Wikipedia
The Kāpālika tradition was a non- Puranic, tantric form of Shaivism in India, whose members wrote the Bhairava Tantras, including the subdivision called the Kaula Tantras. These groups are generally known as Kāpālikas, the "skull-men," so called because, like the Lākula Pāsupata, they carried a skull-topped staff ( khatvanga) and cranium begging bowl. Unlike the respectable Hindu householder of the Shaiva Siddhanta, the Kāpālika ascetic imitated his ferocious deity, and covered himself in the ashes from the cremation ground, and propitated his gods with the impure substances of blood, meat, alcohol, and sexual fluids from intercourse. The Kāpālikas thus flaunted impurity rules and went against Vedic injunctions. The aim was power through evoking deities, especially goddesses.
In modern Tamil Nadu, certain Shaivite cults associated with the goddess Angala Parameshwari, Irulappasami, and Sudalai Madan, are known to practice or have practiced ritual cannibalism, and to center their secretive rituals around an object known as a kapparai (Tamil "skull-bowl," derived from the Sanskrit kapala), a votive device garlanded with flowers and sometimes adorned with faces, which is understood to represent the begging-bowl of Shiva (Meyer 1986).
Kapalika is a Malayalam Drama film directed by Preethy Panikker. The film is produced by Madhusoodanan and starring Sona Nair, K.Madhu and Sreelatha in the lead roles. The film is scripted by Rajeev Gopalakrishnan