Aval 2017

In a quiet flashback to 1934, the film opens with a tender, domestic life shared by a mother and her daughter, setting a haunting mood that threads through the rest of the story. Fast forward to 2016, where Dr Krishna [Siddharth], a celebrated neurosurgeon, and his wife Lakshmi [Andrea Jeremiah] enjoy a peaceful life in a handsome house high in the Rosina Valley. Their neighborhood harmony is disrupted when the D’Costa family moves into the house next door. Jennifer D’Costa [Anisha Victor], known as Jenny, is a bright but rebellious teenager who nonetheless adores her family and her half-sister Sarah. Jenny and Sarah quickly strike up a friendship with Lakshmi, and Jenny is soon drawn to the charisma of Dr Krishna, whose calm presence stands in stark contrast to her stormy impulses.

A dinner invitation brings the two families closer, but the evening takes a strange turn when Krish, as he is affectionately called, notices Jenny disappear into the house and leaps into action to pull her back from danger in a well. This early incident foreshadows a string of unsettling events. Jenny’s defiant streak expresses itself through smoking and risky behavior, and during one stealthy moment she scavenges belongings from a deceased person. Her behavior becomes increasingly erratic as she sleepwalks toward a cliff edge, only to be saved yet again by Krish and Paul [Atul Kulkarni], the D’Costa family’s father. The situation prompts a cascade of professional help: Krish refers them to his psychiatrist friend Dr Prasad [Suresh], who conducts a hypnotherapy session. Jenny reveals that someone is urging her family to abandon the house and suddenly begins speaking in Chinese, a clue that something more ominous lurks beneath the surface.

Dr Prasad diagnoses paranoia with disturbing visual and auditory hallucinations and recommends an exorcism, arguing that paranormal forces may be at play. Paul, uneasy with the idea of spiritual intervention, brings in Pastor Joshua [Prakash Belawadi] to perform the rites. The exorcism reveals three ancient Chinese spirits haunting the home: a bloodthirsty male entity and a mother-daughter pair who want the family to leave without trouble. Jenny appears to respond to the ritual, yet the cost is steep: Joshua sustains injuries and falls into a coma, while Krish and Paul are also hurt. The house’s atmosphere intensifies, and a sense of looming danger settles over Lakshmi as she discovers she is pregnant.

Normalcy is short-lived. Paul’s housemaid vanishes, and Krish and Lakshmi notice escalating paranormal disturbances in their daily lives. Paul uncovers troubling evidence from the house and calls in the psychic from before, who confirms the presence of the mother and daughter spirits and directs them to leave. They also locate skeletal remains near a cliff, alongside the body of the male spirit. As the sinister history begins to surface, Dr Prasad’s curiosity deepens; he learns that there is a village witness who can illuminate the house’s past—a woman who survived the events eighty years earlier. Krish and Prasad meet the old villager, who uncovers a brutal tale of black magic practiced by a man named Lu Wei.

According to the elder, Lu Wei tried to perform a ritual to guarantee a male offspring, but the ritual was interrupted. In a cruel twist, Lu Wei lures his own daughter and sacrifices her instead, an atrocity witnessed by his distraught wife, who stabs herself and her unborn child. Grief and rage drive Lu Wei to take his own life by drowning in the same well. The old lady also reveals that all of this unfolded on a rare solar eclipse day, and another eclipse is predicted to occur the following day.

Back at home, Krish and Prasad’s quiet reflection is interrupted by Lakshmi’s plea for help with Jenny, who is possessed once more. When Krish and Lakshmi arrive at Jenny’s house, Lakshmi surprisingly locks Krish in a room, and the truth comes to light: Joshua has awakened from his coma with a chilling revelation. He explains that during Jenny’s exorcism, it wasn’t only Jenny who was possessed; Krish himself had been possessed by Lu Wei’s spirit. Lu Wei’s influence would resume its work and target Sarah, hoping Lakshmi would bear a son who might fulfill Lu Wei’s dark prophecy. It is revealed that Krish, under possession, had already killed Dr Prasad, and the danger intensifies as Krish fights for control.

The struggle culminates in a dramatic confrontation: the Chinese spirits intervene, overpower Krish, and dispel Lu Wei’s spirit from Krish’s body as the solar eclipse ends. Krish returns to his true self, but the battle leaves scars on the family and their neighbors. In the aftermath, a few years pass and the close-knit circle remains neighbors, though the shadow of the past lingers. Lakshmi and Krish go on to have a son, and Jenny and Sarah continue to play with him, their friendship enduring amid the memory of what occurred.

The closing shot lingers on the newborn boy’s eye, which slowly shifts to reveal twin irises—a chilling hint that the bloodline may carry darker forces. The film thus closes on a provocative, ambiguous note: the family seems settled and safe, yet the final image suggests that the peril from Lu Wei’s possession may have left a mark that could surface again in the future. The story blends family drama with supernatural dread, weaving a tale of inherited trauma, haunted houses, and the uneasy line between protection and danger.

• Siddharth carries the central medical and supernatural tension as Dr Krishna, a character whose calm demeanor masks a deeper, otherworldly invasion.

• Andrea Jeremiah gives life to Lakshmi, a steadfast partner and mother whose calm grace becomes a anchor and a target as the past resurfaces.

• Anisha Victor embodies Jennifer/Jenny, a rebellious, impetuous teen whose risky curiosity unlocks the secrets buried in the house.

• Atul Kulkarni portrays Paul, the practical, skeptical neighbor whose search for truth heightens the horror.

• Prakash Belawadi brings the eerie authority of Joshua, the exorcist whose presence marks the turning point of the haunting.

• Suresh plays Dr Prasad, the psychiatrist who bridges science and the supernatural, guiding the investigators toward a deeper history.