Aghathiyaa

''Aghathiyaa: Angels vs Devil'' is a 2025 Indian Tamil-language historical horror thriller film written and directed Pa. Vijay. The film stars Jiiva in a dual role alongside Arjun and Raashii Khanna, while Edward Sonnenblick, Matylda, Redin Kingsley, Shah Ra, Senthil, Rohini, Charle, Indraja Shankar and others in supporting roles. The film is produced by Ishari K. Ganesh under his Vels Film International banner and co-produced by Aneesh Arjun Dev under Wam India. The film music composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, with cinematography handled by Deepak Kumar Padhy, and film edited by San Lokesh. The story revolves around a young art director (Jiiva) and his fiancee (Khanna) trapped into a haunted house, which leads them to uncover the old mysteries of 1940.

The project was announced on 2020, but eventually shelved by the production house due to multiple issues, later on 2023, the project was officially taken over by Vels Film International. After a delay of four years, ''Aghathiyaa'' was released by theatrically on 28 February 2025, and received mixed reviews from both critics and audiences. The film emerged as a box office bomb.

Plot

Aghathiyan, a struggling art director, had invested his savings in his maiden project, renting a quaint French bungalow in Puducherry. The bungalow is now rented by Royan along with his ailing grandmother, Helen. However, when the film shoot is abandoned midway, Aghathiyan is consumed by distress and returns to his hometown, Tiruvannamalai. His mother, Anjalai, battling bone cancer has her memory compromised by the chemotherapy. Veena, Aghathiyan's childhood friend and lover, proposes an innovative solution of converting the bungalow into a haunted attraction. Together, they set up the scary house, and their entrepreneurial venture soon takes off. During the renovation, they unearth an 18th-century antique piano. While restoring it, they stumble upon a skeletal corpse and an 8 mm film roll box.

Aghathiyan and Veena play the film-roll, which reveals the story of Siddharthan, a Siddha doctor from the 1940s. The film depicts Siddharthan's journey from France to Pondicherry, then under the tyrannical rule of Edwin Duplex, a ruthless racist who brutalised Indians. The footage also shows Siddharthan's remarkable treatment of Jacqueline Poovizhi, Edwin's sister, who had been paralysed in an accident. As the film roll reached its end, Aghathiyan and Veena are left with more questions than answers. Veena begins to sense eerie occurrences within their bungalow, which is further complicated by the disappearance of a visitor, allegedly the brother of a politician, inside the scary house. The incident prompts the government to shut down their business. Aghathiyan, lamenting his misfortunes, stumbles upon a hidden subway within the bungalow, where he finds the missing visitor. However, to his horror, Veena, possessed by the spirit of Jacqueline Poovizhi, brutally attacks the visitor.

Aghathiyan manages to retrieve Siddharthan's diary from the possessed Veena. The diary reveals some of Siddharthan's findings, but their exploration is cut short by the malevolent spirit of Duplex, who forcibly ejects Aghathiyan and Veena from the bungalow. Aghathiyan soon receives a call from his father, informing him that his mother's health is deteriorating. Rushing back home, Aghathiyan consults with the physician and discovers a photograph of Kannadi Siththar, whom he had previously witnessed but mysteriously vanished. The physician suggests that alternative medicine, specifically Siddha, might be the only solution to treat his mother's condition. Determined to uncover the truth about the bungalow's past, Aghathiyan confronts Royan and his grandmother, Helen. However, they provide him with the remains of Duplex, which Aghathiyan deems to be useless.

Unbeknownst to him, Aghathiyan's life was blessed by Kalanginatha Siththar, who had revived him as a stillborn. His father firmly believed that Aghathiyan was a god-gifted child, imbued with divine blessings. That night, Aghathiyan has a vivid dream in which Helen guides him to the bungalow, revealing a voice cylinder as their next clue, which he had previously dismissed as useless. Aghathiyan and Veena play the voice cylinder, uncovering that Duplex, despite his racist nature, had feigned friendship with Siddharthan to exploit his knowledge of medicinal formulas. Helen, Edwin's wife, exposes the truth that her husband had murdered Siddharthan, framing him as a betrayer to conceal his treachery. Edwin's brutality knew no bounds; he had also killed Nanjilan, a freedom fighter, and his family, eliminating any potential threats to his power. Furthermore, he confiscated Siddharthan's formulas from Jacqueline and subsequently murdered her, but Helen narrowly escaped with her life.

The villagers, outraged by Siddharthan's unjust murder, attacked Edwin's bungalow. Edwin fled to the subway, where he had hidden the medicinal formulas in his grave, specially designed for immortal life. He instructed his accountant-cum-assistant, Seshadri, to cover the grave and facilitate his escape once the attackers dispersed. Seshadri was killed by the mob, and Edwin, trapped in his own grave, succumbed to suffocation. Determined to rescue the bone cancer cure from Edwin Duplex's grave, Aghathiyan rushes to the bungalow. However, he is met with resistance from the evil forces protecting the bungalow. Just then, Kannadi Siththar appears, revealing that the 8 solar system planets were about to align, channelling immense power to the Earth and temporarily subduing the evil forces. Seizing this opportunity, Aghathiyan, Veena, and Shankar enter the bungalow, navigating obstacles to retrieve the medicinal formulas. They also managed to burn Edwin's corpse, but the 11-minute window of good energy had expired, trapping them inside.

