Sigappu Rojakkal 1978

Dileep, Kamal Haasan, runs Minerva Exports & Imports with a polished exterior, but he conceals a brutal, predatory streak. He preys on nubile girls, has sex with them, and kills them. These acts are quietly filmed by his adoptive father and mentor, G. Srinivasan—a deranged man scarred by his own history with women—who stays hidden away in a far corner of the mansion, watching his son carry out what he cannot do himself. The bodies are buried in Dileep’s garden, and a red rose bush grows above each grave, a grim floral marker for the crimes.

Dileep meets Sarada, Sridevi, a garment saleswoman, and a romance begins to bloom between them. Sarada is drawn to him, but she makes one condition: if they are to have a life together, he must marry her. Their courtship leads to marriage, yet their union is immediately shadowed by violence and secrecy.

On their first night together, Dileep hurries away to confront a witness who had seen him take Chitra, Vadivukarasi, to a restaurant; Chitra was later killed by Dileep. The witness, a waiter at the restaurant, K. Bhagyaraj, counters with a demand for more money to stay silent. When the man refuses to stay quiet for less, Dileep kills him.

Sarada begins to sense that something is terribly wrong at home. She notices oddities, like Dileep’s cat licking Sarada’s blood after she accidentally cuts her finger, and the cat’s eerie persistence as it chases her into a secret room. There, the entire history of Dileep’s crimes is written on the walls by Dileep himself, a chilling chronicle that reveals the depths of his depravity.

In flashback, we learn Dileep was born Muthu, an orphan taken in by a loving family. The daughter of that family lusts after him and tries to seduce him, but her parents throw him out. He later teams up with another couple; when the husband leaves on a trip, the wife brings home another man. The husband’s return interrupts the scene, and in a fit of rage he kills his wife. Dileep—now deeply embittered—encourages the husband to stab her and proclaims that all women are this way. This moment endears him to his adoptive father, cementing a twisted bond between them.

In the present, a frightened Sarada escapes and stumbles into the room of Dileep’s adoptive father, G. Srinivasan, realizing the monstrous voyeurism at the heart of their house. She screams, but she is unable to shake the father’s hold, and Dileep returns to assert his control.

When Dileep goes to park his car, Sarada seizes the moment and flees, freeing his adoptive father in the process and recognizing that his cover has been blown. Dileep chases Sarada, leading to a graveyard confrontation in which he is impaled on a cross. He staggers on, only to be caught by the police and imprisoned. In prison, his mind frays further; memory and coherence slip away, and he chants and writes Sarada’s name on the wall—the only memory that remains. Sarada, instead of remarrying, visits Dileep in jail on a regular basis, convinced that their marriage can still be saved and that he will be released someday.