Sharan Koppisetty’s Cheekatilo, starring Shobhita Dhulipala, is a thriller drama that is centered around the investigation of a serial killer, and comments on society’s prejudice against women. A rape and murder case of a young couple grabbed media attention, but for all the wrong reasons. The anchors were busy questioning the woman’s morality, as sex toys were found at the scene of the crime. Sandhya Nelluri, a television journalist, was frustrated with the mainstream media’s need for constant sensationalism. She had recently quit her job for the same reason, and she figured she had to raise her voice after Bobby was raped and murdered. Bobby was an intern at the company she’d worked at, and she had proposed that Sandhya should consider starting her own podcast. It was Bobby’s dream to work on a podcast with Sandhya, but her life was abruptly cut short. Sandhya had witnessed the crime scene, and since the cops seemed clueless and the media disinterested in finding answers, she figured she must step up to bring justice to Bobby. Soon, Sandhya discovered that Bobby wasn’t the sole victim of the rapist, the perpetrator was likely a serial killer. So, did Sandhya find the killer?
Spoiler Alert
What was the killer’s modus operandi?
Sandhya started a podcast and named it ‘Cheekatilo,’ which translates to ‘in the dark’ or ‘in the darkness,’ an apt name, considering ‘Sandhya’ in Sanskrit means ‘twilight’ (or the transition between day and night); therefore, in a way, she was the last ray of light/hope in this rather dark quest to find the truth. Her objective was simple: she wanted to dig deep into Bobby’s case and find the perpetrator. Sandhya figured that it was time someone asked the right questions and took matters into their own hands to bring justice to the victims. In the podcast, she not only discussed the progress of the case, but also highlighted the challenges that women face in everyday life. Sandhya initially assumed that the killer was possibly the watchman of the building. She’d noticed him cleaning his footwear outside the building on the day of the murder, and later the cops found out that he’d stolen Bobby’s necklace. While it was assumed that the case was solved, when the watchman’s wife walked up to Sandhya and told her that she’d got it all wrong, she wondered if she’d really made a mistake. Later, the killer contacted Sandhya and established that Sandhya’s investigation hadn’t been thorough enough.
Sandhya figured out that Bobby wasn’t the only victim when she received a call from Vani. She later met Vani, and she learned that twenty years ago, when she was home alone with her toddler, a man had entered her house and violated her. She believed that the man would’ve killed her, but he got scared when her toddler started to scream and cry. The strangest detail was that the rapist had left behind a garland of jasmine flowers. Vani didn’t file a police complaint because she was afraid of being humiliated, especially after her husband shamed her for the incident and broke off their marriage. Sandhya suspected that there must have been other victims of the perpetrator in the Godavari district, and with the help of Inspector Rajeev, she began studying every rape and murder case that had been filed in that area. Sandhya connected with more and more victims; some were willing to speak, while others were so terrified that they didn’t have any interest in recalling what they’d been through.
When Sandhya mentioned the possibility that they were dealing with a serial killer, the cops as well as common people demanded evidence. Sandhya had come to the conclusion that the serial killer operated at night; he usually studied his victims for some time, and he knew exactly when they would be alone at home. He always left behind jasmine flowers, and in the case of Lalitha and Rajesh (Lalitha was raped and Rajesh was murdered), the killer had also tied cowbells around Rajesh’s neck. Sandhya remembered she’d seen jasmine flowers and ankle bells at Bobby and her boyfriend’s murder scene as well. She figured the cases were connected, and she encouraged the victims to step forward and come together for a press conference. But most of the victims backed out, and just when Sandhya thought she didn’t stand a chance to prove her theory, Lachi and Rani came to her rescue. Lachi was raped by the same man, because the perpetrator had left behind jasmine flowers in her case as well. She believed that the killer thought she’d died, but thankfully she survived. They’d tried to file a police complaint, but since they were dancers, the cops shamed them. Lachi and Rani suspected that the politician Chinna Babu was involved, and he was protected by Rajamani, who was now the DIG.
Who Was The Killer?
After Lachi and Rani came forward with their stories, Sandhya suspected Chinna Babu. Meanwhile, the perpetrator continued murdering more people. His latest victim was Asmi, who spoke publicly in support of Sandhya. In Asmi’s postmortem report, they’d found a strand of hair that they believed was the perpetrator’s. Sandhya decided to meet Chinna Babu, and she slyly pocketed his toothbrush for DNA testing. The politician, obviously, wasn’t happy about Sandhya showing up at his house unannounced, and soon she was warned by Officer Anandita, who was leading the case, against doing anything without her permission. Sandhya was shocked when she discovered that Chinna Babu’s DNA didn’t match the perpetrator’s. While he was a horrible man, he wasn’t the killer they were after.
Cheekatilo’s ending revealed that the perpetrator was Sandhya’s father-in-law, Ramu Anand Ojeti. Sandhya was almost about to give up on the case after Vani’s son attempted to scare her by throwing a Molotov cocktail at her car. He despised Sandhya because her decision to investigate cold cases had severely affected Vani. While she never really could get over her traumatic past, she tried her best to live in the present, but when Sandhya began investigating, Vani started to obsess about the incident again.
