"I close my eyes for a minute"
'This Malayalam song is from which film?'
'And who is the director?'
Dead duck, Sekar
No one will get this!
No sir, I've seen this movie
Prem Nazir acted in it
Tip of my tongue Can't get the name
It is from the Tamil film 'Thirumalai thenkumari'
'Azhagae Thamizhae, nee vaazhga' has these Malayalam lines in between
Direction, production, screenplay, dialog by A.P Nagarajan
It was released in 1970
Given a chance he'll peck away the prize money like a crow
Who is this chap?
Murder case
Why should an accused answer Cine quiz?
Can't you keep your mouth shut?
This is a police station
'There are many villages in Tamil Nadu called Papanasam'
'They are all places to lose your sins'
'On January 31st 1975...'
'...a film 'Cinema Paithiyam' was released'
'My mother had severe cramps while she was watching it'
'She didn't even know it was labor pains'
'Silly nitwit!'
'She gave birth to me then and there'
'Her sins saw the light of day in Papanasam, in Tirunelveli district'
'That sin is yours truly'
'My name is Suyambulingam'
'I am true to my name'
'I sprouted and bloomed on my own in this land'
'My mother left me when I was 4'
'I didn't study'
'I cleaned dirty dishes in a hotel'
'All that I studied...'
'...was cinema'
Karuppu...!
Get me my usual items
- Quick...quick...quick - Wait, brother
Fritters and black coffee
Wait, I'll bring it for you
'Indian politics raped'
My dear chap!
You'll ruin the paper's reputation
You are reading both the headlines together
Karuppu, may you live long!
Just take the paper from him
This paper news is all old fashioned, Bhai
Now it's the age of digital news
How will they broadcast the same news?
How?
First-
First eat your 'vada'
Hey! Can't you see we are talking?
You make me look like I'm uneducated
Leave it, brother
The whole town knows about you
What about me?
In the temple receipt you wrote your name as Chumbulingam
Then what's news, Bhai?
Did your usual set of freebie customers come by today?
4 or 5 came
The 'tiger' hasn't come as yet for its kill!
Perumal the cop hasn't come on his rounds?
He has got 2 new lambs for the slaughter
They are waiting for Perumal sir
The goats have come in search of the tiger!
What's the matter?
What do you want me to say?
Shall I tell him?
They are farmers who live at the foothills
They have one son
He borrowed money from a moneylender
His chapter closed then
To grow plantain
Elephant ate up the plantains
Naturally!
If you put plantains in the elephant's path...
...will it help you with farming?
Okay, what's done is done
Now the loan interest is sky high
I get it
Wait, there's more!
Now their son has been kidnapped
They say they will give him back when the money is paid
Who took him?
Who else?
Our 'tiger'
Said he was taking him for interrogation to the police station
But fact is he took their son to Tenkasi
(whispers)
Tell the sub-inspector
He said if I do that, I won't see my son again, sir
Why won't he say that?
It's like complaining to the left hand about the right hand
They are all thick as thieves, brother
So...?
There is something called court and law!
Which law or court applies to a man with Satan in him?
Bingo!
The money lender will plead ignorance
Perumal will say he never arrested anyone
Quite capable
Who has proof otherwise?
If there were witnesses, as if they'll pounce to his defence
Then there'll be 4 others sitting just like this as witnesses
'Habeas corpus'
'Whichever part of the world Nila is...'
'...they have to bring her to court'
'Deiva thirumagal'
What?
Know what Habeas corpus is?
Name sounds like a dweller near the seashore area
Is he related to our Charuhasan?
- Aiyo! Bhai - Eh Allah!
It's a court order
If a man is missing...
...and there is a doubt someone has-
...killed him
Or kidnapped him
This writ can be used in court
The court will send an order to the police
The concerned person should be brought to court
And then-
Like parents report when actresses go missing
- Like that? - Correct!
Remove all evil eyes from him, Bhai
I'll chop and dump him into the boiler
Good idea!
What you do is...
...go straight to Tenkasi
Meet a chap called Sankarapandi there
Good fellow but a lawyer!
He does everything
If he gets a case, he'll literally be in tears
Like them
What case?
