Aranmanai 2

Palace 2) is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language horror-masala film directed and co-written by Sundar C. The film stars Sundar, Siddharth, Trisha Krishnan, Hansika Motwani, Poonam Bajwa, Soori, Kovai Sarala, Manobala, Chitra Lakshmanan, Radha Ravi and Vaibhav Reddy.

The film revolves around Murali (Siddharth) who returns to his ancestral home along with his fiancée Anitha (Trisha) when his father lands in a coma under mysterious circumstances.

The movie starts with the Amman statue that guarded the village against evil spirits and negative energy stored in an underground room during the temple's renovation.

At a graveyard close to the temple, a group of tantric practitioners capitalise on the dormant Amman to awaken evil spirits for black magic purposes.

The village mendicant-holy man notices the evil spirit and chases after it but cannot prevent it from entering the titular palace.

Initially, he suspects Manju, a nurse that the family got to care for Murali's father, but she has a different agenda, so he realises it isn't her.

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.

Present: Ravi also says that her primary target is Murali since he told their father and elder brother about her whereabouts and Suresh.

Also, Anitha killed Murali's elder brother and poisoned her father-in-law as an act of revenge, even though he managed to recover from his coma.

Ravi decides to find Maya's corpse, while Murali, Suresh, and Manju try to distract Anitha by taking the entire family to a restaurant.

A song sequence involving dancers from Kerala and a cast including Siddarth, Trisha, Soori and Kovai Sarala was also canned.

IndiaGlitz.com had rated 3.5/5 by saying "Aranmanai 2 isn't a genius of a story, it dwells mainly on some slapstick humour, the performances of Hansika, Trisha, Kovai Sarala and Soori, and some real good camera & Art work behind the scenes".

[10] Times of India rated the film 2.5/5 and wrote "Despite toeing so closely to the original's formula and being equally unpretentious, Aranmanai-2 feels underwhelming.

The cast and the director seem to be coasting along with a 'people will see this movie no matter what' attitude, and it is this blatant acknowledgement of the film being just a cash grab that is most disappointing".

[12] Sify wrote "Sundar C's Aranmanai 2 is a pucca paisa vasool popcorn entertainer, which is packaged with all the commercial trappings like glamour, slapstick comedy and thrilling moments.

[13] Silverscreen wrote "At a time when a younger generation of filmmakers in Kollywood are coming up with well-made horror films like Maya, Pisaasu and Demonte Colony, Aranmanai 2 looks like a grinch in a hip Bengaluru pub.

[16] The third installment titled Aranmanai 3, starring Sundar C, Arya, Raashii Khanna and Andrea Jeremiah was released on 14 October 2021.

The fourth installment titled Aranmanai 4, starring Sundar, Tamannaah Bhatia and Raashii Khanna was released on 3 May 2024.