Aranmanai 4 (2024)- Blend horror, mystery, supernatural drama, and dark humor — in the classic Aranmanai style
Aranmanai 4 (transl. Palace 4) is a 2024 Indian Tamil-language comedy horror film directed by Sundar C. It is the fourth installment in the Aranmanai film series, following Aranmanai 3 (2021), and was produced by Benzz Media (P) Ltd. and Avni Cinemax.
Partially reshot in Telugu as Baak, the film features an ensemble cast including Sundar, Tamannaah Bhatia, Raashii Khanna, Santhosh Prathap, Ramachandra Raju, Kovai Sarala, Yogi Babu, VTV Ganesh and Delhi Ganesh.
Vennela Kishore and Srinivasa Reddy replaces Yogi Babu and VTV Ganesh in the Telugu version. In the film, a lawyer tries to find out the truth behind the death of his estranged sister, who is believed to have committed suicide, but to realise that there is a malevolent paranormal force involved.
The fourth instalment of the Aranmanai franchise, Aranmanai 4, was announced in January 2023 with Vijay Sethupathi set to star and Sundar C returning as director.
Sundar replaced Sethupathi in the lead role following the latter’s exit due to scheduling conflicts. Raashii Khanna and Tamannaah Bhatia were cast in March as female leads, marking their second collaboration with Sundar after Aranmanai 3 (2021) and Action (2019).
Hiphop Tamizha reunited with Sundar to compose the film’s score, while E. Krishnasamy and Fenny Oliver handled the cinematography and editing, respectively. From March to mid-September 2023, principal photography took place.
Aranmanai 4 was released worldwide on 3 May 2024 in theatres. The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics. It grossed over ₹100 crore against a budget of ₹40 crore, emerging as the highest-grossing film in the franchise and one of the highest grossing Tamil films of 2024.
Plot
In Assam, a priest and his daughter travel by boat to a temple during a festival. When the daughter is injured and her blood spills into the river, it releases Baak, a shapeshifting demon. Baak kills the daughter and assumes her form.
Aranmanai 4
The priest then traps Baak’s soul in a vessel, forcing it to take his daughter’s place permanently for the sake of his wife. The setting shifts to a village where Sakthi and Saravanan Jr., Selvi’s children, and her husband Santhosh reside. Santhosh dies of a heart attack in the forest, and Selvi apparently hangs herself in their well.
Witnessing her deceased mother, Sakthi falls into a coma. Upon hearing of the deaths, Selvi’s brother, Saravanan, an advocate, visits the grieving children along with his aunt. In the village, the zamindar’s granddaughter, Maaya, a doctor, is assigned to care for Sakthi. Soon, they start experiencing paranormal activities in the house.
Saravanan suspects that Selvi’s death was not a suicide and visits the police station with Ravi, the village president’s son. They are dismissed rudely by the inspector. After that, Ravi shows Saravanan a video of a swami stalking his deceased brother-in-law before his death.
Later, while they are in their jeep, a spirit attacks, and Saravanan steps out to investigate. During this, a spirit looking like Selvi attacks Ravi. Hearing Ravi’s scream, Saravanan returns to find the jeep and Ravi gone, with only the video camera left behind, showing footage of the swami once again.
The next morning, Saravanan finds the jeep smashed against a tree with Ravi’s corpse on top. Initially suspected by the police, Saravanan clears his name using the video camera evidence.
The police, now convinced, help Saravanan search for the swami’s lair, where they find photographs of all the recent victims Selvi, Santhosh, Ravi, and Sakthi. Convinced of the swami’s guilt, the inspector orders his capture.
Saravanan finds out that Sakthi, the inspector, and the late Ravi all share the same birthdate. He confirms with Maaya that all three also have a red mole in common and tells her to protect the children.
Saravanan confronts the swami to save the inspector. Meanwhile, the Assamese priest arrives at Saravanan’s home, claiming he is looking for his missing daughter. He tries to approach Sakthi but is expelled by Selvi’s spirit.
During this time, Sakthi awakens from her coma, accompanied by Selvi’s spirit, after the inspector was impaled by a vel. The swami reveals during questioning that the priest trapped Baak, an evil spirit that could live on land or in water, reducing its power.
Baak eventually found its buried soul by following the villagers as they moved into the village. To regain full strength, Baak aims to sacrifice Sakthi, the inspector, and Ravi. Baak killed Selvi’s husband and took his form to approach Sakthi.
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Selvi, however, sacrificed herself to protect her children and returned as a spirit to guard them against Baak. Saravanan is urged by the swami to defend Sakthi at all costs in order to stop Baak from becoming immortal. Saravanan confides in his aunt about his regrets for not supporting her.
