Palace 3) is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language horror-masala film written and directed by Sundar C. The film stars Sundar alongside an ensemble cast including Arya, Raashii Khanna and Andrea Jeremiah, with Sakshi Agarwal, Vivek, Myna Nandhini, Yogi Babu, Nalini, Manobala, Sampath Raj, Ovi Bhandarkar, Vincent Asokan, Madhusudhan Rao and Vela Ramamoorthy.

The story revolves around Jyothi (Khanna), who is threatened by a vengeful spirit, as she tries to discover the truth with her relative Ravi (Sundar).

Aranmanai 3 was released by theatrically on October 14 2021, coinciding with Ayudha Pooja, and received mixed to negative reviews from critics and audiences, but was a commercial success at the box-office.

Many years later, a court ruling forces Rajasekhar to open a secret room at the village temple.

Jyothi, now an adult, returns for Durai's funeral and falls in love with her childhood sweetheart, Saravanan.

Past: Rajasekhar had forcibly married Eeshwari after falling for her at her wedding to Saamiyaadi's son, Samikannu.

Samikannu steals Eeshwari's body and attempts to use black magic to revive her but is horrified when she returns as a ghoul and abandons her in the forest.

Instead, in the same month, Andrea Jeremiah, who had also appeared in the first instalment of the Aranmanai series, signed on as the second female lead.

However, the film post-production was delayed as Sundar tested positive for COVID-19,[26] and post production work began in February, ending early in March.

[27] The climax portions were filmed in 16 days, with 200 background workers,[28] and computer graphics work was conducted for 6 months.

[29] The film's soundtrack was composed by C. Sathya, who was collaborating for second time with Sundar C after Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru (2013).

[34] The fifth and final single, "Theeyaga Thondri", sung by Shankar Mahadevan and Hariharan, was released on 12 October 2021.

[46] Red Giant Movies withheld the satellite rights of this film, and sold it to their own channel Kalaignar TV.

[50] Manoj Kumar R. of The Indian Express gave 0.5 out of 5 stars and called it, "The dumbest film of the year yet".

[51] Bharathy Singaravel of The News Minute gave the movie 1.5 stars and said, "No ghost, spirit or spectre doomed to haunt the same house for eternity has felt more trapped than I did in the theatre today.

"[52] Praveen Sudevan of The Hindu said Sundar C's third instalment in the ‘Aranmanai’ franchise succeeds neither in scaring the audience nor making them laugh.

That, in a way, is the director's success – making us feel contended [sic] with a passable and instantly forgettable entertainer.

[55] Sudhir Srinivasan of Cinema Express wrote, "We have seen in multiple carbon copy films in this genre.

[56] Subha J. Rao of Film Companion wrote, "What is the point of taking forward a franchise when there’s little to redeem it?

"[57] Despite receiving mixed to negative reviews, Aranmanai 3 had a good opening on the first day of its theatrical release.

[53] The fourth installment, titled Aranmanai 4, starring Sundar C, Tamannaah Bhatia, Raashii Khanna and Santhosh Prathap, was released on 2 May 2024.