My parents have gone to my uncle's place to fix a marriage alliance for me.
Let's take off before they return, as I suggested.
If not, I may have to do something.
We haven't even finished school yet.
How can they marry you off before that?
We should have finished school two years ago, Venba.
My mother says, "You're nineteen, and you flunk school year after year!
Should I wait until you graduate to marry you off?"
Don't think I'll just marry my uncle if you don't show up!
Like I'm any different!
You think I'd marry some guy like Sundaresan?
I'll pack my clothes.
What time's the first bus?
4:30.
4:30?
Checked properly?
Fine, I'll be there by 3:30.
Don't leave me stranded.
At 3:30 in the morning...
Poorni said she'd be at the bus depot near the temple pond.
By then, my brother brought you here!
I couldn't leave!
When I tried to leave by 6:30 a.m. before everyone woke up,
your family showed up!
After that, I went to the bus depot...
but she wasn't there.
When I called her father,
he said Poorni told him that she'd be staying at my place for two days.
I have no idea where she went or what she did, since I didn't show up.
I don't know if she hurt herself believing that I deceived her!
You're in love with a girl?
Anyway, forget that for now.
You're losing a lot of blood.
Let's go to the hospital.
I'm not going anywhere!
Poorni definitely must have done something to herself!
I'll also do something!
Don't be a fool, Venba!
Poorni will be fine!
I'll call Mani and tell him to look for her.
Come with me to the hospital!
You still don't get it?
Didn't I try to run away because I didn't want my brother to know about this?
You think I'll still be alive after he finds out?
Do you think we are both facing the same thing?
You can brag about how you eloped with my brother!
People will be proud of the lengths you went to for love!
But when they find out with whom I tried to elope...
do you think they'll speak as highly of me as they do of you?
You won't understand this!
Alright.
I won't tell Mani.
I'll find another way to locate Poorni.
You wish to live a life with her, don't you?
Do you think it's right for you to die while she lives?
You must be alive to live with her!
Please listen to me.
Come with me to the hospital.
Come, Venba.
Let's go to the hospital.
RUMOR: THE MYSTERY OF MANI
A well-attired belle
A bejeweled maiden
A luminous, radiant damsel
A vivacious, glittering charmer
A music-playing fairy
A pristine enchantress
Do you not sense the truth in her words?
Mani!
What happened?
Why are you drenched?
I would've slaughtered your brother!
Why? Did he make trouble?
Had he come to make trouble, no problem!
Instead, he was badmouthing my sister!
Top of that, he said you told him that!
I would've landed a couple more hits for that!
But seeing your face right now makes me suspect something!
Tell me. Did you talk ill of my sister to your brother?
Answer me! What's the issue between you and her?
- Mani... - What the hell is going on?
Mani!
Trust me!
I have no problem with your sister.
I didn't think my brother would come and talk to you!
Why the hell did you tell him that?
I may have had my issues with him!
But did I ever tell you he's a pansy who lusts after men instead of women?
How horrible would that be for you?
Won't you be blazing with hateful fury at me?
Let's not talk about this now.
Please don't ask me anything!
Never thought my brother would come and talk to you!
I just want to know why you said such a thing!
Why the hell did you say it? Why--
Because it's the truth!
It's the truth, brother!
Instead of hiding who I am from everyone all the time...
let me tell the truth once and die!
You kill me yourself, brother!
Kill me yourself!
Why, brother?
Why? Does even my touch disgust you?
Why are you backing away from me?
Can't you even stand the sight of me?
Why are you doing this?
Please, brother!
Venba!
- Brother... - Don't talk like that, Venba!
Say something, Mani!
Talk to her, Mani!
Venba!
Brother...
Brother!
Please forgive me, Mani.
Venba wanted to find Poorni somehow.
She even slit her wrist, not knowing what to do!
She was losing a lot of blood, but refused to let me help her.
She insisted that you shouldn't know about this.
I couldn't ask Praba for help as you two were at odds.
I suggested asking Sundaresan for help, but she said he was pursuing her!
And that he knew about her and Poorni!
So, she ruled him out too.
With no other choice, I asked my brother for help.
But I didn't tell him everything.
I don't know how he figured this out, Mani.
I understand how much of a shock this is to you, Mani.
But when it came to our relationship,
what did you say you'd do if any issue came up for us because of caste?
"Caste and religion be damned!"
"Love that sees caste isn't love at all."
"We'll handle anything," you said.
Isn't this the same?
What's more important? The town gossiping about this?
