Ainthaam Padai 2009

In Tirunelveli, a long-standing family feud forms the backdrop of a tense, stormy saga where Devasena, [Simran], is the daughter of Gunasekaran, and the past casts a long shadow over every new decision. To heal the rift and sew a fragile unity, Gunasekaran arranges that Devasena wed his brother Karunakaran, [Mukesh], hoping the arrangement will bind the feuding houses together. The other brother, Prabhakaran, [Sundar C], carries a more abrasive edge and treats Devasena with a blunt hostility that only fans the flames of resentment. From the start, Devasena vows to outmaneuver him by leaning into the alliance with Karunakaran and reshaping the family dynamics around her own terms.

But the match isn’t about quiet acceptance. Devasena, who never fully consummates her marriage with Karunakaran, begins to plot a calculated retaliation against Prabhakaran. When she discovers that Prabhakaran and Gayathri, [Suja Varunee], are secretly in love, she enlists the help of her uncle, Dhanushkodi, [Doddanna], to thwart their romance. Dhanushkodi’s machinations escalate quickly: he abducts Gayathri’s father to coerce Gayathri into an engagement with his own son, and the elder Kalpana, the woman Gunasekaran once cared for, is drawn into the scheme as well. Kalpana’s heart-wrenching past and her own role in the town’s power games come into focus as the web tightens around the two families.

Memories of the past begin to haunt Prabhakaran, revealing a pattern of humiliation that stretches back years. Gunasekaran and Kalpana once planned a life together, while Dhanushkodi and Rajadurai, [Raj Kapoor], engaged in illicit liquor dealings that corrupted the town’s streets. Kalpana, who led a women’s group, confronted those who profited from the scam, sparking a brutal clash that ended with Kalpana’s side driven from the city under pressure. The grudge between Rajadurai and Kalpana grows, laying the groundwork for a bitter vendetta that will resurface in the most dramatic way at a wedding.

The fateful wedding between Gunasekaran and Kalpana is set at the temple, a ceremony that should have united families but instead becomes a theatre of revenge. Kalpana wears the garland and sits on the wedding stage as Rajadurai arrives, bearing a thaali with the intent to complete a forced union. Kalpana fights back, pulling away and fleeing, but Rajadurai relentlessly pursues her, beating any who try to intervene. He corners Kalpana at a roadblock and forcibly ties the thaali around her neck. Shocked and traumatized, Kalpana clutches the thaali as the truth of the past unravels, and in a violent confrontation, Prabhakaran defends Kalpana and ends Rajadurai’s threat, leaving Kalpana deeply scarred and slipping into psychosis. The weight of these tangled histories is not lost on Thanthoni, who later relays the past to Devasena and sets the stage for the ensuing confrontation.

What follows is a deadly, strategic game of hands and wits between Prabhakaran and Devasena, each wielding clever plans to outmaneuver the other while navigating the loyalties around them. Thanthoni, [Vivek], steps into the fray in disguise as a preacher, using that disguise to sway a minister, [Radha Ravi], into lending his influence to a coordinated plan. Kalpana’s release from Dhanushkodi’s clutches becomes a crucial turning point as Prabhakaran rescues Gayathri’s father and disrupts the violent schemes surrounding the wedding. In the chaos that ensues, Prabhakaran positions himself between Devasena and the destructive tide of vengeance, and a controversial decision unfolds in which he ties the thaali to Gayathri’s neck, but with a sense of reluctant consent and complicated history behind it.

As the conflict reaches a fever pitch, Dhanushkodi, enraged by Devasena, attempts to drive a fatal outcome, threatening her life and turning the scene into a suicide-like trap. Kalpana intervenes, and a united front—Gunasekaran, Karunakaran, and Prabhakaran—rallies to overpower Dhanushkodi’s men and restore some balance to the situation. In the end, the bonds between the couples tighten: Prabhakaran and Gayathri, Gunasekaran and Kalpana, Karunakaran and Devasena, and Thanthoni and Diana, [Aarthi], share a night of togetherness that signals a fragile but hopeful peace after years of bitterness.

This film is a layered tapestry of loyalty and betrayal, where family honor, love, and the memory of past humiliations drive the present actions. The Tirunelveli setting gives it a grounded texture, while the unfolding drama around weddings, bargains, and vows tests every character’s resolve. Across the twists and turns, the story remains focused on the choices each person makes to protect—or jeopardize—their loved ones. The result is a dense, enduring tale of revenge tempered by romance, in which reconciliation is possible but never simple, and the line between ally and adversary remains perilously thin.