Mathilukal, is based on a brief interlude in the life of Vaikkom Mohammad Basheer, one of the most original writers from Kerala. A political prisoner in the last years of British rule, Basheer wrote about his experiences in a short novel of the same name. For Adoor it was the story of how a writer, an artist, surrounded by prison walls, can transcend them with his creativity. He can even create a woman for company and get inextricably involved with his own creation. "At another level," he said, "it is a film about freedom. It asks the fundamental question of what freedom really means."

Biofilmography
Adoor GopalaKrishnan was born in the Adoor village of Kerala in 1941. Kathakali was part of life, when he was a kid, in the family. But later, the theatre and camera took that place. By the time he entered the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune in 1962, he had already written over a dozen plays and produced eight. Adoor made several documentaries and films which won several national and international awards.