Sandhya tried to focus on her personal life, and she got married to her boyfriend, Amar. But soon, Sandhya’s mother-in-law, Padhma, was murdered, and when Sandhya suggested they conduct a postmortem, her husband vehemently rejected her idea. She knew it was the same killer, but she couldn’t understand why he killed Padhma. Suddenly, Sandhya noticed the Russian doll her mother-in-law adored, and she decided to bring it home. She opened it and discovered an anklet and the earring that Bobby had borrowed from Sandhya and that was missing from her apartment. Sandhya wondered how the jewelry pieces had ended up in the doll; maybe it was Padhma trying to leave behind a clue that she knew only Sandhya could find. Meanwhile, the cops had been working on a comprehensive list of all the government employees who were transferred to the Godavari district during the time of the crimes; they also included the employees who were in Trichy in 2020, where similar rape and murder cases were reported. Anandita and Rajeev found Ramu Anand Ojeti’s name on the list. Sandhya too had gone through the list after she’d found the jewelry in the Russian doll, and she suspected her father-in-law as well.
How did the killer choose his victims?
Sandhya had intentionally stopped by her in-laws’; perhaps she wanted to make sure that Ramu was home when the cops showed up, or maybe she expected him to react, and they hoped to catch him in the act. As soon as she stepped in the kitchen to make coffee, the lights went off, and Ramu’s real intentions came clear. He’d figured that Sandhya knew his secret (when he noticed a call from Inspector Rajeev), so he was already plotting a way to kill her. While Ramu managed to get hold of Sandhya, she reacted by stabbing him with a fork. By then, Rajeev and Anandita had also arrived at the scene, and Sandhya was rescued.
During Cheekatilo’s ending, Ramu confessed his crime when Sandhya showed him a picture of his aunt. As it turned out, the motive behind Ramu’s crimes was revenge. Ramu was sexually assaulted by his aunt when he was young. After his parents’ death, his aunt and uncle offered him shelter, food, clothes, and education. He was grateful to them, and even though he’d seen the worst side of his aunt, he tried to convince himself that she was actually good-hearted. One day, when his aunt was trying to force herself on him, his uncle caught them, and she pretended as if Ramu was trying to abuse her. When his uncle attacked him, Ramu lost his cool. He overpowered his uncle and ended up killing him. He then raped his aunt and slit her throat. But that wasn’t enough to satisfy his desire for revenge. Whenever he came across women with jasmine in their hair or who danced with anklets around their feet, he felt the compulsion to punish them. He attacked Lachi because she was a dancer just like his aunt. He raped Vani because she used ankle bells to entertain her toddler. As it turned out, he and Bobby were acquaintances, and he killed her after she’d shown him the pair of anklets she’d brought for her classical dance class. He’d murdered Asmi not because she had made a video in support of Sandhya but because she had ankle bells on her bracelet.
All his life he’d been punishing women who reminded him of his aunt because he believed that they deserved it. He’d also admitted to the Trichy murder and casually stated that it was the best night of his life. But he also regretted leaving behind a lot of evidence, and he figured he had to stop if he didn’t want to get caught. Ramu had briefly taken a pause from his murders; he thought he would get to live a ‘normal’ life after he was diagnosed with third-stage dementia, which meant that he would gradually forget about his past crimes. But he soon realized it was impossible for him to forget his monstrous aunt, so when Bobby flaunted her anklet, he once again felt the desperate need to quench his thirst. He admitted to killing his wife because she’d found out about his dark side. She’d come across the box where he kept his murder souvenirs, and he knew he had no choice but to kill her. Padhma had already figured that he wouldn’t spare her, so she hurriedly hid Sandhya’s earrings in the doll, hoping that she would manage to connect the dots.
What does the future have in store for Sandhya?
The irony of the revelation was that the perpetrator was spared of guilt because of dementia. He was well aware that he would soon forget every crime he’d committed, and Sandhya and his other victims were cursed to live with the trauma forever. Perhaps the only silver lining is that Ramu ended up behind bars; also, considering the gravity of his crimes and his lack of guilt and regret, hopefully he’ll get a harsh sentence (his dementia diagnosis will likely prevent a death sentence). Sandhya didn’t break off her marriage with Amar; she believed he wasn’t anything like his father, so he didn’t deserve to be punished. In the final scene, we witness Sandhya walk into a cinema hall, but instead of feeling overwhelmed and afraid like she usually did, she overcame her fear and watched a movie. Sandhya was assaulted when she was a young girl during a first-day show of a popular film. Amidst the maddening rush, she felt violated. She wanted to file a complaint against the film club that had arranged the show, but her family wasn’t supportive of her decision. From childhood she was taught to remain silent because raising her voice meant bringing disrespect to her family. But Sandhya broke free from this invisible shackle. She had realized that her voice had immense power, and if every woman stepped back fearing the worst, then monsters like Ramu would get a free pass. Through his extremely demanding journey, Sandhya had finally found the courage to take a step towards overcoming her trauma by reclaiming the space that she feared the most.
