Mynaa 2010

Suruli recalls his lifelong, intense affection for Mynaa, a bond that starts in childhood and deepens as the years pass. In a small, tough village, a young Suruli drops out of school at fifteen and ekes out a living as an unofficial cleaner on the jeep ferry that threads the local channels. One day he sees 11-year-old Mynaa and her widowed mother being cast out of their home due to unpaid rent, and the moment sticks in his memory—the way Mynaa gathers her books from the jumble in the mess catches his eye, a small detail that foreshadows a future he can’t ignore.

Driven by a protective impulse, Suruli brings the mother and daughter to his village and secures a roof over their heads. He also helps Mynaa resume her schooling, providing a stable path that had previously eluded her. Time passes, and eight years slip by in a blink. Suruli has become a hard-working coolie in a neighboring town, while Mynaa is nearing the end of her schooling, preparing for her +2 exams. As Mynaa comes into puberty, their forbidden affection grows into something warmer, something that her mother views through a wary, disapproving lens. She sees Suruli as an unsuitable match, a sentiment that hardens into a firm plan when she tries to engineer Mynaa’s marriage to a Dubai-based worker.

Despite Mynaa’s own feelings and the bond they share, her mother’s voice carries weight, and she arranges the marriage before Suruli can act. The tension erupts when Suruli, unable to accept the arrangement, threatens the life of the would-be groom and lands under police attention with a 15-day jail sentence for the murder-threat. The Diwali window approaches, and the wedding date is set for the 14th day, just one day before his release, a cruel twist that shadows the holiday with a sense of impending doom.

Into this personal crisis steps a separate, intertwined thread: the jail’s sub-jail in-charge, Bhaskar, and the head constable Ramaiah. Bhaskar is married to Sudha, the daughter of a very wealthy landlord, a woman with three protective brothers who idolize her. Ramaiah, a devoted husband but childless, works alongside Bhaskar, and the two navigate the daily pressures of the jail while their own lives swirl with Diwali plans and personal loyalties.

As Diwali preparations begin, Suruli goes missing from the jail system, leaving everyone anxious about the consequences if he cannot be produced in court after the festival. Bhaskar, racing against time to save his own job, abandons a Diwali-related family obligation and travels with Ramaiah to Suruli’s village, hoping to locate him before the festival ends. They reach Mynaa’s home just as night falls, and a tense confrontation unfolds. Mynaa’s mother accuses Suruli of coercing her daughter into a relationship, while Mynaa herself refuses this accusation. The marriage is paused, and in a last-ditch attempt to protect them, Bhaskar intervenes and arrests Suruli, resuming their perilous journey toward a brighter or darker fate depending on the court’s decision.

The trio’s odyssey includes peril and surprise: an off-kilter ride through unfamiliar terrain, a chase that leads them into Kerala, and more moments that test their resolve. Meanwhile, Sudha and her brothers exert pressure on Bhaskar, trying to pull him into their world and to secure Mynaa’s future in opposition to Suruli. Yet Bhaskar’s growing sense of responsibility softens his stance as he watches Suruli save him from a freak bus accident, and the two men begin to see a path that might lead to a safer life for Mynaa.

When they finally return toward their hometown, Bhaskar makes a promise: he will secure Suruli’s release within two days and ensure Mynaa’s safety as the wedding looms. Ramaiah offers Mynaa shelter, but Bhaskar’s plan runs into more friction when Sudha insists on asserting control. She alleges an improper relationship between Bhaskar and Mynaa, turning the wheels of suspicion and anger. A devastating turn of events arrives on a railway line: a dead body—Mynaa—is found, and the discovery shakes everyone to their core.

In a heart-wrenching twist, Mynaa is revealed to have been murdered by Sudha’s brothers, who beat her and throw her body onto the tracks. The sight shatters Suruli, who, overwhelmed by grief and guilt, sacrifices himself by stepping in front of a moving train. The tragedy ignites a fury in Bhaskar, who quits his job, returns home, and carries out a brutal act of violence by killing his wife and her brothers with a sickle. He ultimately surrenders to the authorities and is sentenced to twenty years, serving his time in the same cell where Suruli once waited. The film leaves a lingering sense of consequence, where love, loyalty, and violence collide and ripple through the lives of those connected by a single, fateful decision.