Kazhugu 1981

Sathiyamoorthy Thengai Srinivasan is a wealthy diamond businessman and widower who lives with his younger brother Raja Rajinikanth and his two daughters, Radha and Chitra. He is a devout believer in saints and priests, trusting their supposed powers without question, while Raja is a carefree, skeptical foil who distrusts such figures. One day, Sathiyamoorthy invites a priest to his home to perform rituals meant to ward off evil, unaware that the man is an impostor and part of a thieves’ gang. The fake priest escorts Sathiyamoorthy to his treasure-filled lockers, claiming he can reveal a secret to safeguard the riches. The con artist hands Sathiyamoorthy a sacred sheet and instructs him to place it inside a locker. True to Raja’s suspicions, the thieves strike at night, plundering the wealth, but Raja awakens, fights them off, and recovers the looted property. Despite Raja’s persistent attempts to prove the priest a fraud, Sathiyamoorthy remains convinced that Raja’s actions were guided by the holy shroud’s powers.

Raja’s next trouble arises when he accidentally enters a ladies’ room and is confronted by a woman who accuses him of misbehavior. Seeking revenge for her accusation, Raja lies to her father, Sivaraman V. K. Ramasamy, claiming that he is the lover of Hemavathy, known as Hema Rati Agnihotri. Sivaraman believes the tale and curtails Hema’s outings, leaving her frustrated. Hema eventually confronts Raja to tell her father the truth, explaining that a man once entered the ladies’ washroom and tried to assault her, which explains her wary behavior. Hearing her account, Raja confesses the truth to Sivaraman, and as a result, Raja and Hema fall in love and marry.

As a wedding gift, Sathiyamoorthy presents Raja with a motorhome for their honeymoon. The newlyweds travel with Raja’s friends and eventually settle near a small village. There, they are helped by an innocent villager, Vasanthi Vanitha Krishnachandran, a vegetable vendor. Soon afterward, a drum sounds in the night, drawing Raja and his companions to a sacrificial field where Vasanthi is brutally sacrificed by a group of conspirators. Raja screams in horror and the group flees, racing to reveal the crime. The next morning, a police inquiry reveals no evidence that Vasanthi ever existed, and Raja’s team endures further torture, with the loss of one friend.

Driven by a deeper pursuit of justice, Raja follows the trail to Rajarishi, a figure believed to be a great saint Sangili Murugan. Raja, accompanied by his brother and father-in-law, confronts Rajarishi and discovers the truth: the so-called saint is actually a notorious mastermind who heads a gang that extorts wealth from the rich by peddling a sacred drink, Anandha Rasam, which is in reality alcohol. Adding to the tragedy, Radha, Sathiyamoorthy’s daughter, is declared dead from a snake bite, though she is in fact living and being kept under Rajarishi’s control for a ritual of human sacrifice.

Raja tracks Rajarishi’s network and finds Radha—his niece—under a trance, obeying Rajarishi’s commands. When Rajarishi is poised to behead her, Raja intervenes, rescuing Radha and escaping with her. The whole village closes in, and Raja manages a daring escape aboard a bus. In the climactic confrontation, Raja engages Rajarishi’s men, exposing the truth to everyone and peeling away the illusion that protected the criminals. The corrupt operation is brought to light, leading to the arrest of Rajarishi and his accomplices by the police, and restoring a measure of justice to the community.