Or Venba hurting herself fatally?
Answer me.
Venba...
I won this bracelet for my first bullfight.
What'd you tell me as I left?
"Come back home safe, brother."
"Mom and I can't imagine a life without you."
Remember?
More than even taming the bull...
I was concerned about returning home to you both.
And you hurt yourself?
Do you think Mom and I can imagine a life without you?
Never do such a thing again.
That's why I'm tying this on your wrist.
Got it?
Brother...
Poorni...
I'll find her and bring her back.
You needn't go anywhere.
Stay here. We'll handle it.
Let's not, Mani.
Like how my brother threatened you, he might tell the town and embarrass us.
As promised to my father, drop us back home.
Let our wedding happen without a hitch.
If your brother does such a thing,
I'll hack him on the spot and go to jail.
Stay here.
We'll talk once I get back.
After I left home, I went straight to Sundaresan.
Nobody else should find out what he knew about my sister.
Also...
I was going to rough him up for eyeing my sister despite being my longtime friend.
Sundaresan!
The moment he saw me. He ran for it!
Stop, you bastard!
Stop!
Bastard!
Stop!
Why'd you run after seeing me?
Why'd you run?
That's when he said he'd nabbed Poorni and stashed her away.
He was dead-set on killing her.
Stop it, Sundaresan!
Brother!
Let me go, brother!
I smacked him, pushed him away, and dropped her off at home.
When I went to tell Venba Poorni was back home...
my mother told me that Nila and Venba had left.
I thought they left because I forbade them from leaving.
But only when her father and brother came with the cops, did I learn...
they didn't leave.
I looked everywhere for them!
I didn't wish to reveal the truth about Venba.
Let the truth die with me.
Please don't tell anyone about my sister.
I'll fall at your feet, brother. Don't tell anyone about her.
I'm begging you. Please don't.
Please don't...
Please don't tell anyone. I'm sorry.
Please forgive me. Keep this to yourself.
This is why I didn't tell you, brother.
Please don't tell anyone.
We thought we had them, and that the truth would come out now.
He says he didn't kill them!
He's been extremely careful to ensure this doesn't come out.
Is that all you got out of this, Mohan?
You're such a naive cop!
If he observed a vow of silence all this time to keep this a secret...
couldn't he have more secrets?
What do they call the kind of relationship his sister had?
"Lesbian," right?
When he couldn't accept that,
you think he'd have spared his sister?
What say, Moosa?
You both aren't thinking what I'm thinking.
That girl was his sister.
That's why he hid it.
Why did Neelagandan stay quiet about this?
What does he gain by hiding this?
Did that not occur to you?
O black spirit O hunter spirit
O whiplash spirit
O anklet spirit O sandalwood one
O Sayalkudi spirit
O magical spirit O golden spirit
O Maaranaadu spirit
O origin spirit O divine spirit
O brave spirit who stops the wind
The din of devotees and the din of drums
Will shatter ears and erase worries
The town entire comes together
To celebrate this deity Who dispels all disparity
O black spirit O hunter spirit
O whiplash spirit
O anklet spirit O esteemed spirit
O Sayalkudi spirit
O magical spirit O golden spirit
O Maaranaadu spirit
O origin spirit O divine spirit
O brave spirit who stops the wind
What the hell?
Daydreaming about marrying my sister in front of the whole town?
At least my sister eloped with a guy!
Did you know your sister tried to elope with another girl?
If you bloody speak ill of my sister again,
being my girl's brother won't save you!
What the hell will you do?
If the town finds out who your sister tried to elope with,
everyone will laugh at you!
Must I get my sister married to you or to your sister?
Shameless mongrels!
What the hell did you say?
Bring it on!
Come on!
I felt shame that my sister had eloped with him...
and along with that, rage, when my father agreed to their marriage.
That's why when I found out about his sister,
I wanted to humiliate him and somehow end his relationship with Nilavathi.
It's him, sir!
That's why he killed both of them!
But telling the truth about his sister--
To humiliate a dead girl like that--
I'm not that horrible a man.
If I had to hack someone, it would have been Mani!
But those two girls-- How could I?
What, Moosa?
When we heard Mani's words, we suspected him.
He's laying the blame back on Mani!
A case of defusing a bomb and sparking another!
- What do we do? - Yes, brother?
Do we take him at his word?
Or do we question him at the station?
Mohan called from the station, sir.
A call came in about your wife giving birth.
They tried calling you, but they couldn't get through. So, they called me.
