Airaa

Airaa
Poster
Directed by	Sarjun KM
Written by	Priyanka Ravindran
Produced by	Kotapadi J Rajesh
Starring	Nayanthara Kalaiyarasan
Cinematography	Sudarshan Srinivasan
Edited by	Karthik Jogesh
Music by	Sundaramurthy K.S.
Production company	KJR Studios
Distributed by	Trident Arts & Star Vijay (Satellite Right)
Release date	28 March 2019 (2019-03-28)
Running time	142 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Airaa (transl. The beginning ஐரா) is a 2019 Indian Tamil horror film written and directed by KM Sarjun. The film stars Nayanthara and Kalaiyarasan. The film is produced by Kotapadi J Rajesh under the production banner KJR Studios. The film was initially expected to be released on the eve of Christmas but the shooting of the film wasn't completed as planned until December 2018. Nayanthara is playing a dual role in a film for the second time after Maya (2015).

Plot

The movie starts off with Yamuna (Nayanthara), who is a journalist. Not interested in marriage, she goes to her grandmother Parvathy's (Kulappulli Leela) house in the rural area of Tamil Nadu. Her grandmother, despite being blind, has a sharper vision than some normal people. Yamuna's pitches are mostly inspired by her grandmother.

The movie then cuts and shows Amudhan (Kalaiyarasan), who is investigating a string of deaths that have been happening in the area throughout the movie. Meanwhile, Yamuna, Parvathy, Mani (Yogi Babu), and Mani's nephew Babloo (Ashwanth Ashokkumar) start making fake ghost videos on YouTube, which eventually catch public attention and go viral. The movie then shows Amudhan, who is on a lookout for a few people whom he met in the local bar. After enquiring in a few places, he finds out where the people live and goes to their houses. Suddenly, the same two people whom he had been looking for fall from the top of their apartment building to their deaths, which is actually the same way the other people have also died.

Amudhan then climbs to the rooftop of the building, only to find nobody there. He then screams the name 'Bhavani'. The movie cuts back to Yamuna, who is suddenly being haunted by a ghost but is unsure who it is and why it is attacking her. One night, Yamuna sees her grandmother looking up at the CCTV cameras that Yamuna had fixed for her videos. Yamuna is taken aback by this and exits the room that she is in to check on her grandmother, who then gets dragged by the ghost to the garden area of the house and is attacked. Yamuna is also attacked this time. Yamuna then wakes up in a hospital and is greeted by her parents (Jayaprakash and Meera Krishnan). She asks her father about her grandmother's condition, to which he replies that she is alive but in a critical condition. Yamuna, who is still in the hospital, wakes up in the middle of the night and sees a butterfly, which leads her out of her room and to the hospital corridors. On the floor, she finds drawings on a cloth of the same butterfly, which happen to lead her to the lift and to her grandmother's hospital room. Yamuna then finds her grandmother dead and that her monitor is no longer beeping. The movie cuts to Amudhan, who is talking to the ghost, Bhavani (Nayanthara). He is telling her that revenge is not important and that she should not kill people anymore. Amudhan tries to tell Bhavani to stop, to which she replies by saying that her job is almost done, except for one thing: she needs to kill Yamuna.

The next scene is at Parvathy's funeral, which takes place shortly after the hospital scene. Yamuna's parents are scolding Mani for making ghost videos on YouTube which eventually lead to Parvathy's death. Yamuna is then greeted by Babloo, who says that Bhavani is a very good person and that everyone killed her. Babloo's face then turns into ash, revealing that he was never there and that he is not Mani's nephew and that he is actually a ghost, as well. This causes Yamuna to do further research on both Babloo and Bhavani. At the same time, Amudhan tries to locate Yamuna in the odds of trying to save her from Bhavani. Sooner or later, Yamuna manages to find clues that lead her to Amudhan's house. While she tries to use a torchlight to see the interior of his home, Amudhan shows up, welcoming her into his home.

