Review: Film on alleged Goan serial killer plays judge, jury and executioner

Creators of true crime shows are not above playing judge, jury and executioner. The Docubay original The Dupatta Killer, directed by Patrick Graham, is driven by firm conviction that its subject is guilty as well as doubt about his potential release from prison and re-integration into society.

The documentary, which is nearly an hour long, explores a series of murders allegedly committed by Mahanand Naik in the 2000s and 2010s. Naik, from Goa, was accused of luring women, strangling them with their dupattas and decamping with their money and jewellery. Although accused of killing 16 women, Naik was eventually convicted for two murders.

Naik, who has always maintained his innocence, has been in a prison in Goa for at least 14 years. The Sentence Review Board is considering his appeal for a release. Do the makers of The Dupatta Killer hope to influence the board’s members? That certainly seems to be the case, given the film’s insistence on Naik’s culpability despite arguments to the contrary by his lawyers.

The Dupatta Killer includes an interview by a priest, Maverick Fernandes, who had stood guarantor when Naik sought parole. Might not a convict change in prison, Fernandes asks – especially if he might not even be the murderous monster of the public imagination?

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