Get going, Moosa!
We'll deal with him later.
Get going, now. Go, Maari!
- Delivery ward? - First floor, sir.
Mom!
When did she give birth?
Why didn't you call me?
The child hasn't been born yet.
I think she'll give birth only when she sees you!
- Good thing you made it on time! - Sir!
- Come along! - Go on! Hurry!
- Push harder! - Please forgive me, Sumaya!
- Sumaya. - You're here!
You made it as you were nearby!
What would've happened if you'd sent me home?
Forgive me, dear!
Please bear it!
Sumaya!
The baby's head is visible.
I'll send your husband out, okay?
Shall we deliver the baby now?
Hang in there.
Sir?
Place your leg near the abdomen and push hard, Sumaya!
Breathe and push!
Push hard, Sumaya!
Breathe and push, Sumaya!
Push hard, Sumaya!
It's a girl.
Once again, congratulations, Raaza.
Congratulations.
Raaza, you've awaited this joy for eight years.
Why do you look so glum when you should be happy?
Please don't say you're still fixated on the Mani case.
Or that you're looking to solve this case to save him.
That's what you're doing now, yes?
See...
as Mani kept so much from you, he lost the right of your concern for his welfare.
Whatever the fate of the case, he must deal with it.
Focus on your child.
Share this joy with your wife!
Because you'll never get this moment back, Raaza.
I get what both of you are saying.
All three of them have a motive to kill.
But all three of them insist they didn't do it.
One of these three did it.
I'm afraid it might turn out to be Mani.
I'm looking to solve this case, to ensure it wasn't him who did it.
Because I truly believed he was innocent.
If my faith is broken...
I fear I won't be able to trust anybody anymore.
Hello, ma'am?
How are Sumaya and the baby doing?
They're well, ma'am.
I've brought them home.
I still sense stress in your voice, Raaza.
It's nothing, ma'am.
I'll be fine.
I've been transferred to Vellore.
I start next week.
Posting is at the Training Academy.
Once again, please forgive me, ma'am.
I'm not saying this to make you feel bad, Raaza.
Thought I could help you wrap up this case before I left.
I don't think we'll have a breakthrough within a week.
But I did something yesterday.
There's a forensic anthropologist named Annie Besant.
A real veteran in her line of work.
I requested her to analyze the skeletal remains
to ascertain how the murders took place.
She looked into it.
She feels the murder weapon must be a sickle.
She says if we brought the weapon to her, she'd deduce if it was indeed used.
Even if one of those three did do it,
why would they stash the murder weapon at home?
Maybe there's no chance of that.
But thinking the killer won't do such a foolish thing,
we can't stay away from doing what we must do!
Where do we go first, sir?
Mani's house or...
Maari, go to Mani's.
I can't help but suspect him.
Stop.
Head to Sundaresan's.
Moosa?
There seems to be nothing.
Ramar!
- Call Sundaresan. - Get in there!
Yes, sir.
Who's in that photograph?
My uncle, sir.
What's so urgent, sister?
How are you, son?
Hello, Kannappa.
How are you?
Recognize me?
Hey! Get him!
Get up!
- Get up! - Get up, I say!
- Get up! - Trying to run, eh?
What do you take us for? Get in!
- Get in there! - Get in!
Let go of me, sir!
Please let go, sir!
Think you're all that? Sit your ass down!
Ramar!
String him upside down again!
Only then, they'll talk!
Forget stringing! Just give me ninety seconds!
I'll beat it out of him! Talk!
Don't kill my son, sir!
Please don't kill my son!
- Sir! - Hey!
- He's innocent! - Go sit over there!
- Please, no... - Go sit there, I say!
- Sit! - He's innocent, sir!
Please let him go!
Then why'd you kill those innocent girls?
Spill everything!
Will you talk, or should I skin you all alive?
- Talk! - Alright, I'll talk!
I'll tell you the truth!
I'll tell you!
Please don't hurt my son!
I'll tell you everything.
Sit!
My son is innocent, sir...
I am his entire world.
He wouldn't openly talk to anyone.
But he'd always tell me everything that was on his mind.
His comings and goings,
and everything he did...
He hides nothing from me.
After me, the only person in his heart was Venba.
He loved her way too much!
It would've been fine if she had just rejected him!
But the castle he had built for her in his heart crumbled down,
and he returned as a walking corpse!
Despite that, he still wanted her!
But I felt that only a girl who could love him as much as I did
could take good care of him.
This girl wasn't it.
So...
