Why Karnataka Pills Case Is A Sinister Throwback To Curry & Cyanide And Kerala's Jolly Joseph

NDTV

a day ago

New Delhi:
There's something deeply unsettling about food being weaponised. A ritual of love and nourishment, it becomes monstrous when stirred with malice.
Netflix's Curry & Cyanide: The Jolly Joseph Case taps into this primal fear: that the person serving your meal might also be plotting your murder.
It's a fear made more chilling by the fact that the show isn't fiction. It's based on the baffling and brutal true-crime story of Jolly Joseph, a woman whose seemingly ordinary life in Kerala's Koodathayi village unravelled into a web of deceit, ambition and cyanide-laced killings.
And if that weren't enough, life decided to imitate art again. Two years after Curry & Cyanide aired, Karnataka's Hassan district reported a case so eerily similar that it reads like an uncommissioned sequel, this time featuring sleeping pills, stewed in a family's daily meals, all for love gone rotten.
The Netflix Documentary That Stirred Up Old Ghosts
Directed by Christo Tomy and written by Shalini Ushadevi, Curry & Cyanide is Netflix's chilling foray into one of Kerala's most shocking true-crime stories.
Running at 107 minutes, the documentary dives into the life and lies of Jolly Joseph, a woman who is accused of killing six people over 14 years - all connected by family ties and, allegedly, by poison.
Though the title suggests a culinary-criminal connection, the show makes it clear: neither curry nor cyanide was consistently used in the crimes.
What was, however, consistent was Joseph's ability to convince everyone she was someone else - an educated woman, a government employee, a loving wife. She was none of those.
The documentary unfolds like a psychological thriller, but unlike a good mystery novel, it has no final reveal. The sessions court is still hearing the case, and despite Joseph's reported confession, a definitive legal closure remains elusive.
Six Deaths. One Woman. Too Many Lies.
The Koodathayi deaths began in 2002 and ended, or rather, came to light, in 2019. Over 14 years, six members of a single family died under suspicious circumstances. All were connected to Jolly Joseph.
It started with her mother-in-law, Annamma Thomas, who collapsed after a walk and a glass of water. Doctors attributed it to a heart attack.
In 2008, Jolly's father-in-law, Tom Thomas, also died suddenly. Then, in 2011, her husband Roy Thomas died after consuming a curry made by Jolly; his death was ruled a suicide after traces of poison were found in his stomach.
The suspicion could've ended there. But in 2014, Roy's uncle Mathew Manjayadil, who had pushed for a second post-mortem, died after consuming whisky allegedly given by Jolly.
That same year, her soon-to-be second husband Shaju's two-year-old daughter died after allegedly choking on food. Two years later, Shaju's wife, Sily, too, died reportedly after ingesting capsules Jolly had offered to treat her depression.
It was only in 2018, when Roy's brother Rojo Thomas dug out his sibling's autopsy report via an RTI application, that the narrative began to unravel. The inconsistencies in food timings, symptoms and testimonies couldn't be ignored. Jolly's perfect housewife image fell apart.
In 2019, she was arrested, along with two men, a former lover and a goldsmith who had allegedly helped her procure the cyanide. The motive? Possibly property. Possibly power. Definitely control.
A Case Too 'Cinematic' To Be True And Yet It Is
The Koodathayi case had all the makings of a film, which is perhaps why it has been adapted so many times.
In 2020, Death, Lies & Cyanide, a Spotify original podcast narrated by journalist Sashi Kumar, chronicled the chilling details.
Malayalam serials like Krithyam and Koodathayi recreated the story under fictional names, with actors like Muktha, Mallika Sukumaran and Dayyana Hamid reimagining Jolly's duplicity.
Sony TV's Crime Patrol devoted three full episodes to the case.
Films are on the anvil too: Antony Perumbavoor's upcoming movie starring Mohanlal is reportedly based on the incident, as is actress Dini Daniel's film in which she plays Jolly.
Disney+ Hotstar is developing Anali, a web series helmed by Midhun Manuel Thomas, with Nikhila Vimal and Leona Lishoy in the lead roles, inspired by the murders.
Clearly, the public cannot look away.
When History Repeats Itself
Just when we thought the Koodathayi case was an aberration, a dark echo arrived from Karnataka's Hassan district in June 2024.
Chaitra, a 33-year-old woman and mother of two, was arrested for attempting to murder her husband, children and in-laws by poisoning their meals - in this case, with sleeping pills and toxic medicines.
Her motive? To continue her affair with a local man named Shivu.
According to the police, Chaitra had been rotating medications in food for over two months. The symptoms, dizziness, fatigue and long naps, were mistaken for common ailments.
It was only when her husband, Gajendra, accidentally opened her bag and found a stash of pills that suspicions grew. Medical tests confirmed what the family feared: they had been systematically poisoned.
The children, heartbreakingly, admitted they had seen their mother mixing powders into coffee and food. Chaitra was arrested. Shivu remains on the run.
It's a case that mirrors Jolly's in chilling ways: a woman trusted by her family, a seemingly peaceful domestic setting and a slow poisoning method that thrived under the illusion of normalcy.
Trust, Twisted
What connects the Kerala and Karnataka cases isn't just the methodology. It's the profound betrayal of trust. Both Jolly and Chaitra weaponised familial love and domesticity. They used the kitchen as a crime scene. They fed their victims death, disguised as dinner.
There's something inherently horrific about being harmed by the person you live with, the one who kisses your children goodnight or sits across from you at lunch. These stories rattle the very foundation of human relationships, that love should protect, not kill.
What Curry & Cyanide Gets Right (And Wrong)
While Curry & Cyanide doesn't deliver a conclusive verdict (because legally, it can't), it offers something more unsettling - ambiguity. It portrays a family trying to make sense of repeated tragedies, a village that looked the other way and a police force that woke up too late.
Critically, the show also highlights something many true-crime shows forget: justice is not instant. The sessions court is still hearing the case. Jolly's confession could be retracted. Evidence can be contested.
And yet, in the court of public opinion, she's already condemned.
A Cautionary Tale, Served Cold
The real-life cases of Jolly Joseph and Chaitra are not only about murder; they're about manipulation, about how trust can be the perfect camouflage for cruelty. Netflix's Curry & Cyanide is a gripping, if imperfect, retelling of a case that continues to haunt India's collective conscience.
The next time we see a family gathered around a dining table onscreen or in our own homes, a quiet thought may sneak in: how well do we really know the person passing us the plate?
Because sometimes, the most dangerous place isn't the dark alley. It's the dinner table.