Etharkkum Thunindhavan 2022

Kannabiran Suriya is a lawyer at the Madras High Court who lives in Thennaadu with his father Aadhirayar Sathyaraj and his mother Kosalai Saranya Ponvannan. The neighboring village Vadanaadu shares a deep-rooted belief that the god Shiva and the goddess Shakti originated in these places, and the two communities celebrate a grand festival that symbolizes their union. Women from Thennaadu marry men from Vadanaadu, and vice versa, cementing a fragile harmony that is torn apart when a woman from Thennaadu, who married a Vadanaadu man, takes her own life, sparking a bitter rivalry between the villages.

Kannabiran falls in love with and marries Aadhini Priyanka Arul Mohan from Vadanaadu, adding a personal dimension to the cross-village conflict. Aadhini’s friend Yazhnila Dhivya Dhuraisamy is secretly in love with Nithin, who is one of Inba’s henchmen. Nithin even asks Yazhnila to sleep with Inba’s business associate, leading Yazhnila to try escaping a perilous situation as Inba’s men close in on her. Kannabiran intervenes, rescuing Yazhnila and delivering a firm warning to Inba and his operatives.

Earlier, Inba had already killed his pregnant wife and another girl named Monika, revealing a brutal pattern of violence that underpins his power. After Kannabiran and Aadhini’s marriage, Kannabiran continues to shelter Yazhnila and joins her in the struggle against a pornography racket run by Inba. A chilling breach of privacy happens when Inba secretly records a video of Kannabiran and Aadhini during an intimate moment, including Aadhini bathing. The couple is shocked by the footage, yet Kannabiran remains resolute, encouraging Aadhini to stand strong and fight beside him.

Determined to expose the racket, Kannabiran gathers evidence from the victims and files a petition against Inba and his men. Inba’s advocate counteracts with false evidence designed to present Inba as a philanthropist and educationalist, complicating the legal battle. The conflict intensifies when Inba learns where Kannabiran kidnapped Nithin, leading to Nithin’s murder and his body being dumped in the trunk of Kannabiran’s car. The judge then dismisses the case and orders the imprisonment of Kannabiran and Aadhirayar, a painful turn that tests their resolve. After spending two months in jail, Aadhirayar inspires his son to abandon the formal faith in the rule of law and instead embrace a more vigilant form of justice, positioning Kannabiran as an executioner who acts to cleanse society of evil.

Emboldened by this perspective, Kannabiran kidnaps all of Inba’s henchmen and locks them inside a factory. A brutal chase culminates in Kannabiran gaining access to and destroying the computer systems used to generate Inba’s pornographic content. He defeats Inba’s men and delivers a stark lecture to their parents about respecting women and protecting their privacy. Kannabiran exposes the truth: Inba and his associates hold intimate recordings of around 500 women from their village, aiming to ruin marriages and destroy lives through coercion and shameless exploitation.

The narrative also revisits Kannabiran’s own painful past; at the age of nine, he witnessed two men kidnapping, assaulting, and killing his younger sister, a memory that deepens his resolve to strike back against those who prey on vulnerable women. The revelations ripple through the circle of Inba’s associates: their relatives come to despise them and ultimately kill them for their actions, while Inba’s father-in-law murders Inba after the latter kills his daughter and circulates rumours about her murder. In the ensuing confrontation, Kannabiran surrenders to the police, falsely confessing to the murders. Kosalai reproaches him for becoming a ruthless murderer, even as the law takes him away. He counters that his aim was never personal vengeance but removing the weeds that threaten society. With a defiant vow, Kannabiran ends by declaring that he will be back.