now the Old Swan Hotel – with almost no luggage. Bizarrely, she used the assumed name of Theresa Neele, her husband’s mistress.

Harrogate was the height of elegance in the 1920s and filled with fashionable young things. Agatha Christie did nothing to arouse suspicions as she joined in with the balls, dances and Palm Court entertainment. She was eventually recognized by one of the hotel’s banjo players, Bob Tappin, who alerted the police. They tipped off her husband, Colonel Christie, who came to collect Agatha immediately.

But his wife was in no hurry to leave. Indeed, she kept him waiting in the hotel lounge while she changed into her evening dress.

Agatha Christie never spoke about the missing eleven days of her life and over the years there has been much speculation about what really happened between 3 and 14 December 1926.

Her husband said that she’d suffered a total memory loss as a result of the car crash. But according to biographer Andrew Norman, the novelist may well have been in what’s known as a ‘fugue’ state or, more technically, a psychogenic trance. It’s a rare condition brought on by trauma or depression.

Norman says that her adoption of a new personality, Theresa Neele, and her failure to recognize herself in newspaper photographs were signs that she had fallen into psychogenic amnesia.

‘I believe she was suicidal,’ says Norman. ‘Her state of mind was very low and she writes about it later through the character of Celia in her autobiographical novel Unfinished Portrait.’

She soon made a full recovery and once again picked up her writer’s pen. But she was no longer prepared to tolerate her husband’s philandering: she divorced him in 1928 and later married the distinguished archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan.

We’ll probably never know for certain what happened in those lost eleven days. Agatha Christie left a mystery that even Hercule Poirot would have been unable to solve.