Naan 2012

Karthik is a brilliant student who already shows signs of criminal behavior in childhood, such as forging his friend’s parent’s signatures on a report card. After a mistake leads to him being sent home from school, he is shocked to discover his mother in bed with a neighbor. His mother begs him not to tell his father about the affair, but he does, and his father commits suicide. The affair continues, and one fateful day, Karthik sets the house on fire, killing his mother and her lover. He is sent to a juvenile home where he grows up, and upon release the warden urges him to focus on his studies and to follow an address to his uncle.

Karthik’s aunt is unwilling to take him in, so he heads to Chennai to start anew. A bus accident changes everything when his fellow passenger, Salim, is killed. Karthik seizes Salim’s documents, assumes his identity, and enrolls in a government medical college to pursue MBBS. In this new life, he befriends a wealthy classmate, Ashok, becomes entwined with his girlfriend, Rupa, and their friend Suresh, all while moving carefully to hide his true past.

Ashok even allows Salim to stay at his house rent-free, a detail that will prove crucial as the web of deception tightens. Yet danger lurks: the warden from the juvenile home recognizes Karthik’s face and evokes a murky memory, and Ashok grows increasingly suspicious of his new friend’s strange behavior. The trio’s dynamics become more complicated when Ashok and Suresh head to a farmhouse without Rupa. Suresh suggests bringing along some girls, a plan Salim informs Rupa about because of her steadfast loyalty to Ashok. This fuels Rupa’s suspicions that Ashok might be involved with others, while Ashok worries that Salim has betrayed him to Rupa. Tensions erupt when Ashok slaps Salim and tells him to move out; Karthik apologizes and agrees to seek another place to stay, attempting to maintain the façade.

A pivotal moment arrives when Ashok opens his briefcase and discovers a photo of Karthik’s biological father, realizing that the man Karthik had claimed as his father was not the real one. Before the truth can surface, Karthik enters the room, pleads for the photo, and Ashok’s probing turns cold. Ashok then insinuates that Karthik is not who he pretends to be—hinting at a non-Muslim identity by noting Karthik’s circumcision status. In a flash of panic, Salim shoves Ashok, and Ashok’s head strikes a table, dying instantly. Horrified at first, Karthik quickly shifts into a cleaner cover-up: he buries Ashok’s body in a graveyard on the outskirts so no one can discover the truth.

With the crime concealed, Karthik, still masquerading as Salim, manages to fool Ashok’s family and Rupa, even when a family friend comes calling and expects to meet Ashok after all these years. Meanwhile, Suresh uncovers the deception and confronts Karthik, who responds by killing Suresh and burying him in the same graveyard. The next day, police arrive at Ashok’s house, uncover Suresh’s corpse, and interrogate those around Ashok—yet Karthik, pretending to be Salim, convinces the investigators that Ashok was the culprit and fled. The authorities believe Karthik is a diligent, innocent student under Salim’s identity, while he continues to live as Salim, now with Salim’s father’s consent to carry on with his son’s identity. The story closes on a chilling cliffhanger, with the promise of more to come: To Be Continued.