Patrick Graham: ‘Pop culture wrongly suggests serial killers are evil geniuses’

He allegedly raped and strangled 16 women was convicted on two counts of rape and murder and is now being considered for a release after serving a 16year prison sentence Docubayrsquos documentary The Dupatta Killer chronicles the case of Goarsquos notorious serial killer Mahanand Naik and his 16 victims But director Patrick Grahammdashwho made his writing and directorial debut with Ghoul 2018 followed by Leila 2019mdashclaims that his focus was on the victims the survivor and the family left behind not the perpetrator Interestingly numerous true crime stories have been written on the case with Vijay Varmastarrer Dahaad 2023 also loosely based on it In conversation with midday Graham decodes why he doesnrsquot like to focus on the perpetrator when chronicling such crimes and why he took the caseEdited excerpts from the interviewWhen did the idea of making a documentary on Mahanand Naikrsquos crimes strikeDocubay had been in contact with journalist Mukesh Kumar in Goa who had done a lot of investigation on this case He had also written a book on it It was one of the worst serialkiller cases in India When the platform approached me with the story I read it to figure out what interested me about it and whether Irsquod be the right person to do itFrom left Mahanand Naik and journalist Mukesh KumarWhat stoked your curiosity in this caseI was keen to gauge what makes a woman vulnerable to someone like Mahanand Naik How does he prey on a particular subsection of the society Another thing that I found interesting was a survivor a young woman whom he abused over a period of years She was one of the people who came forward and was instrumental in putting him behind bars Although her rape was passed at trial court it was quashed at High Court To me that was a tragic story because this woman who did so much hasnrsquot received justiceDid you ever feel your own sense of justice coming in the waySure Irsquom not trained as a journalist Irsquom a filmmaker and storyteller That allows me to approach these things from my own perspective So I form opinions and want to express them But at the same time bearing in mind that there is always a discussion and debate to be had none of what I think in regard to this case is shown in the documentary Irsquod like to think of it more as a conversational starting pointDid you try meeting Mahanand Naik in prisonYes but he didnrsquot want to be interviewed as part of this documentary We already had an interview with him that was conducted by our investigative journalist Mukesh KumarSince there is talk about his impending release do you think he has transformedThatrsquos the big question wersquoll leave the audience with It should be up to a panel of psychologists police experts and forensic experts with training to decide that It shouldnrsquot necessarily be up to the court of public opinion because people are emotional Do I think that a man who kills so systematically can change Personally Irsquom not sure but the hard evidence that we have is his personal outlook on these murders He doesnrsquot admit to any of them Some would say that he has paid his dues and is no longer a threat to society That is one side of the argument For instance there is Father Fernandez who is acting as Mahanandrsquos guarantor he doesnrsquot believe that Mahanand could be capable of such crimes and says that God forgives But therersquos also the other sidemdashif he hasnrsquot admitted to his crimes hasnrsquot apologised or shown repentance then to me thatrsquos a significant pointWhy didnrsquot you delve into Mahanandrsquos psyche in the docu Therersquos a limit to what we can do in an hourlong documentary Sometimes too much attention is given to serial killers Popular culture wrongly suggests that serial killers are evil geniuses But I think they are just malfunctioning broken human beings Irsquom much more interested in the victims in what makes them so vulnerable than just another rehashing of an insight into a serial killer Personally I donrsquot find serial killers interestingIf the focus is on the survivor and victims why is it called The Dupatta KillerHe is the central driving force the one inciting the incident We didnrsquot have much to go on when it came to the analysis of his behaviour There were no family members whom we could talk to We could offer conjecture through the means of criminologists and psychologists which we did Mahanand becomes a stereotype at the end of the day16Women raped and strangled to death