You just heard my long story and you ask me this!
About their missing son
Oh! You meant that!
Say your son is missing
We suspect he may have been kidnapped
You should find him for us
Sankarapandi is handling this-
You don't even have to engage him
Just call the police station and say Sankarapandi is handling the case
They will freak out
This case will put even the police in a tight spot
- Really? - Oh Allah!
The poor can be helped with such a writ, huh?
When policemen don't pay for their tea...
...is there any writ to collect the dues?
They are writing it in the Supreme Court
'Thanks be to God'
'Tiger' is coming here
Don't let him see you here
Go out through the back door
Here, take this money
Karuppu, show them the way
Go...go
Why dig this pit here now?
If all the waste is dumped here...
...it can be used as manure for the garden
Compost Organic!
I meant, why should you be digging it?
You'll get blisters on your hand
I like that!
For 100 bucks he will do it for you gladly
Who will come for 100 bucks?
No one will touch a shovel for a rupee less than 300
Best is buy ready-made fertilizers than dig like this
How can a true village belle be a traitor to nature?
Come and see
Earthworm
What do you think of these worms?
Yes! Only they feature in my dreams every night
Making fun of me?
You know what these worms are?
Farmer's friend
When kids go fishing they will look for earthworms
All you have to do is dig 1 foot
A clew of worms will land up like an army
Where do you find them now?
When farmers have washed their hands off agriculture...
...even our nation is going to the dogs
If we don't go back to nature...
...we can't eat a morsel of rice
Then we have to settle for cheese burger!
You don't even read the newspaper properly
How did you learn all this?
If you're blessed with natural intelligence...
...no need to study anything
If we use our eyes and notice things all around us-
I have also watched the film 'Pandavar bhoomi'
When did you-
Oh! I showed it in my cable TV, huh?
If the film maker and I think alike can anyone file a case?
Must feel happy
You took up the shovel to cut cost and not pay a laborer
And then this sermon
My dear lady! I will preach
I'll climb on top of that hill and preach to one and all
I've only studied up to 4th grade
No parents
No aunts, uncles or cousins
Whatever you see here I stood on my own 2 feet
And saved every single paisa
This garden, my job, house, jeep and the new battery in it
Self-made man I am!
I'm the only one licensed to preach in this-
I'm talking to you and you just walk away
What's new?
Has even 1 dialog changed in all these years?
Oh! That's why
I have to wash the dishes
Wait, listen I'll change the dialog
You continue with your sermon to the pit
Holistic sermon!
Where were you standing?
Where did that boy fall?
Re-enact it in your mind and tell me
There
You stood there?
- He fell over there? - That boy
I stood here
Okay...okay
What are you looking at?
You said he hurt his head
But there isn't even a drop of blood
Maybe it was an internal injury
What, dear?
Okay...okay
It happened for the best
It's hard to hide blood stains
His clothes
Even a thread, a button, his hair Nothing should be left behind as-
Hey, get that plastic bag
Take everything and put it in
Not 1 item of his should be here
Clean everything, you hear?
Here...here, pick this up
Dad, his sim-
Hey...hey, wait
(recollection of Tamil films watched)
'These days, police nab a criminal only by using his cell phone'
'It's a problem hereafter if our phone is switched on'
'With the help of the signal strength...'
'...we can locate it within a radius of half a mile'
'He's a hacker who helps us crack cyber crime cases often'
Take a cloth and wipe this whole place clean
Until I come back, don't leave the house
I'll lock the door from the outside
It should look like no one is in the house
Where are you goin-
It is okay to ask
Only then will you know
We have to find out where his car is parked
We must move it from there
- Come back soon - I will
How will we be alone?
The very thought makes me tremble
Apply the sacred ash from Swayambu Lingam temple
I'll come back by tonight
I won't call you
If someone else calls, don't pick up
Everything will get recorded
What else...?
Come here, my dear
Dad
Will the police put me in jail?
I'm scared, dad
What are you saying?
You?
In jail?
Your dad is here for you
As long as I am here...
...I won't let anything happen to you
I promise you
Understood?
Maaa!
Where did you go for so long?
