Rangi Taranga 2015

Gautham Suvarna is a reclusive novelist living in the misty hills of Ooty, where his latest work, a novel titled RangiTaranga, seems to hold clues to a past he has never fully understood. His wife, Indu Suvarna, moves softly through his life, painting the covers of his books with a patient, gentle touch, a quiet presence that grounds him even as strange echoes from the past begin to surface. A self-proclaimed reporter from Bangalore, Sandhya Bhargav is chasing the identity of an anonymous writer who uses the pen name Anashku. Her pursuit, sparked by a publisher’s tip, pulls her toward a mystery that appears to be rooted in the same obscure authorial voice that Haunts Gautham’s pages.

The tension tightens when Indu, who is carrying a child, begins to endure persistent nightmares of an accident. She persuades Gautham to visit his ancestral home in the village of Kamarottu, hoping ritual acts might calm the shadows around her and their unborn child. Once there, Gautham befriends the village’s post master, Kalinga, a man whose outward patience masks a stormier past, and he befriends the elderly head master of the local school, Shankar. These new connections pull him deeper into a web of old folklores and present-day peril, where the familiar creaks of a haunted house begin to sound almost like a warning.

In the quiet rooms of the Kamarottu house, Indu experiences unsettling events. A close call near a well—where she nearly disappears into the depths while fetching water—becomes a catalyst for Gautham’s investigation. He learns from the town’s lore that the well houses a Brahmarakshasa, a malevolent force, and that the home is haunted by a ghost known as Guddada Bhoota. As Gautham delves into these legends, the town’s powerful men react with aggression: a henchman aligned with a local politician launches an attack that leaves him battered and wary. The mystery widens as Sandhya’s investigation brings her to Kamarottu, and Indu vanishes one night. The police declare she died six years earlier in a terrible accident, a verdict that unsettles Gautham and prompts a deeper search for the truth.

As the plot unfolds, Gautham uncovers a dangerous conspiracy: a hidden illegal sand mafia controlled by the corrupt politician Mahabala Hegde, with the complicity of some elements within the local police. This shocking revelation reframes the attack on him as more than a personal vendetta; it appears to be a shield thrown over ongoing criminal activity. Sandhya’s arrival and her collaborative work with Gautham in the investigation bring them toward a crucial discovery: a diary titled Harini. Through its pages, Gautham learns that the woman he believed to be Indu is actually Harini, a yoga instructor from Bangalore, and that he himself is not the man he thought he was. Harini confides in Indu and in Gautham about a past she has tried to outrun: she killed a man who abused her and who threatened her after she resisted advances. With this new sense of shared danger, the two decide to help Harini create an safe alibi and to move her to Kamarottu for protection.

The revelations take a sharper turn when it is disclosed that Gautham is, in fact, Siddharth, an aspiring writer and singer who loved Sandhya. The emotional weight of this truth becomes clear when a bike trip with college friends sets off a chain of fateful events. On a fog-laden road, Siddharth and his companion collide with the car carrying Indu, Gautham, and Harini near the Kamarottu junction. Harini, who now assumes Indu’s identity, survives and goes to the authorities, declaring that Siddharth is her husband Gautham. With the accident behind them, Siddharth’s past begins to surface more clearly as he and Sandhya chase the threads of memory and motive.

As Gautham and Sandhya investigate missing-person records, they note a chilling pattern: every year on July 7, a pregnant woman from the village disappears. They learn that these pregnancies are recorded and reported through the hospital, with post-delivery documentation reaching the patient. The only person with access to all such posts is Kalinga, confirming his central role in the mystery. Questioning Shankar yields a crucial clue about Kalinga’s true identity. The pieces finally fall into place: Kalinga is the Guddada Bhoota, the terror responsible for the abductions. A painful backstory explains the pattern—Kalinga’s wife, Anasuya, had an extramarital affair with the local doctor. When Kalinga discovered this, he killed Angara, a mentally ill man whom he wrongly believed to be the lover, sealing his fate with a brutal, ritualized vengeance that turned him into the killer he is known as.

The truth intensifies as Siddharth pursues Kalinga to prevent another tragedy. With the help of Shankar, he tracks the killer to a hidden hideout on a hill, where a brutal confrontation unfolds. In a decisive and violent struggle, Siddharth defeats Kalinga and ends his reign of fear, saving Harini from a grim future. The aftermath brings a fragile happiness: Harini gives birth to a child, a symbol of a new chapter that can begin free from the terror of the past. As for Sandhya, she steps away with a quiet grace, wishing Siddharth well and choosing not to reveal her own ties to the story or to Siddharth’s true identity, leaving behind a sense of bittersweet resolution and a poignant, unspoken connection that lingers in the air like the village’s evening mist.