Aranmanai 2

Aranmanai 2 is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language comedy horror film directed and co-written by Sundar C. The film stars Sundar, Siddharth, Trisha Krishnan, Hansika Motwani, Poonam Bajwa, Soori, Kovai Sarala, Manobala, Chitra Lakshmanan, Radha Ravi and Vaibhav Reddy. The film is the second installment in the Aranmanai (film series). The film revolves around Murali (Siddharth) who returns to his ancestral home along with his fiancée Anitha (Trisha) when his father lands in a coma under mysterious circumstances. His life takes a turn when he uncovers his family's dark secrets with Ravi (Sundar).

The film released on 29 January 2016 and received mixed to positive reviews from critics.

Plot
The movie starts with the Amman statue that guarded the village against evil spirits and negative energy stored in an underground room during the temple's renovation. At a graveyard close to the temple, a group of tantric practitioners capitalise on the dormant Amman to awaken evil spirits for black magic purposes. During the ritual, they inadvertently release a demonic entity that they could not contain. The evil spirit leaves the graveyard as a cloud and moves into the village. The village mendicant-holy man notices the evil spirit and chases after it but cannot prevent it from entering the titular palace. The palace owner ignored his pleadings since the holy man was mute. Later that night, the spirit attacks the owner, who then falls and goes into a coma. His elder son, Ramesh, arrives with his wife, Sandhya, and their son, Suresh. Together with them are his younger brother, Murali and his fiancée Anitha. Devadas also appears in disguise as his father, Sandhu Bondu Naadimuthu, a doctor, and had contact with the landowners.

One night, a mysterious being kills the family driver. After a few nights, Suresh does crazy things and says that a spirit is telling him to do so. Also, Murali sees a supernatural being elevating his father above the bed and gets scared. Anitha, who also witnesses these things, calls her brother Ravi. One night, Ravi sees Suresh drowning in water and rescues him. Initially, he suspects Manju, a nurse that the family got to care for Murali's father, but she has a different agenda, so he realises it isn't her. After that, he sets up cameras around the house. A few nights later, the elder brother goes missing, and Ravi sees it. With the cameras, he can identify the spirit that is causing havoc. Murali identifies her as Maya, his younger sister.

Past: The family loved Maya, especially her father and Murali. She was also the owner of Maya Granites, as shown in the song Maya Maya. On the day before her marriage, she eloped with one of the workers' son, and the whole family was shocked and felt disgraced. Murali passes the good news to his father and brother when he sees Maya pregnant three years later in Bangalore. Their father asks Maya to come back home, to which she agrees. On the day she was supposed to arrive, Maya didn't appear, and Murali thought she had changed her mind. Later, Ravi says that it's not true. Maya and her husband got off a stop earlier since her elder brother wanted them to arrive home safely. While travelling in a Jeep on the way to their palace, the driver stabbed Maya's husband. After that, he instructed Maya to go into hiding. But this plan failed when Maya's father arrived and told her to drink poison since she disgraced her family's name and status by marrying someone who belonged to a lower caste. Maya agrees to her father's words with the condition that her brothers should spare her husband's life. After she drank the poison, Maya's elder brother killed her husband in front of her, which made Maya vow that she would end the male generation in her family before her father choked her to death.

Present: Ravi also says that her primary target is Murali since he told their father and elder brother about her whereabouts and Suresh. Manju says that her uncle is a priest and lives near the Kerala border. Ravi goes with Manju to the priest, whose disciples at first refuse to offer a helping hand because the priest is just recuperating from myocardial infarction (heart attack). But before they leave, the priest decides to help them and starts the pooja. After a few moments, the priest informs that Maya has possessed someone in the palace and gives them a lime. The lime turns bad and reveals that Anitha is possessed. Also, Anitha killed Murali's elder brother and poisoned her father-in-law as an act of revenge, even though he managed to recover from his coma. Ravi decides to find Maya's corpse, while Murali, Suresh, and Manju try to distract Anitha by taking the entire family to a restaurant. Their main goal is to get Anitha's blood and put some holy ink on her hair. They manage to get her blood when she is cutting an apple, and one of the assistants manages to put the ink before getting thrashed by Anitha/Maya. There, Anitha goes to the house and tries to kill Murali and Suresh. However, it fails, and the priest manages to get Maya out of Anitha.

