Maayavan 2017

Pramodh, Amarendran Ramanan, a renowned neurologist, dies under mysterious circumstances, and his gym trainer Dheena, Boxer Dheena, pays his respects at the funeral before quietly stepping away. The story then shifts to Kumaran, Sundeep Kishan, a young crime inspector who is on the trail of a petty thief. In a chilling turn, he witnesses Dheena murder his wife, and a brutal confrontation ensues: Kumaran is overwhelmed, but he manages to turn the tables in a dangerous struggle, ending with Dheena’s death. The case sets Kumaran on a harder path as his own physical and mental limits are tested.

Aadhirai, Lavanya Tripathi, a psychiatrist, enters the scene with a blunt assessment: Kumaran is medically unfit to return to duty. His pulse quickens as he wrestles with post-traumatic stress, and with Aadhirai’s guidance he begins a careful process of rehabilitation. The investigation takes another shocking turn when a famous actress, Vishma, Akshara Gowda, is found murdered. Kumaran discovers a troubling pattern: the bloodstains and the exact same brand of cigarette at Vishma’s scene mirror the earlier crime, matching his earlier suspicions and heightening the sense that a single mind is orchestrating these killings.

As Kumaran regroups, Aadhirai helps him gain his footing again, while Kumaran tries to connect the dots. He encounters Rudhran, Daniel Balaji, and introduces Aadhirai as a motivational figure to someone whose cooperation might unlock the case. Reinvigorated, Kumaran targets Gopi, Mime Gopi, the Makeupman, as the prime suspect behind the murders. Investigating reveals that Gopi and Dheena showed unusual, almost premeditated behavior days before the crimes, suggesting a shared, nefarious scheme. When Kumaran corners Gopi, the makeup artist unexpectedly leaps to his death rather than confess.

Another scientist, Narayanan, is murdered, pushing Kumaran deeper into the mystery. He finds a book written by Rudhran, which points toward a much larger conspiracy. Visiting Rudhran’s workplace, Kumaran notices a chilling transformation: the dog barks at him, and Rudhran begins smoking, using the same cigarette brand from the earlier crimes. The detective moves to restrain Rudhran, who reveals a ruthless side by killing his own dog. In a key moment, Rudhran signs the FIR with a name that he immediately corrects as the truth—first signing as Pramodh, the name of the late colleague.

A hidden thread emerges: Pramodh was a former colleague at the Indian Institute of Neurosciences, and Velayudham, Jayaprakash, a senior official, reveals a chilling project called Project Maayavan. The project promises a way to store memories in a hard drive and transfer them into another brain via a gel carrying millions of nanotransmitters. When injected, these transmitters attach to neurons, enabling memories to persist even after death by migrating into a new host.

To prove this theory, Pramodh conducted dark experiments without regard for human life. After Narayanan becomes Director of the Indian Institute of Neurosciences, he halts Pramodh’s work. Pramodh then uses himself as a subject, transferring his memories into a hard drive and killing himself, only to discover that his memories have migrated to Dheena, Gopi, and Rudhran after his death. Kumaran resolves that the next target is Major Sathyam, a.k.a. Major Sathyam, Jackie Shroff.

Pramodh, inhabiting Rudhran’s body, commits suicide and arrives in Sathyan’s brain, where the military man promises a life that could endure for more than a thousand years. Kumaran follows a clue from Pramodh’s wife to a secret lab where the memories reside on a hard drive. Pramodh uses this to blackmail and destroy Kumaran’s circle, once including his friend Karna, Bagavathi Perumal. He then abducts Velayudham and travels to the institute, intent on transferring into another body.

A gunfight erupts as Kumaran confronts the mastermind, uncovering the stark truth: Aadhirai is the next subject of the memory transfer. If Major Sathyam dies, Pramodh’s memories will leap into Aadhirai’s body, forcing Kumaran into a harrowing choice about loyalty, science, and love. In a twist that spans decades, twenty years pass and Kumaran is now happily married to Aadhirai, with a son in their home. The final image reveals Kumaran’s calculated victory: he has trapped Major Sathyam in a basement and kept him alive, ensuring that the haunting cycle of memory, power, and control remains contained within his own world.