Ambuli

Plot

The film begins with a scene happening in the corn fields in a village in the South India, where a British forest ranger, who is in charge of the fields, has being alerted by some strange noises coming from deep inside the fields. He sets out with his dog and searches for the source of this strange noise, then suddenly the dog is being dragged inside and brutally killed by an unknown beast creature. Then the British forest ranger is also dragged inside and killed by the creature. Then the film shifts to the 1970s, where a college farewell party for Sir Arthur Wellington College is taking place. Two college friends, Amudhan and Vendhan, who is the son of the alcoholic college watchman, Vethagiri have decide to stay back in the college hostel and spend the vacation there. This is mainly because Amudhan's college girlfriend Poongavanam, who lives in the nearby village of Poomanandhipuram, where her father is the village landlord, so that he can't miss her during the vacation. The only thing that lies between the college and the village is the same corn field, which is now currently being protected by a big wall, that is believed to be the hunting grounds of the strange creature, that the people now call Ambuli. Though some people called it a myth, many believed that Ambuli did exist. One night, despite warnings from Vendhan, Amudhan decides to go through the corn field to reach Poomanandhipuram to meet Poongavanam. He makes the first trip successfully, but while he returns, he hears the same strange noise and is chased and thrown off his cycle by Ambuli, which is not yet shown on screen. Amudhan runs for his life and reaches the college, where he meets Vendhan, narrates him what happened, and reveals to him that Ambuli is real. Vendhan is little convinced by Amudhan's narration of his story and they both decide to visit the corn field together that night to see what really is happening. They both travel the entire field and reach one corner and find a wooden cabin, which is the very place where the British forest ranger once lived, and they meet Sengodan there. Sengodan guards the fields, but his looks cause a little bit of suspicion to Amudhan and Vendhan that he might be Ambuli. But Sengodan does not harm them and Amudhan and Vendhan escape the cabin.

The next day, Amudhan and Vendhan ask Vethagiri about Ambuli and about Sengodan. Vethagiri is very much angered by the news that they both travelled alone at night in the corn fields and tell them that death awaits whoever enters the field at night, as Ambuli lives there, that has killed so many people in the past and is still hungry for human life. Vethagiri, upon being asked whether Ambuli is real, he revealed that he had once seen Ambuli committed a murder in the corn fields, causing him to become an alcoholic to get rid of his fear of Ambuli. Before becoming a alcoholic, he planned to leave the village with Vendhan from Ambuli, but was unable to, when someone from Sir Arthur Welling College had given Vendhan a seat in the college, which Vethagiri accepted. He explains that Vendhan is the only person he has got and if something happens to him, he can't live. So, he humbly requests them not to go there again. But, he still accepts to tell them about Ambuli and Sengodan. About some 40 years ago, on the day of Solar eclipse, a pregnant woman named Ponni, who has no one except her elder child, walks into the village of Poomanandhipuram, but faints right under the sun, which it was believed that one who comes out on a solar eclipse, will be affected badly by the radiation. The villagers rescue her and she gives birth to a baby child the very night. But the baby, that was born was not exactly a human being. It was half human and half beast like a neanderthal. The baby then bites on the left arm of the village lady doctor, Seemati and it also attacks and kills another women fatally. The villagers then locked both Ponni and Ambuli in the house. Ponni, who was given a choice of either to destroy Ambuli, decides to let Ambuli go, while committing suicide, unable to face the humiliation. Ambuli escapes into the fields, and it has been till date been killing humans. Vethagiri also reveals that Sengoden is a murderer. Vethagiri remarks and points out that Amudhan and Vendhan are lucky not to be harmed by Sengoden. This is the story Vethagiri explained to both Amudhan and Vendhan .