Meanwhile, Baak attacks the police station, causing injuries, but the swami manages to drive it away. During this chaos, Maaya is stopped by Selvi’s spirit at the compound gate while trying to attend Sakthi’s birthday party. Selvi’s spirit appears to be pointing at a blood stain on Maya’s lab coat, Saravanan observes.
Upon testing the blood in the lab, they discover that Baak has been impersonating the swami after killing him outside the police station. After confronting the president, they find the swami’s dead body in the trunk of the president’s car.
The president reveals that the swami had gone to the graveyard to destroy Selvi’s spirit and her remains. Saravanan arrives too late and, pleading for Sakthi’s safety, witnesses his sister’s spirit vanish.
Baak then reappears to claim Sakthi, but Maaya flees with her to the temple festival. There, Saravanan battles Baak inside a large Asura sculpture. At the festival’s climax, a divine spirit destroys both the sculpture and Baak.
Maaya is reassured by Saravanan that the palace will soon be transformed into a hospital so that she can continue serving the village. Outside, the children play throwball with their mother’s spirit, showing that she continues to watch over them as the credits roll.
The Return to Darkness
A lonely bus snakes through the mist-covered Western Ghats, headlights dim under the weight of dusk. Inside it, a woman cradles her sleeping daughter, tension etched across her brows. The signboard flashes by: Sivankottai – 10 km. In her hand is a crumpled letter, marked with fear and finality.
Her name is Selvi, and she is returning to her ancestral village for her brother’s funeral.
But this is no ordinary death.
THE HAUNTING BEGINS.
Selvi’s brother, Saravanan, a wildlife photographer stationed in a nearby forest, was found dead under mysterious circumstances. Official reports claim he was attacked by a wild animal. But his body… was untouched. Eyes wide open. Terrified. As if he had seen a demon.
The village murmurs stories. Whispers of a spirit. Of a curse. Of something ancient that has awakened.
Selvi doesn’t believe in ghosts — not yet.
THE PALACE AWAITS.
The ancestral Aranmanai (palace) looms like a forgotten nightmare — its towering gates rusted, its halls echoing with memories. Once majestic, now it stands crumbling, with faded portraits, broken chandeliers, and rooms sealed with superstition.
Here, she meets Krishna (played by Sundar C), a rational lawyer and friend of Saravanan, who has come to investigate. His demeanor is calm, but he watches everything — the shadows, the villagers, the way even wind avoids certain windows.
Krishna believes Saravanan was silenced — not by an animal, but by something far more sinister.
A MYSTERIOUS GIRL.
Selvi’s daughter Meera begins talking to someone invisible. She says “Akka” comes at night. A girl with long hair. Sometimes crying. Sometimes smiling. Always cold.
The camera lingers on a cracked mirror where Meera stands alone… yet her reflection is not.
The haunting has begun.
Secrets of the Aranmanai
A thunderstorm crashes through Sivankottai as Selvi, now unsettled by her daughter’s eerie behavior, paces nervously in the halls of the mansion. The chandelier swings without wind. Dogs howl. The family portrait of her great-grandfather falls with a thud—glass shattered, frame split clean in two.
Krishna examines Saravanan’s last photos, taken from his forest camera traps. Most show animals. One, however, is different.
A silhouette of a woman. Standing unnaturally tall. Drenched in shadow. Eyes glowing faintly.
Krishna zooms in.
The eyes look back.
THE RITUAL ROOM
Exploring the west wing of the mansion—long sealed since the previous generation—a hidden chamber is discovered. Inside are remnants of an old black magic ritual: burnt ashes in a brass pot, old bones, a broken amulet bearing the Trinetra symbol.
A torn journal page reads:
“The spirit was bound. It must never be summoned again.”
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Selvi confronts the old family caretaker, Ammayi, who refuses to speak of the past. “The curse died with her,” she says. “Or so we hoped.”
But that night, a ghost sings.
THE GHOST IN RED
Krishna hears chanting outside the mansion at 2 AM. He follows it… through the jungle… to a temple in ruins. There, he sees an Aghori mystic lighting camphor and whispering into the earth.
Suddenly, a figure in a blood-red saree appears behind him. Floating. Silent.
It’s the spirit. Baak. The cursed daughter of the royal family from two centuries ago. She was wronged, buried alive by her kin, and now seeks vengeance against their bloodline.
THE REFLECTION THAT ISN’T YOU
Meera’s drawings become disturbing. They show a woman without a face, standing behind her mother. At one point, she writes “Let her in” all over the walls.
