Theri 2016

Joseph Kuruvilla, a non-violent bakery owner in Alappuzha, Kerala, lives a gentle, drama-free life with his five-year-old daughter Niveditha “Nivi” [Nainika] who fills their days with simple joy. His quiet routine is gently upended when his neighbor and Nivi’s teacher, Annie [Amy Jackson], starts to see him in a new light. Annie’s growing fondness is matched by Joseph’s own guarded warmth, and the two begin to share small, meaningful moments. As their bond deepens, Joseph finally reveals a startling truth: he is not merely a bakery owner but the DCP Vijay Kumar [Samantha Ruth Prabhu], a detail he trusts Annie with on the night he narrates his past. This confession shifts the frame of the story from a peaceful life to a life haunted by motive, memory, and the cost of choices made in the name of protection. The tale then moves through flashback and present, showing how a man who once walked away from the badge has to confront the violent consequences of decisions that were meant to safeguard his family.

Past: In Chennai, DCP Vijay Kumar meets an elderly man who pleads for help finding his missing daughter, Raji, an IT worker. The investigation tree grows dark as Vijay learns that Raji was sexually assaulted and killed, and the trail leads to Ashwin, the son of Labour Minister Vanamamalai [J. Mahendran]. Vijay goes to Vanamamalai’s home to arrest Ashwin, but is met with a poised resistance: Vanamamalai and Commissioner Sibi Chakravarthy insist that Ashwin disappeared three days earlier. Vijay is assigned to locate him and ends up killing Ashwin. He shares this brutal truth with Vanamamalai, who swears vengeance for Ashwin’s death. During this period, Vijay meets Mithra, a medical student, and the two fall in love. As their relationship grows, Vanamamalai’s brother Ratnam [N. Azhagamperumal] begins sending goons that shake Mithra’s faith in a future with a policeman. Mithra pleads with Vijay to quit the force, but he persuades her to marry him, and they start a family with their newborn daughter, Nivi. On Deepavali night, Vanamamalai, Ratnam, and their henchman Inspector Karikalan [Stun Siva] break into Vijay’s home, killing Vijay’s mother Pappu [Radikaa Sarathkumar], and attempting to drown Nivi. Mithra, in a desperate act, saves Nivi and makes Vijay vow to leave the police. He departs with Mithra’s tearful blessing, fakes his own death, and disappears to protect his child.

Present: Years later, Nivi goes on a school excursion, and Vanamamalai, who has learned that Vijay and Nivi survived, engineers a catastrophic bus accident to finish what he started. With the help of Annie and the local community, Vijay storms into the chaos and rescues Nivi and the other children. Learning that Vanamamalai orchestrated the wreck, Vijay returns to confront him in Chennai. He kills Karikalan and hangs his body from a station fan, a grim show of force that a wary constable Ganesan only partially believes when he spreads the rumor that Vijay has come back as a ghost. Vanamamalai tries to warn Ratnam, but Ratnam, now estranged from his brother, dismisses the warning as a manipulation and clings to his own version of the truth. That night, Vijay kills Ratnam by throwing him from a precarious construction site. He allows himself to be captured by Vanamamalai’s henchmen, but ruthlessly finishes Vanamamalai and his henchmen, hanging Vanamamalai’s body as a signal that the past has finally caught up with the present. The public remains puzzled by the string of killings, yet Sibi Chakravarthy is secretly aware that Vijay survived and quietly re-employs him in the police force, decades after the original tragedy. A few years on, Vijay, with an older Nivi and Annie by his side, is living in Ladakh under the alias Dharmeshwar, quietly assisting the CBI in solving cases and continuing to protect the family he loves.

The film sweeps through shifting landscapes—from the tranquil canals of Alappuzha to the bustling streets of Chennai and the high-altitude calm of Ladakh—to paint a portrait of a man who refuses to surrender to violence even as violence presses in around him. The central thread remains clear: a father who was forced to abandon his badge to save those he loves, and who continues to navigate a world where justice and vengeance often blur. The story uses this tension to explore themes of sacrifice, memory, and the cost of safeguarding a future free from harm, even at the expense of a personal peace that once felt within reach.