Dad?
What is happening here?
We've been worried sick
Where were you?
Don't leave us alone like this and go, dad
Okay, I won't
Enough?
Don't cry
Dad, what did you do to the car?
Which car?
Varun's car
That car-
I pledged it
Satisfied?
One rule from now on
I'll tell you only what you need to know
Enough if you know only that much
Don't speak another word
Understand?
Understood?
Got it?
Go and get me a towel
I need to dry myself
You aren't tensed even one bit?
Tensed about what?
That boy we-
Which boy?
A boy never came here
We didn't see anyone
We know nothing
But Varun-
Who is he?
Sit
Sit down
We don't know any boy by that name
Neither did any boy come here
That's how our mindset should be
We must not be scared or tensed
Or else we'll get caught
I understood that today
I'm coming back from my office
The minute I entered, Sermadurai asked me
'Why have you changed so much, brother?'
If that fool saw a difference in me...
...then imagine the others
So what happened has happened
Forget everything
And behave normally with everyone
All of you get ready
We're going on a trip tomorrow
- Where? - Tenkasi
Why?
We shouldn't be here for the next 2 days
If someone asks...
...we say we're going for that meditation
Which meditation?
That flyer you showed me
- Swami Varadananda - Yes, that holy man
It ended yesterday
Oh! It's over?
Yesterday, today or tomorrow?
Why are you confusing me?
Girls, come here
Listen carefully to me
This is important
Last Saturday
August 2nd
Where were we?
In Tenkasi
We attended a prayer session
When did we get back?
The next day
On Sunday
When?
In the evening
Where was the prayer?
In Tenkasi
Where in Tenkasi?
Goddess Badrakali temple
Why are you asking all this?
So the police will come?
Definitely
But we don't know when
The later they come, the better
They still don't know what happened to the boy
No evidence
But they'll try to get that evidence out of us
Like in the movies
They will try to scare you
They will pretend to be very fair
They will confuse you
They might even hit your mother and me
But if there is no evidence at all...
...they will go away
But whatever we do...
...we must not change our story
Can I trust you?
Dad
Will the police hit you?
Is that what's worrying you?
Your mother beats you when you do something wrong?
Like that
I'm scared, dad
What?
No, tell me
I'm scared
I'm here for you, right?
So why be scared?
Okay...go to bed
Sleep well
Dear?
If we say we weren't here on Saturday...
...can we really get away with it?
Our cable office knows
Sulaiman Bhai's hotel folks know
Everyone would have seen us
Definitely they would have
Then how can we lie?
Trusting a common human tendency
None of us will remember details not important to us
We have a vague memory of it
That's all
Let's hope for the best
We have 2 ways out of this
One is to tell the truth and surrender
What, hahn?
Do you know the repercussions?
Our child's face will be flashed in every TV channel and newspaper
Our family's reputation will be in ruins
We have no choice
I would never let you or my daughter go to jail
Don't cry
Listen to me
Don't cry
You must not cry
- You are Suyambu's wife? - Yes, sir
Your name?
Rani
Good day
Suyambu, you don't usually come home at this time
After you questioned my daughter in school...
...the Principal called home and told my wife
She got all flustered and was in tears
She called me
I called the police station and they said you were here
I rushed here to meet you
Come, let's go inside
Have you seen the boy in this photo?
No
Madam, you?
- This car? - It's a Maruti
No, I haven't seen this car
No, sir
Suyambu...?
Can we talk openly?
Yes, sir, I feel the same way too
The boy in this photo, Varun Prabhakar...
...is the only son of IG Geetha Prabhakar
He has been missing for 25 days
Some time back when he went for a Nature camp...
...he met your daughter, Selvi
He has come here in the yellow car we showed you
We found that out
Our men dredged the car out of a pond in a quarry near Ilanji
We have 2 reasons for coming here
One...Varun knows your daughter
Two, our constable, Perumal has seen you drive that car
When I went to Irulappan's house...
...for passport verification
...I saw you driving that car with my own eyes
What does that mean?
The boy has come here
But we weren't here on August 2nd
We went to Tenkasi for a mass prayer
And returned only on 3rd evening
Enough
This will do
All okay now, sir?