Vendhan and Amudhan decide to collect more details about Ambuli. So, they visit many people in the village and enquire about Ambuli. During at that time, Vendhan fell in love with Valarmalai, who is a tuition master's daughter and Poongavanam's friend. They meet one of the senior students at Sir Arthur Wellington College, Marudhan, who is a practical youth and does not believe in Ambuli at all. But ironically, Marudhan's grandma is the village lady doctor, Seemati whose left arm was bitten by Ambuli at its childbirth. They find a painting of Ambuli from another senior student of the college, Velpari who writes a journal in the previous edition of the college magazine about the mass migration of people from the Poomanandhipuram village into another village, due to the fear of Ambuli and is currently running a rice mill. With this painting as a proof, they try to make a complaint in the police station, where the head police officer demand they need at least a photograph as a proof and not a painting. Vendhan and Amudhan accept the challenge and decides to visit the corn fields to take a picture of Ambuli. But they are once again interrupted by Sengodan killing Gugan, one of the villagers, who attempted to kill Ambuli to revenge for the death of his daughter, who is one of Ambuli's victims and they take a picture of him, thinking that he is Ambuli, only for them to get shocked at this fact, that Sengoden is revealed to be none other than the elder brother of Ambuli by Vethagiri, the next day, when they had attempted to make him stop his drinking habit and show him proof that Sengodan is Ambuli. Vethagiri also revealed that Sengodan killed the founder of the college, Sir Arthur Wellington, who was his first victim and had caused him to be viewed as a murderer in the villagers.

One night, as things went this way, Marudhan gets very curious about Ambuli, and decides to investigate things on his own. Thus, he secretly follows a villager, who takes a full grown goat with him, and ties it to a small boat and sends into the lake, that lies ahead of the old caves of a temple, that are now abandoned by the villagers. Marudhan watches the boat float away and the goat is now gone. He understands that the villagers were paying sacrifice to Ambuli to vent his anger. So the next day, he decides to see what lies ahead of the lake. He goes in the same boat and enters the caves where he encounters Ambuli. Terrified, he runs for his life and escapes from the caves. Now having started to believe in Ambuli, he enquires about it to Seemati. At the same time, Amudhan and Vendhan check for some details in the college library about Ambuli. They enter Sir Arthur Wellington's room, which was not opened at all for years and find an important clue about a book about Gandhi located in a book shelf in the college library on his table. They found the book shelf where they find a key inside the book about Gandhi on the shelf, which can unlock a secret Projector room hidden behind the book shelf in the library, which also contains a chemical lab that has been locked for years. They find some projector reels and old documents in a drawer and start watching and reading them, while at the same time Seemati narrates to Marudhan what actually happened to Ponni and why Ambuli was born like a beast. What follows is a very terrible truth that entirely shocks Amudhan, Vendhan and Marudhan.

Sir Arthur Wellington, who is not only the founder of his self-named college in the southern parts of India, but was also basically a scientist having worked with the British army during World War II. After his retirement, he begins the college in South India. His longtime goal is to successfully carry out and finish his project, which is to create humans who can live for 150 years healthily. He decides to use Ponni as his specimen/test subject and injects any kind of his chemicals into her womb. This starts having an impact on Ambuli. Sir Wellington dopes her with strong sedatives, so that she visits him often for checkup, so that he can carry out his test without any problem. As she reaches her pregnancy date, she is affected too much by the sedatives and starts heading to Sir Wellington's laboratory to get herself checked. That day turns out to be the Solar eclipse, and unfortunately, she is affected by the radiation form of the eclipse. This causes a big change in her womb and thus Ambuli is born as a beast. Seemati, who checked her pregnancy and is terrified by the looks and behavior of Ambuli, tells Ponni to kill Ambuli right then and there. But she lets Ambuli escape and commits suicide out of humiliation. Angered by this, Sengoden kills Sir Wellington, who is the reason for all this.