I decided to kill her somehow.
I thought that was the only way I could eliminate her from his mind
and get him married to a more suitable girl.
After deciding that,
I called Kannappan over
and went to Venba's house to meet her.
I apologize on my son's behalf.
I get that you don't like him.
I also know who you love.
But he can't understand that.
I only have one child.
He's everything to me.
I'm scared he might hurt himself because he couldn't get you!
I tried my hardest to make him forget you.
But I think it'd be best if you came over and convinced him.
I think he'll be at ease if you tell him not to hurt himself.
As a mother, I plead to you!
Please do this for me!
I'll even fall at your feet!
Don't, Venba.
Let Mani come back before you go anywhere.
Tell him and go.
Can't you get him on the phone?
His phone got wet.
He has left it behind in the rice sack.
His mother fell at my feet!
She refused to leave unless I agreed to come!
What am I supposed to do?
What am I supposed to tell her?
Venba. Come on, I'll go with you.
All my rage and hatred was only towards Venba!
But when I saw those girls together at that moment...
I believed it was the two of them who agonized my son.
They let him painfully suffer!
I felt they should both be punished for that!
Kannappa!
No one should know about this.
I'll go cook the parasol mushrooms. Keep an eye on them until then.
You intend to kill them with poisonous mushrooms?
Here. This is for you.
Satisfied that I managed to save my son from those mentally ill girls...
and thinking I had taken revenge for his suffering, I returned home.
But when I saw the state he was in when I got back...
I realized my mistake.
Sundaresan?
Sundaresan!
Sundaresan?
Don't cry!
I'm here for you! Don't cry!
Still crying over that girl?
Sundaresan!
Don't cry, dear.
I'm here for you. Don't cry.
- Don't cry... - Mom... I was wrong!
It was wrong of me to think Poorni had poisoned Venba's mind!
Venba told Mani that she loves Poorni!
As I had abducted Poorni, Mani had come after me.
His sister sent him over.
He said she sent him over only to save Poorni!
What are you saying?
You had abducted...
Venba's lover?
Huge mistake, sir.
Assuming I was killing
Venba and her lover...
I killed an innocent girl who had nothing to do with this!
To this day...
my son doesn't know about this.
My son had no idea about this until today, sir!
Anything left to suspect or wrack your brain over, Moosa?
That lady told him to poison them to death.
And he did.
He might've carried it out, but it was on her orders.
She instigated him. She's the A1 suspect. He's A2.
What's left to mull over here?
Everything she confessed checks out.
She took them from Mani's house.
The orchard was near where the skeletons were found.
The orchard he used to guard!
What more is needed?
All three had motive!
You were worried Mani might've been the perpetrator!
Now you know he didn't do it!
Why do you still look so confused?
If those girls were poisoned to death as that lady claimed,
and if that is the truth,
why were the girls' arms severed?
How did their arms break?
What happened beyond that?
What are they still hiding?
- Answer me! - Sir!
What happened after that? Tell me!
What did you do to them after that?
Answer me, or I'll kill you!
Answer me!
- I'll tell you! - Answer me!
I'll tell you!
Please don't hurt me! Please...
Talk!
The two of you are in love, eh?
Shall I tell you something?
I've only seen this in movies.
In real life?
Kannappa!
That was fast.
Is this how I should give them?
How else then?
Just shove it down their throats.
But this won't cut it.
Mix it in food, starve them for a while, and then let them eat.
It'll be over in a jiffy.
Leave it to me. I got this.
- No need for that. - I said I'd handle it!
Leave!
Leave! I said I'd handle this! Quit bothering me!
Kannappa?
One of the girls we picked up isn't our target!
Don't give them those mushrooms!
Are you kidding, sister? You're telling me this now?
It's already done!
They must be dead by now!
One of the girls is not the right person!
There's nothing we can do now!
Stay quiet.
I'll dispose of the bodies.
But even you know he's an odd type.
He's normally a reserved guy.
But back in eleventh grade, he tried to stab the PT teacher with a pen!
The entire class tried to stop him, but couldn't!
You've seen that side of him too, right?
Even animals that kill and devour other animals
are unable to commit such an act towards their own kind.
Given that...
how are humans able to do this?
Destroying their dreams,
thinking they get to decide how others live their lives...
how can they feel so entitled?
As a cop...
even if I capture that animal and punish it legally,
the horror of what has happened cannot be reversed.
How can it be erased?
How can it be forgotten?
Do I take pride in being a cop?
Or...
do I consider it a curse?