You keep that smile to yourself, you hear?
Neither sir nor I told you the date the boy was here
I didn't tell you the date you drove away in the car
But how does your wife know that specific date?
Suyambu, why are you smiling so flippantly?
What he's asking is justified Answer that question
I'm not being flippant, sir
Why would I disrespect a policemen?
She still doesn't know what has happened
That's why she is standing dazed like this
I told you already
You went to school
School's reputation will go for a toss, no?
That worried the Principal who called up home and told her
She has asked her the same questions you did
That's how we even knew about the dates
Let's go
You didn't say anything about Perumal seeing you in that car
Should I even answer this question, sir?
Why?
The whole of Papanasam knows how Perumal sir dislikes me
Whatever I say, he won't believe me
I'm not asking this on Perumal's behalf
It is for my own satisfaction
I'm not questioning that
If sir is 100% sure he saw me...
...then it means he's intentionally lying
Wait...wait
Or he could have seen someone else like me
Because on August 2nd...
...from 8:00 a.m until 5:00 p.m the next day
...we were all in Tenkasi
No, sir
I'm 100% sure
I know it was him
I saw him with my own eyes
On August 2nd, from when you left until you came back...
...tell me what happened clearly
Right, I'll tell you
Early morning at 5:30 a.m, right?
We took the first bus to Tenkasi
You have a jeep, right?
Don't ask
Last month our jeep stopped half way through
She was so mad at me
So this time we took a bus
Did it rain when you got back home?
Heavy rain
We were drenched to the skin
Both our children fell sick the next day
We didn't even send them to school
There's something strange about saving all these bills
Why?
You're the first man to save bus tickets
Sir, I came to this town empty-handed
If I now run this house, business and office...
...as a self-made man it's because I'm thrifty
I round up my account to the last paisa
I'll write the accounts after looking at all the receipts
I know how people talk behind my back
But if I minded all that, I couldn't have built this house
- What do you say? - Okay, see you
How many acres is this place?
5 acres
Okay, I'll take leave
Did I blabber about the date?
Good thing you wriggled out of it
Otherwise they wouldn't have believed it at all
Must tell everything properly
But all of us shouldn't say it exactly the same
You get it?
Time...when it comes to stating the time
We shouldn't tell the exact time to the nanosecond
You are both kids
Be vague about it
Must tell approximately only
Your mother and I will tell the correct time
Okay
I don't know the exact time
But it had started by the time we landed there
How long after you reached did the prayer start?
They will keep changing the questions and hound you
Listen to it clearly, think and then answer
They had started chanting by the time we reached
But your mother told us you waited for a long time
'Your mother said this Your father said that'
The policeman will lie glibly and get you muddled up
Don't believe it and change what you said
No, they had started even before we got there
Where is my son?
I swear I don't know
We've told you so many times
Hey! What do you think of yourself?
Whatever wild tales you spin...
...you think the police are dumb enough to swallow?
Claiming you were attending a meditation session...
...I know all the secrets about where you really went
I need to know only this
Why did my son come to see you?
What is the relationship between you and him?
After the camp I haven't seen him, madam
Look here That's it!
Everything is over
There's no point in lying anymore
Telling the truth is your only way out
Or else...
...the way I interrogate will take an ugly turn
I swear, madam
I don't know
Where is my son?
I will kill you if you don't tell me
Ma...
I swear on our family deity...
...we don't know anything
Sir-
You-
Dad...!
Tell us
Tell me the truth
Let go of me
Sir?
Confess now
Where is my son?
You know
I won't let you go till you tell me
Aiyo! No, ma
I swear
We don't know anything
Please let us go
Where is Varun?
I'm asking you
Tell me
Where is Varun?
Will you open your mouth and tell me or not?
Where is Varun?
Where is that boy?
Will you tell us or not?
Till you tell the truth you'll be thrashed
Varun's friend Alex is here
Enough
I will-
IG madam asked you to stop
Step aside
Sir, he-
Get out!
Listen
Suyambu, what is this?
If you know something, then just spill it out
I really don't know anything
What is the problem?
