Kondraal Paavam

Kondraal Paavam is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language crime thriller film written and directed by Dayal Padmanabhan and produced by Pratap Krishna and Manoj Kumar under Einfach Studios. The film stars Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Santhosh Prathap, Easwari Rao and Charle. It was released on 10 March 2023. The film is a remake of the director's own Kannada film Aa Karaala Ratri (2018), which itself is based on a Kannada play by Mohan Habbu translated from the English play  Lithuania by Rupert Brooke.

Plot
In a small village located deep in Tamil Nadu, a poor family consisting of aged parents Karuppusamy and Valliyammal and their spinster daughter Mallika, receives a visit from a fortune teller. The fortune teller predicts that their luck will change dramatically overnight, and it is up to them to make the best or worst of it. On the same day, a stranger, Arjunan, arrives and asks if he can stay for the night. While initially reluctant, they take him in, and increasingly become comfortable with him. Arjunan gets to know about the financial issues that the family is having. He shows them a box full of money and jewels and says that his luck changed by working hard, assuring them that so could theirs. Mallika, enchanted by the riches and his good looks, tries to seduce Arjunan, before he chastises her for trying to do so. Mallika later talks her parents into killing Arjunan and stealing the gold and cash to solve their problems. Even though the parents are hesitant, they agree to the plan. After a couple of hiccups, including a plan to poison Arjunan which goes awry, Mallika kills Arjunan by cutting his throat while he is sleeping. Meanwhile, Karuppusamy gets excessively drunk at the local liquor shop, and the sympathetic bar boy tells him to go home by revealing something about Arjunan in his house. Karuppusamy is stunned by the revelation and comes home as fast as he can to tell the family the truth. Realizing that he has been murdered, he laments that Arjunan was none other than their long-lost son Karunakaran, who had run away when he was 10 years old. He had come back to visit his family, after working hard to earn money and settling himself. The family is devastated. They all consume the poison intended for Karunakaran, and Karuppusamy uses all the cotton in the house to set it on fire and burns himself along with it. An in-credits voiceover shows the diary entry Karunakaran wrote before he slept, where he decides to leave the money and jewels at the house and leave it as a stranger before the morning. He originally plots a prank to not reveal his identity just for a day, but since his sister had, out of her necessity, tried to seduce him, he changes his mind to save his sister from forever being in disgust of her actions.

Production
The shooting of the film began on 28 October 2022. The teaser of the film was released by actress Samantha. The trailer of the film was released on 3 March 2023.

Reception
The film was released on 10 March 2023 across Tamil Nadu. Critic Logesh Balachandran from Times of India gave 3 stars out of 5 stars and noted that " Though Kondraal Paavam has flaws, the intense characterization and the screenplay make it worth a watch." Dina Thanthi gave a mixture of reviews and said that "It is special that director Dayal Padmanabhan has directed the crime and thriller story without boring it. He has satisfied the fans by equally mixing all the feelings like sentiment, love, and betrayal." Chandhini R from New Indian express noted that " An effective suspense drama shouldered by compelling performances" and gave 3 stars out of 5 stars.

A critic from Zee News noted that "each and every character carries the film Kondraal Paavam. The performances of the actors add strength to the story." Another critic, from Dinamalar gave 3 rating out of 5 ratings.