Aravaan 2012

In the 18th century, a tight-knit group robs the wealthy to feed a struggling tribe, and at the center of this world stands Komboodhi, the skilled, unyielding leader who keeps his villagers fed on the slimmest of margins. When a general from the nearby kingdom arrives with a brutal threat — kill the thief or watch the entire village perish — Komboodhi refuses to bend to a simple hunt for a singular culprit. A bold wager follows: if the general hands over the thief, the villagers must work for the palace for a year; if Komboodhi yields the Queen’s necklace, the general must supply rice for two full years.

On the hunt for the truth, Komboodhi crosses paths with the enigmatic Varipuli, and the two strike a wary alliance. Komboodhi brings Varipuli to the village along with the necklace, and the villagers receive two years’ worth of rice. A bond grows between the two men, and Varipuli eventually joins the gang in a string of audacious heists. The bond is tested when Komboodhi’s sister falls for Varipuli, and Varipuli, blunt about his own past and identity, refuses the marriage, leading to his exile from the village.

The next day, during a bullfight, Komboodhi is badly injured. Varipuli volunteers to take his place, but Komboodhi refuses because he is a wanderer with no lineage. In response, Varipuli reveals a deeper connection: his mother is from Komboodhi’s village, and he saves the leader’s life. Yet the danger persists, and Varipuli is seized by guards and taken to another village.

Varipuli’s backstory unfolds: his real name is Chinna, a brave figure from a village that serves the palace and maintains local security. A tense dispute erupts when a youth named Thogaimayan from a neighboring village is found dead, prompting the king to demand the offering of a young man to God as punishment. Chinna becomes the accidental selection, and a grim countdown begins — 30 days to execution. He is in love with a girl from his village, Vannapechi, and the couple marry on the third day after his selection. The tension escalates when on the 29th day Chinna learns that a fellow villager has been found with costly silver jewelry tied to Thogaimayan’s death, and a rich prostitute reveals the king himself is the killer who abducted and assaulted her.

Chinna’s pursuit of truth uncovers a larger conspiracy: the king abducts and forcibly marries the neighboring Om princess to extend his realm and harvest an heir. The queen reveals she bears Thogaimayan’s child as revenge for the king’s crimes against her family, signaling that the heir will not be royal but born of a barbarian. The king discovers the truth and kills Thogaimayan and his second wife in the village. Chinna captures the king and attempts to return him to his own people, but the monarch escapes and leaps into a waterfall to avoid exposure. Chinna follows, injures his leg, and discovers that the king is dead.

Back in the village, Chinna’s prolonged absence triggers a tragedy: as fear and pressure from other villages mount, the villagers sacrifice Chinna’s married friend, and the village head declares that the people have a right to kill Chinna for bringing disgrace. Chinna heals, reunites with his family, and learns his wife is pregnant. He resolves to leave before the village can condemn him, and his father-in-law urges him to depart for ten years, because forgiveness would come only after a long exile. Chinna goes into exile, and nine years and eleven months pass before neighboring villagers locate him again.

In a pivotal turn, Komboodhi and his circle rescue Chinna and bring him back along the path they came. Yet Chinna chooses to surrender rather than live a life shaped by betrayal. He sees his unborn child’s face for the first and last time, and then, with a final act of despair, takes his own life. In the wake of his death, the people of Komboodhi’s village resolve to abandon their life of robbery and instead guard the places that once drew them into crime, choosing a path of protection and duty over plunder.