Why get thrashed like this?
If you know something, just tell them
They won't let you go till you do
Everyone clear out
Perumal, you stay here
I know about the video
There's no need to hide anything hereafter
Tell me
Where is my son?
We are not hiding anything
Only if we know we can hide anything
I need to know the truth
Okay, madam
What?
Sir...sir
Get lost
It hurts
Hurts?
Does it hurt you if I hit your dad?
What? Tell me!
Tell me
Tell us
Tell us what happened
You...!
This hand
This hand won't hurt
He nearly stepped on me like he was about to kill me
That's why I told him
That man hit my precious baby?
Yes
Sorry, dad
I couldn't help myself, I told him
Are you angry with dad?
No, dad
Are you angry that I confes-
(gasps in pain)
- No...no, honey - Angry with me?
What you did was right
Everything will be fine
Look at your granddaughter
Look at how the policeman Perumal has hit our Meena
Hey Allah!
They hit us for no fault of ours
You ask for justice
Yes, I hit you
And I'll hit you again here
Don't raise your hand
Don't spare him
Dear?
You saw the paper?
What?
Inspector General Geetha Prabhakar has resigned
Poor lady!
How can she be blamed?
It's terrible losing a son
Even if she's a top police official she's also a mother, right?
We've been very cruel to her
This just shows how magnanimous you are
Think about it this way
If because of what that boy did...
...our child's life had been ruined?
You think this same lady would have felt sad for us?
She would have wanted to save her own son
Normal human tendency to be self-centered
To each man his life is priority
I've been telling my kids to speak the truth for so long
Now I have taught them to lie
That's what is killing me
We shouldn't think about it
We'll think about how to erase it from our hearts
Tell me
When did you move that boy?
When I dumped his car into the pond
Where?
Let the truth...
...die and burn with me
You're safe only if you don't know
Understood?
She isn't an Inspector General now
No authority or influence
An ordinary lady
A mother who cries thinking of her son unable to sleep at night
Doctors gave up on us ever having a baby
But then we had Varun
So we pampered him a bit too much
We couldn't raise him right
That guilt is killing us
When we thought about it without any prejudice...
...we understood something
Whatever might have happened to our son...
...we are to blame completely
It's our fault, not doing a good job of raising him
From the day we realized this...
...we wanted to meet you
We were able to only now
Knowingly or unknowingly...
...we tortured your family
We apologize for everything we did
We are leaving this place
Her sisters are in America
We want to relocate
Before we go...
...we just wanted closure
We can't leave this land without knowing the truth
What happened to Varun?
Is he alive?
Is he alive somewhere?
Is there even the tiniest hope we can expect to see him?
If not-
Every time the door bell rings...
...both of us run to the door
Every time the mobile rings...
...our hearts miss a beat
Every boy's voice sounds like his
The hope it brings
Preceded by the disappointment
Alternating
Our life is a living hell
We can't bear it
We feel we may go mad
That's why we decided to leave the country
Tell us
Only you can
Can we wait for him?
Okay...it's okay
You don't trust us
Your lack of trust is justified
I understand
Hereafter...
...we won't bother you
Forgive us
Come
Sir...sir
1 minute
You're really a-
You're really a great man
Big-hearted
I'm not like that
I'm a very...
...small man
Selfish
My whole life revolves around my wife and my girls
They form my world
I don't know what happens outside of that circle
Neither do I dream of anything more
In that small world...
...an unwanted guest entered
He tried to break our lives we had painstakingly built
She begged him so much
She fell at his feet
I don't think he understood
After all he's young, you see
It wasn't on-
It wasn't on purpose
It was-
It was an accident
So many times, I wanted to find you, fall at your feet and beg forgiveness
1000 times or so
But I couldn't muster up courage
Like I said...
...I'm a very small man
I didn't have the guts
I want my wife and daughters to be happy
I wanted them to lead good lives
And I just wanted to fulfill that
To even walk to the ends of the earth to make that happen...
...seemed right to me
This river Papanasam
People come from all over the world
They take a dip in this water to absolve themselves of their sins
I belong here Native to this town
We will slowly dip ourselves and wash away our sins
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