Yamuna then asks Amudhan why Bhavani is trying to kill her. He says that he does not know but does tell Yamuna about Bhavani's past. During those days in India, especially in villages, it is customary for any family with girls to be wealthy, due to having to be able to afford marriage dowries. The scene starts with Bhavani's father crying while walking out of his house to inform his relatives that his wife has yet again given birth to another baby girl. Bhavani's father walks towards an old tractor and suddenly dies by a lightning attack. This incident causes the villagers to believe that it is because of Bhavani's ill fate. After this incident, Bhavani faces many fits of abuse and humiliations. She then meets Amudhan at school. He starts to love her by admiring her inner beauty. After Amudhan's father finds out about his relationship with Bhavani, he sends Amudhan to college elsewhere. Bhavani is left heartbroken and stays in her village. One night, Bhavani's brother-in-law (Nitish Veera) tries to misbehave with her, and despite being innocent, Bhavani's mother (Senthikumari) and sister ask her to leave, believing the lies of her brother-in-law. After being kicked out of her family, she moves to Chennai and does a few odd jobs at a hotel. One day, Bhavani happens to meet Amudhan at a restaurant. He takes her home and proposes to marry her, and she accepts it. On the day of her marriage, Bhavani finishes her shift and gets ready in her sari and proceeds to take the elevator in which Yamuna is present, yet, does not hold the door to let Bhavani in. This delays her arrival at the marriage registration office where Amudhan is waiting for her. Along the way, she encounters several people who mistreat and abuse her. She manages to overcome all of them. While crossing the road, she meets Babloo, who requests her to help him cross the street. As Bhavani and Babloo cross the street, a drunk lorry driver while talking over the phone hits them and causes their unfortunate deaths.

After hearing her story, Yamuna reimagines how Bhavani's life could have turned out, if only she had waited for some time and let her come into the elevator that day. Feeling remorseful, she asks Bhavani's spirit what she wants, to which Bhavani says that she wants Yamuna's body to live with Amudhan, where Yamuna accepts it as a compensation for her mistake which acted as a contribution to Bhavani's death. Finally, Bhavani sets to use Yamuna's body to live with Amudhan, but Amudhan refuses to live with Bhavani, who's using Yamuna's body. Hence, Amudhan kills himself and tells Bhavani, while dying, that they now can live together in afterlife. Bhavani then leaves Yamuna's body. The film ends with Yamuna at Bhavani and Amudhan's graves, which are next to each other, while a red butterfly flies by the graves.

Cast

• Nayanthara as Bhavani and Yamuna (dual role)
• Kalaiyarasan as Amudhan
• Yogi Babu as Mani
• Jayaprakash as Yamuna's father
• Meera Krishnan as Yamuna's mother
• Kulappulli Leela as Parvathy Paati
• Gokulnath as Francis
• Nishaanth Ramakrishnan as Adhi
• Ashwanth Ashokkumar as Babloo
• Senthi Kumari as Bhavani's mother
• Nitish Veera as Bhavani's brother-in-law
• Vinod Sagar as Kullan
• Gabrella Sellus as young Bhavani
• Maathevan as young Amudhan
• Mona Bedre as Doctor
• Winner Ramachandran as Auto Rickshaw Driver
• Saanvitha

Production

The film was announced by young filmmaker KM Sarjun who rose to prominence in Kollywood for his maiden directorial venture titled Echcharikkai which was released in late August 2018. The film marks yet another women-centric prominent role for Nayanthara. The KJR Studios decided to produce this film which also previously produced Nayanthara's political starrer Aramm. The film also marks Nayanthara's 63rd film and also this will be the first instance for her where she will play dual roles in a film. Sundaramurthy KS, Sudarshan Srinivasan and Karthik Joges] were assigned as the music director, cinematographer and film editor respectively, continuing their association with the director from his previous film. The shooting of the film wrapped up in December 2018.

Soundtrack

This film's music is composed by Sundarmurthy KS, and lyrics were written by Yugabharathi, Pa. Vijay, and Thamarai.

Airaa
Soundtrack album by KS Sundaramurthy
Released	2019
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	13:02
Language	Tamil
Producer	KS Sundaramurthy
KS Sundaramurthy chronology
Kalavu (2018) Airaa (2019) Jiivi (2019)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Megathoodham"	Thamarai	Padmapriya Raghavan	4:31
2.	"Kaariga"	Madhan Karky	Sid Sriram, Rap - NAVZ-47	4:21
3.	"Jinthako"	Ku. Karthik	Sundaramurthy KS, Sri Radha Bharath	4:08
Total length:				13:02

Release

The film, which had its theatrical release on 28 March 2019, received negative responses for the illogical screenplay of the film.

External links

• Airaa at IMDb