Later, Ravi and the priest decide to kill the spirit, and the only way is to be possessed by the spirit and stab its own corpse. Ravi manages to do it and completes it, but the priest gets chest pain and tells Murali that their only hope is to go to the Mariamman Pooja, which is happening in their village temple, as the goddess is their final hope. Murali and Suresh get there with Ravi, possessed by Maya, trying to stop them. When Ravi is about to kill Murali, Mariamman uses her powers and prevents Maya's spirit from killing Murali and Suresh. Before she leaves, she sees her brother Murali, who sheds tears for what had happened to his beloved sister. Before Maya disappears, she smiles at Mariamman's massive idol. After this incident, Murali, Suresh and Anitha reunite, and Ravi reunites with Manju, leaving the Aranmanai in the hands of the caretakers. As everyone leaves the palace, Maya's spirit enters a doll and returns to the palace, waiting for the right time to swing back into action. The movie ends with a hint of a sequel.

Production
The project's progress was first officially revealed after Trisha Krishnan had tweeted her involvement in the sequel and revealed that she would star alongside Siddharth. Hansika Motwani subsequently also announced that she would work in Aranmanai 2. Poonam Bajwa was later selected for the role. Soori was selected as a comedian replacing Santhanam who was part of first film. Kovai Sarala and Aadukalam Naren were also added to the cast to portray supporting roles. The team began the first schedule in mid-June 2015, with scenes involving Hansika canned.

The film's second schedule was begun in July where portions involving Trisha and Siddarth were shot. A song sequence involving dancers from Kerala and a cast including Siddarth, Trisha, Soori and Kovai Sarala was also canned. The team created a 103 feet statue of the sleeping goddess Mariamman for a song sequence. The principal photography of the film came to an end in mid-November and the post-production work started.

Music
The film's soundtrack album and background score were composed by Hiphop Tamizha. The soundtrack album consists of six tracks. The music rights were purchased by Think Music. The album was released on 27 December 2015. Independent singer Kaushik Krish (who earlier recorded "Kannala Kannala", also composed by Hiphop Tamizha for Thani Oruvan) announced in September 2015 that he was working on a single track from the album, though his name did not appear on the tracklist.

Release
The promotional song of the film 'Party with the Pei' was released on 10 November 2015 coinciding with Deepavali. The film was announced to be released on 15 January 2016 coinciding with Pongal, however the release date was pushed to 29 January 2016.

The film released on 29 January 2016 on more than 400 screens in Tamil Nadu.

Critical response
IndiaGlitz.com had rated 3.5/5 by saying "Aranmanai 2 isn't a genius of a story, it dwells mainly on some slapstick humour, the performances of Hansika, Trisha, Kovai Sarala and Soori, and some real good camera & Art work behind the scenes". Times of India rated the film 2.5/5 and wrote "Despite toeing so closely to the original's formula and being equally unpretentious, Aranmanai-2 feels underwhelming. The horror scenes not even remotely scary (though, the visual effects continue to be tacky). The cast and the director seem to be coasting along with a 'people will see this movie no matter what' attitude, and it is this blatant acknowledgement of the film being just a cash grab that is most disappointing". Behindwoods rated the film 2.25/5.0. Sify wrote "Sundar C's Aranmanai 2 is a pucca paisa vasool popcorn entertainer, which is packaged with all the commercial trappings like glamour, slapstick comedy and thrilling moments. Set in a familiar milieu, one can easily predict each and every scene and the film will work big time with common man seeking pure time pass entertainment". Silverscreen wrote "At a time when a younger generation of filmmakers in Kollywood are coming up with well-made horror films like Maya, Pisaasu and Demonte Colony, Aranmanai 2 looks like a grinch in a hip Bengaluru pub. Out of place and awkward".

Box office
Aranmanai 2 grossed ₹16.08 crore in the first 3 days of its release. Director Sundar C stated that despite mixed reviews, the film surpassed its predecessor financially.

Installments
The third installment titled Aranmanai 3, starring Sundar C, Arya, Raashii Khanna and Andrea Jeremiah was released on 14 October 2021. The fourth installment titled Aranmanai 4, starring Sundar, Tamannaah Bhatia and Raashii Khanna was released on 3 May 2024.