Selvi is terrified but refuses to leave.
One night, while brushing her hair, Selvi sees Meera in the mirror. But the reflection smiles before Meera does.
The spirit has begun possessing her.
FLASHBACK: THE ORIGIN OF THE CURSE
Krishna finds the royal scrolls, kept hidden in the Aranmanai library. He reads the forgotten tale.
Generations ago, a young woman named Baakiyalakshmi, daughter of a zamindar, was accused of black magic when men in the palace began dying mysteriously. But in truth, she was a powerful Devi worshiper, and her divine knowledge threatened the patriarchal order.
The men drugged her, chained her in the palace temple, and buried her alive beneath the floor. Her final curse was:
“If even one drop of my blood remains in your line, I will return… not as a daughter, but as death.”
Saravanan had found her burial spot. That’s why he died.
THE SNAKE CHAMBER
Krishna discovers a snake-infested tunnel behind the Aranmanai. The markings on the wall match the amulet. Inside is a sarcophagus-like structure with Baak’s remains—only her skeleton is glowing with fireflies, floating in the dark.
A warning is carved:
“To disturb her is to die. Let the dead mourn alone.”
But someone had already opened it. Years ago. And now she is free.
REVEALING THE TRAITOR
As Krishna investigates deeper, he learns that the family’s accountant, Sundaram, had conspired with an illegal mining company to scare the villagers away by invoking the ghost. But his plan backfired when he disturbed the actual spirit.
Now Baak has marked all descendants for death—Selvi, Meera, everyone.
A FAMILY UNDER ATTACK
The ghost now manifests physically.
A servant is found hanging in the well, eyes wide with blood tears.
A priest sent for exorcism burns alive mid-ritual.
The mirrors in the house shatter, revealing dozens of faces trapped inside — all past victims of Baak.
Selvi breaks down. “I won’t let my daughter die for a sin she didn’t commit.”
But Baak isn’t here for redemption.
She’s here for blood.
KRISHNA’S PLAN: DIVINE STRATEGY
Krishna returns to the Aghori who faced Baak in the temple. They devise a plan: use an ancient mirror-binding mantra, combined with a relic from Baak’s family — her anklet, still locked in the palace temple.
It must be placed on her skeleton during the Chitra Pournami moon. But doing so requires entering Baak’s realm — the spiritual plane that connects mirrors, memories, and madness.
Krishna agrees.
He’s going in.
Krishna enters a mirror — literally — as the ritual begins.
Inside is a world without time. Shadows scream. The halls are upside-down. And in the center, Baak waits.
She smiles.
“Come, lawyer. Let’s see how well you argue with the dead.”
As Krishna steps through the antique mirror, the screen swirls into a spectral dimension. The mirror world is a haunting inversion of the Aranmanai — darkened halls dripping with water, flames burning upside down, and voices of the past whispering from cracked walls.
Here, Baakiyalakshmi waits.
Her form is no longer ethereal — she is whole. Regal. Glowing. Drenched in red and rage. Her voice echoes:
“You seek justice with words. But I speak in silence and screams.”
Krishna offers the anklet — the only object from her mortal life, a relic of who she once was before she became a vengeful spirit.
She steps forward, eyes aflame.
THE GHOST’S TRIAL
In a poetic twist, Baak agrees to a “trial” — one last negotiation before she destroys the bloodline. She places Krishna inside a mirror cage surrounded by visions: the betrayal, her screams as she was buried alive, the deaf ears of her family.
Krishna acknowledges the horror.
“Your vengeance is righteous. But it has become blind. The innocent must not die for the sins of the guilty.”
Baak weeps — for the first time. Then she laughs.
“What is innocence when born of guilt?”
The mirror begins to collapse. Baak begins to consume him. But Krishna, using the mantra taught by the Aghori, channels divine energy through the anklet.
The spirit roars.
THE RITUAL IN THE REAL WORLD
Meanwhile, in the real world, Selvi and the Aghori prepare a final exorcism inside the palace temple. They chant under the Chitra Pournami moon, placing Baak’s other anklet on a statue of Durga Devi — the one Baak secretly worshipped when she was alive.
Suddenly, mirrors around the Aranmanai begin exploding. Ghosts scream. The spirit is resisting.
Selvi holds Meera tightly. “You are not cursed. You are her chance to rest.”
Meera, now partly possessed, begins to levitate. Her eyes turn gold. Baak speaks through her:
“I was born in silence. I died in betrayal. But now I speak through your child.”
