Kaatru Veliyidai 2017

Varun Chakrapani Karthi is an Indian Air Force pilot whose fighter is brought down by a Pakistani Stinger missile. He ejects and lands behind enemy lines, only to be quickly surrounded by the Pakistani Army and held as a prisoner of war in Rawalpindi, where he endures torture. Throughout his captivity, he repeatedly revisits memories of his relationship with Dr. Leela Aditi Rao Hydari, a woman who has arrived in Srinagar to work as a doctor.

Dr. Leela, a dedicated physician, arrives in Srinagar and soon crosses paths with Varun after a dramatic turn of events. When Varun suffers a severe accident during a joyride, Leela takes charge at a local hospital, treating him with skill and compassion and nursing him back to health. Yet Varun slips away from the hospital without her knowledge, a move that sparks a tension-filled dynamic. Dr. Illyas Hussain RJ Balaji, an army doctor, assists Varun in the aftermath, but Leela and her colleague Dr. Nidhi Rukmini Vijayakumar confront Illyas to uncover the truth behind Varun’s abrupt departure.

The trio then attends an Air Force gathering, where Varun impresses Leela not just with his charisma but with his dancing. He invites her to meet him at the Flying Club, and she agrees. He then takes her for a joyride in his aircraft to apologize for leaving without saying goodbye. As their conversation evolves, Varun reveals a painful truth: Leela is the sister of Ravi Abraham, the course pilot who died in a flight Varun was supposed to fly. What starts as intrigue deepens into mutual attraction, and the two begin to fall for each other.

After two months without contact, Leela learns that Varun has been assigned to a camp in Leh for three months. Curious and concerned, she and Dr. Nidhi travel to visit him, hoping to understand Ravi’s death from the man himself. Varun leads Leela to the place where Ravi died, and as they spend time there, Leela begins to glimpse a darker side to Varun’s personality.

In the present tense, Varun and two fellow Indian prisoners hatch a plan to escape the Rawalpindi prison, while the past threads reveal tension between Leela and Varun. A heated exchange during a debate about gender roles sees Leela assert that both men and women are equal, challenging Varun’s belief that women belong to a separate sphere. He reacts with anger, but she refuses to back down, ultimately leaving to pursue her own path.

The story follows Varun’s fateful decisions: he visits Leela at her home, tries to persuade her to marry him at a Registrar’s office, and then departs for Delhi. Leela, who later reveals she is pregnant, resolves to raise the child on her own. Before Varun departs for a Kargil-style frontline conflict, he asks for one more chance. He is soon drawn into war, where he is shot down by a surface-to-air missile, ejects, and is captured. He and two other prisoners devise a perilous escape, cross borders, and are detained briefly by Afghan authorities before being repatriated to India with the help of Indian embassy staff. Varun returns home to a heroic welcome and resumes his active duty.

Years pass, and Varun eventually locates Leela again. He discovers that she has a daughter, Rohini Dhyana Madan. When Rohini asks who she resembles, Leela smiles and says Rohini looks like both parents, underscoring the shared bond they now share. Varun learns that Rohini is his responsibility from that moment forward, and the family’s future unfolds with the hope of a renewed, rebuilt life together.