When it comes to a three-character tale, the first movie that pops in my mind is the 1999 Hindi film Kaun. That film had strong traces of a psychological horror with the focus being on its three central characters amidst the backdrop of a serial killer being on the loose! It is through the film that you understand each of the characters and their grounded back-stories before the grand reveal. Level Cross follows a similar template although the setting makes the psychological angle of the story a lot more abstract than the intimate setup in Kaun. For instance, escaping from the intimate setup wasn’t easy given the onset of rain but in a way more accesible given that all you needed to do is step out of the house. The scenario is reversed here – Chaitali (Amala Paul) could easily ‘escape’ from the house of the stranger if she wished to, but the world was barren and even more stranger outside that door. And hence, in a way both Kaun and Level Cross have flavours of their own – they may be similar films but with different setups, just like its overlapping characters. This section will contain SPOILERS from this point onwards.

One of the interesting facet of the drama is its characterization that literally messes with your mind. As per Chaitali, she was a psychiatrist caught in an abusive relationship with a certain Zincho (Sharafudheen) who is in depression following the death of his wife. And while Chaitali falls in love with him, she soon gets to know that he is a psychotic killer, prompting her to escape from the moving train. The question of how did she land up in the train or why did she end up here are under wraps initially. On the other hand, a startling revelation transpires at about the halfway mark on the identity of Raghu. The revelation being that the said individual (Asif Ali) has taken on the identity of Raghu only for it to be revealed that he was married once, only for him to find out about his wife’s affair with another man while also getting to know that his two children were not his. In a fit of rage, you see him killing the four one after the other. On being probed further, you get to know that he(Asif Ali) is a lonely man alleging that his wife killed his mother too for moments of pleasure with her lover, while reaching this destination, befriending the ‘Real’ Raghu who eventually collapsed and died, only to assume his identity. In a probing scene, you are witness to the fact that both ‘New’ Raghu and Chaitali are the same person, heartbroken in love who slowly build an affinity for each other.

The twists in the second hour don’t end here with the entry of Zincho who narrates his side of the story after a clash with ‘New’ Raghu. According to him, Shikha(Amala Paul) was HIS patient while the rest of the tale involving the same sequence of events narrated by her, only that the genders are reversed in his story. So the psychotic killer here is Shikha, and the victim is Zincho. The events definitely mess with your head before a parting scene has a startling revelation post the killing of Zincho at the hands of ‘New’ Raghu – Chaitali is in fact Shikha and that Zincho was speaking the truth, this while Shikha strikes ‘New’ Raghu with an iron rod. However, it is the finale that I wished to probe a little further given that the only survivor you see was ‘George’ aka ‘New’ Raghu (Asif Ali) at the end.

Some of the wild theories of the film will be probed here but before that let’s set the facts aside in the lead up to the finale : you see George sitting by the fire-side and burning all the clues about his past. In a glance, you get to know that George had actually killed the family of the girl that he was in love with, and not his wife in reality. But this also leads to a lot of possibilities in the final act with respect to George. And I have three theories here :

1) George was a lonely man, something that transformed him into a serial killer of sorts! You see the medallions that George possesses in a scene at the halfway mark. The number of medals at the end are atleast two more than that seen previously. This signifies that George maintains a medal for each killing. This basically means that George has killed Shikha here (and Zincho as shown previously), and is willing to lead a life of solitude in the sleepy town. What’s more interesting is that you see medals on the well too – an instance wherein George may have murdered the whole village (given that not a soul is in sight).

2) Everything is a figment of imagination for George. George having killed his family might be in a delusional state so much so that he has imagined the entire proceedings of the drama which plays out inside his head. A little hint lies with a donkey that you see at the start but later on, Shikha (then Chaitali in the film) doesn’t spot the donkey, thinking that he is conversing with himself. And the solitude of George lies with him being at peace with himself inside his own imaginary world.

3) Raghu (the unseen character, Indrans) is the actual killer. There is a reference of a haunting spirit hunting the villagers, about halfway into the drama. How about that being Raghu (Indrans) himself. Yes, George (Asif Ali) has killed Shikha and Zincho, marked by the medals on his chest but the medals on the well maybe that of Raghu performing the killings of the villagers. Perhaps, Raghu might be a serial killer himself and after being supposedly killed off by George, he would continue to haunt the village by maintaining killings of his own (perhaps by possessing George and through him). The only hint of this theory is in the final shot with the camera sighting an inverting view of the village. Far-fetched by interesting I must say! An off-shoot of this theory might also be that George is that spirit, except that he is alive. If you ask me, the most likely explanation might be of theory #2 because the drama never explains how George reached the middle of nowhere in the first place. This would basically mean that the killings and the existence of spirit is also a figment of George’s imagination’s mentioned at the start of the film in what is a brilliant screenplay that is twisted to the core.