CLIMAX: THE FINAL BATTLE
Krishna, trapped in the collapsing mirror realm, hurls the anklet into Baak’s chest, piercing her illusion. Her form glitches — she’s no longer queenly, but skeletal, burnt, broken.
In the temple, the priest completes the final verse. The idol of Durga Devi begins to bleed. A bright light engulfs the temple. The mirror realm cracks.
Back in the spirit realm, Baak looks at Krishna one last time and whispers:
“Tell them… I only wanted to be seen.”
She dissolves into a thousand fireflies — drifting into the moonlight.
DAWN BREAKS
The next morning, the Aranmanai feels different. Peaceful.
The mirrors are gone. The shadows have receded. Meera wakes up smiling, her possession gone. Selvi weeps — not out of fear, but relief.
Krishna walks the halls one last time. A portrait of Baak has appeared in the temple — not as a ghost, but as a woman in prayer.
Justice was served — not by law, but by truth.
EPILOGUE: THE LEGACY
Weeks later, the villagers return to Sivankottai. The palace is being restored as a temple and community space.
Selvi decides to stay, turning the Aranmanai into a place of healing. Meera plays in the sunlight, no longer chased by shadows.
Krishna prepares to leave. As he closes his car door, he looks in the rearview mirror — and sees Baak one last time, smiling softly.
Not haunting. Just watching.
Then she fades.
REFLECTION: THEMES & SYMBOLISM
Redemption vs Revenge: Baak is not evil. She is wronged. Her rage is understandable — but also destructive.
Memory as Power: The mirror realm represents memory, reflection, and truth distorted. Facing it was the only way to heal.
Matriarchal Strength: Women drive the narrative — Baak, Selvi, Meera — all embodiments of sacrifice, pain, and ultimately, spiritual restoration.
Haunted Heritage: The Aranmanai isn’t just a place — it’s a character. An ancient soul weighed down by centuries of sins.
Aranmanai 4 is not just another horror comedy in the franchise. It blends gothic horror, social justice, emotional family drama, and mythic symbolism to create a story that chills the spine while tugging the heart.
It reminds us that some ghosts don’t seek to scare us.
peoples review (taken from google)
Just Pineapple
11 months ago
It is a must watch movie 🍿🎥 A mixed pack of horror and comedy . All the casting were fantastic and Tamannaah’s performance was outstanding. Rashi Khanna has done a great job 👍🏻 Aranmanai 4 is simply superb, Well done Sundar C Sir for coming up with an amazing storyline with all the suspense. I enjoyed thoroughly watching the movie with my family. Nice brother sister sentiment. Seeing Tamannah playing the role of a mother .. man .. she seriously bought tears in my eyes. She just slayed the role . Special mention to Santhosh Pratap, I appreciate Sunder C Sir for his recognition to Santhosh Pratap who is an wonderful artist for giving an opportunity in his Aranmanai franchise. The casting of Villian, Comedians, all other supporting role were crystal clear. And finally, the Amman song .. unexpected stunning performance from Simran ma’am and Khusboo ma’am. Goosebumps guaranteed .
22 people found this helpful.
Chaitanya Apte
a year ago
~Aranmanai 4 (2024)~ —– After his sister’s mysterious death, a man decides to look for the buried truth, which causes turmoil and dread. —– Superior to the other three parts, it’s amazing and thrilling. To be honest, I saw this movie in a theater today. I wouldn’t anticipate a pleasant movie, but this time I went in with no preconceptions, and I was pleasantly surprised by the film. To be honest, the first half is still packed with surprises, while the second half provides answers to all the unexpected twists.However, this time, sundar.c. did something genuinely unusual and effective—rather than just delivering another stale, masala revenge tale. We are really impressed by Tamanna and Rashita Khanna’s performance. They’ve done an amazing job portraying her, especially her feelings and expressions. Aside from this, I thought the comedy section was hilarious and relatable. And the last visual effects were breathtaking. For me, it’s the best horror movie in Tamil, far superior to Aranmanai 1, 2, and 3. ~ Chai Apte
27 people found this helpful.
RAGAVENDIRAN S
a year ago
Honestly speaking today I watched this movie in theatres. I wouldn’t expect that the movie will be nice but this time I went with zero expectations but the movie satisfied me very much. Honestly speaking first half remains fully of twists and the second half gives answer to all the twists that no one could be expected.But this time sundar.c rocked not just very old boring masala revenge story but this time very different and it worked really well. A big clap for Tamanna and rashi Khanna’s performance.It was a very big plus and Yogi babu,vtv Ganesh comedy worked really well.A best movie to watch with family or friends.waiting for aranmanai part 5🤣🔥❤️
