Psycho 2020

Gautham, Udhayanidhi Stalin, a blind musician, is in love with Dahini, Aditi Rao Hydari, a charming RJ whose voice lights up his world. After several attempts by Gautham to meet her, Dahini asks him to rendezvous at a place she’ll announce in her radio show. He spends the day glued to the airwaves, piecing together the clue, and finally figures out the meeting point is a train station. Dahini waits there, but a psychopathic killer closes in, sedating her before she can escape. Gautham reaches the location in time but cannot save her due to his blindness, though his other senses prick with alarm as he detects something sinister in the air.

The next day, the police brief Gautham and reveal a chilling tally: 14 girls were abducted, 13 murdered, with Dahini the 14th. Convinced the authorities are overwhelmed, Gautham chooses to pursue the killer on his own terms, determined to rescue Dahini. The psycho is about to behead Dahini but notices there is no fear in her. Asked why, she calmly answers that Gautham will find her within a week, and that the killer will answer for his crimes soon. The killer leaves Dahini chained to a wall and accepts that challenge as a taunt.

On his way to track him, the psycho drags a prostitute into his orbit, sedates her, and ends her life in a brutal act. Undeterred, Gautham enlists Kamala, Nithya Menen, a handicapped ex-cop who had previously worked on the case, to aid him. With Kamala’s help, they theorize that the killer is a wealthy man who owns pig farms, and that the decay from the murdered girls lingers in the air as a critical clue. They canvass pig-farm owners across the area, hoping to connect the death toll to a single mastermind, but every lead dissolves into doubt. The weight of the case wears on Gautham, and he withdraws to his home, overwhelmed by the magnitude of the loss.

The pursuit takes a sharper turn when the killer himself crosses paths with Gautham. Gautham uses his cane to measure the car lengths and widths as a methodical counter to the hunter’s speed, while his ally Rajanayakam, Singampuli, stands by him and makes a last-ditch effort to corner the killer in his car. The killer escapes into a dense stretch of tall grass, where he ambushes and kills Rajanayakam, a blow that deeply shakes Gautham. Mourning his friend, Gautham contemplates abandoning the hunt, but Kamala reminds him of the promise they made.

Kamala then reveals a crucial lead: she had prior notice that the killer attended a college function. Fueled by this new angle, they return to the college to pore over recordings from that day. One face may be blurred, but they spot a college staff member nearby, a detail that helps them tighten the net. Kamala tracks the killer to a showroom and confirms his name—Angulimala, Rajkumar Pitchumani.

Meanwhile, Dahini bravely infiltrates the psycho’s lair and discovers a jailed woman and a dead cop. She learns that Angulimala was once her student, a troubled man shaped by a harsh history of abuse. Dahini recounts how his teacher subjected him to brutal punishment, a cycle that helped forge the killer’s dark path.

At about 11:45 PM, Gautham reaches the lair. The intruder alarms are triggered as the psycho lunges toward Dahini, but Gautham circles in, tackles the killer’s legs, and frees Dahini. The trio escapes, with Kamala in tow. In a final, savage twist, the psycho pleads with his imprisoned teacher for mercy. Dahini sees a flicker of humanity in him and places the cuff key a few meters in front of him; the teacher then swallows the key, deciding to punish him with one last act. The killer erupts, tears open the teacher’s stomach to retrieve the key, and then sprints after the trio, who manage to flee.

In the aftermath, Dahini’s interview with the press reveals a chilling layer: Stockholm Syndrome has taken root, and she finds herself empathizing with the psychopath rather than condemning him—imagining how things might have been different if she had been his mother or sister. The killer, watching the interview, slowly grasps that his sense of love and belonging has been awakened too late, and he steps toward a cliff with a wry, resigned smile as he ends his own story.