2 () is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language comedy horror film written and directed by Sundar C. The film stars Sundar himself, Siddharth, Trisha, Hansika Motwani, Poonam Bajwa, Soori, Kovai Sarala, Manobala, Chitra Lakshmanan and Radharavi and Vaibhav Reddy. The film was a sequel to 2014 Tamil blockbuster Aranmanai, and second installment in the Aranmanai (film series). The film revolves Murali (Siddharth) 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 C).
The film released on 29 January 2016 and received mixed to average reviews from critics.
Plot
The movie starts with the Amman statue, which was guarding the village against evil spirits and negative energy, being moved into an underground room during the temple's renovation. At a graveyard somewhere close to the temple, a group of tantric practitioners capitalise on the Amman being made dormant 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 then leaves the graveyard in the form of a cloud and moves into the village. The village mendicant-holy man notices the evil spirit and chases after it, but could not prevent it from entering the titular palace. Being mute, his pleadings to warn the palace owner are ignored. 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 arrives as well, in disguise as his father, Sandhu Bondu Naadimuthu who was a doctor and had contact with the landowners.
One night the family driver is killed. After a few nights, Suresh does crazy things and says that someone is telling him to do so. Also Murali sees his father being elevated above the bed and gets scared. Anitha, who also sees these things, decides to call her brother, Ravi. One night Ravi sees Suresh drowning and rescues him. He initially suspects Manju, who was hired by the family as a nurse for Murali's father, but he soon realizes it is not her since she has a different agenda. After that, he sets up cameras around the house. A couple of nights later the elder brother goes missing and Ravi sees it. With the cameras, he is able to identify the spirit that is causing havoc. Murali identifies her as Maya, his younger sister.
Maya was loved by all, especially by her father and Murali. She was also the owner of Maya Granites 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. Three years later in Bangalore, when Murali sees that she is pregnant, he passes the good news to his father and brother as they arrive at their house. Their father asks Maya to come back home to which she agrees. On the day she was supposed to arrive, Maya didn't show up, and Murali thought she had changed her mind. Later Ravi tells 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, Maya's husband was stabbed by the driver. 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 a condition that her husband's life should be spared. After she drank the poison, Maya's elder brother killed her husband in front of her which made Maya vow that she will end the male generation in her family before her father chokes her to death. Ravi also tells that her primary target is Murali since he told their father and elder brother about her whereabouts and also Suresh. Manju tells that her uncle is a priest and lives near the Kerala border.