As Edwin's spirit attacks, Siddharthan's spirit intervenes, aiding Aghathiyan. Siddharthan reveals that Aghathiyan is the reincarnation of Nanjilan, and the spirits of Siddharthan and Nanjilan join forces with Aghathiyan, ultimately vanquishing Edwin's evil spirit. With the dark energy dispelled the trapped spirits of Siddharthan and Jacqueline finally reunite to ascend together. Months later, Anjalai is seen recovering from her illness, thanks to the Siddha medicines formulated by Siddharthan. Aghathiyan reflects that while his mother's memory might not fully recover, he is willing to go to any lengths to save her.

Cast

Production

Development

In mid-May 2020, lyricist-turned-director Pa. Vijay announced his third directorial venture titled ''Methavi'' with Jiiva, Arjun Sarja, Raashii Khanna in the lead roles. The film was said to be of horror thriller genre and bankrolled by S. Raja of Makkal Arasan Pictures. Although, Pa. Vijay had worked with Yuvan Shankar Raja, ''Methavi'' marked the maiden collaboration of Pa. Vijay with Yuvan Shankar Raja in the former's direction. But the project got delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the death a Russian girl playing a crucial role. In late-March 2023, it was announced that Vels Film International have taken up the project and are planning to release, but was eventually shelved.

In late-March 2023, director Pa. Vijay confirmed that he is associating again, thereby retaining most of the cast and crew for a new untitled period drama film. On 7 October 2024, Vels Film International through a first look poster, revealed the titled of the film ''Aghathiyaa'' starring Jiiva and Raashii Khanna in the lead roles alongside, Arjun Sarja and Edward Sonnenblick in prominent roles alongside Yogi Babu, VTV Ganesh, Redin Kingsley and others in supporting roles.

The film is produced by Ishari K. Ganesh under his Vels Film International banner and co-produced by Aneesh Arjun Dev under Wam India. The film has music composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, cinematography handled by Deepak Kumar Padhy, editing by San Lokesh, stunt choreography by K Ganesh and dance choreography by Sridhar.

Filming

Principal photography was planned to be shot on a set in Ramoji Film City, in Hyderabad and some portions in Ooty and Kodaikanal.

Music

The soundtrack and background is scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The first single, titled "Kaatrin Viral" was released on 5 January 2025. The second single in Tamil " En Iniya Pon Nilave" originally from Balu Mahendra's ''Moodu Pani'' (1980) composed by Ilaiyaraaja and sung by K. J. Yesudas was remixed into a duet and released on 10 January 2025. The third single "Semmannu Dhaane" released on 24 January 2025.

Release

Theatrical

''Aghathiyaa'' released in theatres on 28 February 2025 in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu languages.

Home media

''Aghathiyaa'' began streaming on Sun NXT from 28 March 2025.

Reception

Abhinav Subramanian of ''The Times of India'' gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Jiiva continues his streak of timeline-hopping roles (following ''Black'') with sincere commitment, bringing vulnerability and determination to his character. ..he film reaches its visual zenith in the climactic showdown between Siddha and Duplex—a ten-minute plus spectacle of motion-capture animation and 3D effects that impresses despite the increasingly outlandish plot developments." Anusha Sundar of ''OTTPlay'' gave 2/5 stars and wrote "With done to death ideologies like going local is global, Aghathiyaa misses the mark by several miles when it chooses to work only on its visual marvel and easily forgets on script work."

Sanjay Ponnappa of ''India Today'' gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Outdated melodrama being integrated into scenes repeatedly acts as a constant distraction, instead of being the emotional hook. ..And the big VFX fight at the end will certainly leave one impressed. And yet an afterthought will linger on: such a lost opportunity!" Kirubhakar Purushothaman of ''News18'' gave 2/5 stars and wrote "On top of such ideological confusion, the film also refuses to make up its mind about its genre. It kicks off as a horror, then moves on to become a period film, and then it ends up becoming a fantasy with a laughable fight sequence that will not hold water even against PS 2 games." Jayabhuvaneshwari of ''Cinema Express'' gave 1.5/5 stars and wrote "In its attempt to blend horror, fantasy, history, and action, ''Aghathiyaa'' ends up being neither thrilling nor entertaining—just exhausting."

References

External links

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2020s historical horror films
2020s Indian films
2020s supernatural horror films
2020s Tamil-language films
2025 comedy horror films
2025 films
Films scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja
Indian comedy horror films
Indian historical horror films
Indian supernatural horror films
Tamil-language comedy horror films
Tamil-language Indian films