Now having collected all details about Ambuli, Amudhan, Vendhan and Marudhan decide that there is no use for all of them including the villagers hiding from Ambuli and they must fight against it or else they all will die of fear. Marudhan tried to a strong mass of villagers to hunt down and destroy Ambuli for good, but failed because of the refusal of the village landlord. Poongavanam and Valarmalai decided to check on Amudhan and Vendhan that night, having been well aware of their investigation on Ambuli. Both the tuition master and the landlord discovered their disapperances that night. So the landload accepts Marudhan's plan and the villagers gather as a strong mass and set out to hunt and destroy Ambuli for good, headed by Marudhan. Poongavanam somehow got trapped between thorn bushes in the corn fields, but is helped by Sengodan, only for Sengodan to caputre and gagged her at the cabin. Amudhan and Vendhan arrived to find Sengodan, only to find Poongavanam there, tied up and gagged. Amudhan and Vendhan then revealed to Poongavanam that of Ambuli's location, only for Sengodan to overhear their conversation and offering to go along with them. While setting out to meet Ambuli, Valarmalai attempted to attacked Sengodan, thinking he got Amudhan, Vendhan, and Poongavanam captives, only to stopped by them and ended joining along with them. They visit the caves at night, and there comes a tall, fierce looking ape like creature, which is finally shown and revealed to be Ambuli. As Ambuli tries to attack the group, Sengodan fights it bravely. The villagers also rush to the caves. Then suddenly the army and the police arrives there with tranquilizers, having been alerted by the head police officer, who is convinced by Amudhan and Vendhan that Ambuli does exist, thanks to the projector room, the chemical lab, the old documents, and the projector reels from Sir Arthur Wellington College. After an intense battle in the field between the army, the police, and Ambuli, Ambuli is tranquilized with the help of Sengodan. The army captures Ambuli and he is taken away in a secured box. Sengodan is heavily and critically injured by Ambuli, manages to survive from the fight between him and Ambuli. Amudhan and Vendhan apologized to him for suspecting him as Ambuli. Sengodan revealed that he wanted to kill and destroy Ambuli, right after killing Sir Wellington, but was only unfortunately, arrested by the police and put in jail as a result, only for to be released years later til now. When asked By Amudhan And Vendhan on why he killed Gugan and kidnapped Poongavanam, Sengodan revealed that he had mistaken Gogan as Ambuli and that, he was also trying to save Poongavannam from Ambuli. The villagers finally thank Marudhan, Sengodan, Amudhan and Vendhan for their heroics in capturing Ambuli and thus, ending their long time fear.

As the credits roll out, a final shot is shown which is to happen in Dehradun, where the box in which Ambuli is being carried. The box slowly starts moving a little and it cracks suddenly. It is to be understood that Ambuli escapes from the box and sets on his next hunt. The film ends with a line in Tamil, which means in English, Ambuli's hunt will continue!

Cast

Production

Hari Shankar and Hareesh Narayan, who made their directorial debut with the horror film Orr Eravuu (2010), decided to shoot a mystery thriller based on folklore and superstition. In an interview they stated: "We have taken inspirations from folklore and Ambuli tells the story of a village which is soaked in superstitions. Ambuli means ‘moon’ and it is a moon light mystery". The film was promoted as being the "first ever-stereoscopic 3D film in Tamil cinema". The directors further disclosed that the plot revolved around "four youngsters who go in search of a story, the problems they face and how they overcome them", while clarifying that there was no villain in the film. Newcomers R. Ajai, P. S. Srijith, Sanam and Jothisha Ammu were signed on to enact the lead roles, while Gokulnath, best known from the reality-based dance competition Maanada Mayilada was selected to play the titular character. The filming began on 4 February 2011.

Reception

Times of India rated the movie 3.5/5 and Behindwoods rated Ambuli 3/5 calling it between ‘not bad’ and ‘good’

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features eight tracks composed by four music directors, K. Venkat Prabu Shankar, C. S. Sam, Sathish and Mervin Solomon. The album was released at the Kamarajar Stadium on 19 August 2011. A 3D trailer of the film was also showcased at the event.