Level Cross

Story:

Arfaz Ayub, making his directing debut, wrote and directed the 2024 Indian Malayalam-language psychological drama film Level Cross. Amala Paul, Sharaf U Dheen, and Asif Ali are the main actors. Vishal Chandrashekhar wrote the music. The movie was filmed in Tunisia. On July 26, 2024, Level Cross was released in theatres.

A dishevelled man lives alone in a secluded home in a desert and works as the gatekeeper of a level crossing. He discovers a woman unconscious one day and brings her to his house. She explains that she fell off a train when she regains consciousness. She flees because she feels frightened, but as she approaches the horizon, she passes out.

As he tends to her, the man introduces himself as Raghu. She stays the night because she has nowhere else to go. She stops Raghu the following morning when he tries to call the railway officials. She introduces herself as psychiatrist Chaithali and starts talking about her difficult past and her marriage to Zincho.

According to Chaithali, Zincho sought counselling following the suicide of his first wife. She later learnt that Zincho battled substance misuse and become violent after they fell in love and got married. A mental asylum accepted him. In order to get away, he killed the matron. Later, he caught Chaithali reading his diary, which disclosed that he had murdered his first wife. Chaithali sprang off the train as they fled together.

Raghu tells his own tale. His mother, who had hoped he would get married, raised him. He never took it seriously, and he lived in loneliness and remorse when she passed away. Raghu thinks Chaithali was delivered to him by fate. Raghu feels joy in her company as Chaithali starts to trust him.

Chaithali discovers newspaper cuttings about a murder involving a family of four and his identity card with a different man’s photo while she cleans the house while Raghu is away. When Raghu returns, he notices her terrified mood and tries to calm her but discovers the identity card she mistakenly left behind. She is pointing a knife at him. After disarming her, he tells her more about his background.

Raghu informs her that his childhood girlfriend left him for a wealthy suitor. He got married in an arranged marriage, granting his mother’s wish. His wife extended an invitation to her cousin to stay with them. They had two children once their marriage was consummated. When Raghu went to the hospital two years later for a vasectomy, he found out he was sterile. When he got home, he saw his wife in bed with the man posing as her cousin. Raghu killed them and their kids out of hatred. He felt that in order to create room for her affair, his wife had also murdered his mother. He ran away and pretended to be the original Raghu, the man who had given him sanctuary before passing away.

Chaithali chooses to move in with him as their shared sense of loneliness grows stronger as they discuss their pasts. She is sent by Raghu to gather water from a deserted village whose residents are said to have left because they were afraid of an upside-down creature.

Raghu senses someone is out there when Chaithali is away. Zincho enquires as to whether Raghu has spotted anyone in need of assistance. Raghu lies because he senses danger. After a struggle, Zincho defeats Raghu. Chaithali, whom he refers to as Shikha, was a patient of Zincho, a psychiatrist. They had fallen in love, but she was a heroin addict who killed the matron of the asylum after losing her mind and taking on her name. Raghu is informed by Zincho that Shikha is a dangerous psychopath and that his life is in jeopardy.

Raghu approaches Chaithali. Shikha was Zincho’s first wife, according to her. She gives herself over to her spouse after failing to persuade him. Raghu begs Zincho to let her stay as they leave. Chaithali attacks Zincho while he is preoccupied, causing him to slump and appear to be dead. Raghu assures Chaithali of his trust by bludgeoning Zincho to death as he stirs.

Raghu confirms that Zincho was a psychiatrist and that Shikha was his patient by finding a medical bill in his pocket. Shikha hits Raghu with a shovel before he can respond. In the following scene, Raghu—now identified as George—is getting ready for another day of gatekeeping. Most likely, Shikha has passed away. In a last flashback, it is revealed that George made up his past; he was never married and had slain his ex-girlfriend’s family.The creature that formerly terrorised the townspeople is seen watching George’s house from an inverted perspective and growling softly in the final shot.