Aravaan

Story:

Aravaan is a 2012 Indian Tamil language epic historical film directed by Vasanthabalan, based on Su. Venkatesan’s novel Kaaval Kottam. It was released in 2012 and stars Aadhi, Dhansika, Archana Kavi and Pasupathy. Kabir Bedi has a prominent role and Bharath is also featured in a cameo role. The film marks noted playback singer Karthik’s debut as a music director. Aravaan was released on 2 March 2012 to mixed reviews and had moderate earnings at the box office.

PLOT

The film is set in the 18th century and is about a group of people who steal from the wealthy to provide food and shelter for their tribe. Komboodhi (Pasupathy) is the leader of the gang and always succeeds and keeps his villagers meagerly fed. One day, the general of their small kingdom visits Komboodhi’s village and threatens to kill them all as one of them had single-handedly stolen the Queen’s diamond necklace. Komboodhi refuses this as they rob only as a gang and makes a wager with the general. If the general gives their village the thief, the villagers would work for the palace for a year. On the other hand, if Komboodhi gives the general the Queen’s necklace, the general must provide them with rice for two years.

On the search, he meets the brave Varipuli (Aadhi) and identifies him as the lone thief. He brings Varipuli to his village with the necklace, and the villagers get enough rice for two years. A bond develops between the two. Varipuli joins Komboodhi’s gang, and they make many heists. Komboodhi’s sister falls in love with Varipuli, and when Komboodhi asks for his identity, Varipuli bluntly refuses for the marriage and is housed from the village.

The next day during a bullfight, Komboodhi is badly injured, and Varipuli tries to save him by becoming his replacement. When Komboodhi refuses as he is a wanderer and does not have any ancestry, Varipuli says that his mother was from Komboodhi’s village and saves him. Suddenly, a few guards arrest Varipuli and take him to another village.

Varipuli has a past. His real name is Chinna. He is a brave person who belongs to a village that does the palace and local security. One day, a youth named Thogaimayan (Bharath) from the neighbouring village is found dead in the middle of their village. A big fight erupts between the villages. The king of their kingdom intervenes and orders Chinna’s village to give a young man of the same age as an offering to God as a penalty.

Chinna becomes an accidental choice. 30 days are given a timeline for his execution. He is in love with a girl in the same village called Vannapechi (Dhansika). After Chinna is chosen to be the offering to the god, Chinna’s lover asks her father to permit her to marry Chinna to at least spend his last days together. They marry on the third day. On the 29th day, Chinna finds a fellow villager running with a piece of costly silver jewellery. When Chinna asks him about it, the man replies that he got it from the dead Thogaimayan’s hand. Chinna later finds out from a rich prostitute that it belongs to the king himself, as he had abducted her the next day that she became a woman and raped her. Chinna realizes the fact that the killer was the village’s King. He secretly confronts the king, and the king reveals the story.

The heirless old king abducts and forcefully marries the only princess(Shruti Marathe) of the neighbouring king Om, who was about to be married to her love, by killing all her family members. The king believes that he has expanded his kingdom, as well as got a new attempt to get a son, but the new Queen does not let him touch her. Months later, the king’s second wife is found out to be pregnant. The Queen reveals that she is having the baby of the barbarian Thogaimayan in order to take revenge from him as she was the princess of a neighbouring kingdom and this King had killed everyone from her family. She proudly says that his heir will not be a royalty but the son of a barbarian. The king finds out that it was Thogaimayan who created this chaos and kills him and his second wife in the village. Chinna captures the king and tries taking him back to the village, but the king escapes and jumps in a waterfall to avoid the villagers from discovering the truth. Chinna jumps as well but hurts his leg and comes out, only to find that the King is dead.

Meanwhile, in the village, as Chinna was still missing, the villagers sacrifice Chinna’s married friend due to the pressure from the other villages, but the village head tells everyone that they all have a right to kill Chinna as he has bought a disgrace to the village. Chinna gets well and meets his family to know that his wife is pregnant. He says he will go to the killing, but his wife tells him to wait and to see the baby’s face before leaving, but her father tells Chinna to go out of the village and not come back for ten years as the villagers will forgive anyone after ten years of exile as the villagers will not believe the truth. Chinna leaves, but the neighbouring villagers find him in nine years and eleven months.

At present, Komboodhi and his friends save Chinna and take him in the way they came back again, but Chinna surrenders as he does not want to live a life like that. He sees his son’s face for the first and last time, and later, he gets a knife and kills himself. Honouring his last wish, Komboodhi’s villagers cease to rob and become guards of places.