# Aranmanai (film series)

Aranmanai (transl. Palace) is an Indian Tamil-language comedy horror film series created and directed by Sundar C, consisting of Aranmanai (2014), Aranmanai 2 (2016), Aranmanai 3 (2021) and Aranmanai 4 (2024). All films were successful at the box office, continuing the trend of the comedy horror genre in Kollywood that began with Chandramukhi (2005).

## Overview

The films are not connected with each other. Each film typically revolves around a family at a palace that is haunted by supernatural activity.

## Films

| Film | Cast | Runtime | Released |
| Aranmanai | Sundar C, Hansika Motwani, Vinay Rai, Andrea Jeremiah, Raai Laxmi | 161 minutes | 19 September 2014 |
| Aranmanai 2 | Sundar C, Hansika Motwani, Siddharth, Trisha Krishnan | 136 minutes | 29 January 2016 |
| Aranmanai 3 | Sundar C, Raashii Khanna, Arya, Andrea Jeremiah, Sakshi Agarwal | 156 minutes | 14 October 2021 |
| Aranmanai 4 | Sundar C, Tamannaah Bhatia, Raashii Khanna | 147 minutes / 150 minutes | 3 May 2024 |
* Aranmanai (2014): A family returns to their hometown to sell their ancestral palace. However, their arrival is marred by supernatural events, and Ravi, a relative of the family, decides to uncover the truth.
* Aranmanai 2 (2016): Murali returns to his ancestral home along with his fiancée when his father lands in a coma under mysterious circumstances. His life takes a turn when he uncovers his family's dark secrets.
* Aranmanai 3 (2021): Jyothi is haunted by an unknown spirit in her childhood. Years later, when the spirit starts haunting someone close to her, she decides to unearth the spirit's connection with her family.
* Aranmanai 4 (2024): A lawyer tries to discover the truth of his sister's mysterious death, soon he gets caught into the trap of a dangerous demon called Baak.

## Cast
### Aranmanai

* Sundar C as Adv. Ravi, Madhavi's brother.
* Hansika Motwani as Selvi, a village girl and Murali's former lover in the past who get killed by Ayyanar. (Voice dubbed by Savitha Reddy)
* Vinay Rai as Murali, Madhavi's husband and Selvi's former lover in the past.
* Andrea Jeremiah as Madhavi, Ravi's sister and Murali's wife who get possessed by Selvi's spirit
* Raai Laxmi as Maya, Sivaraman's daughter and Ravi's love interest (Voice dubbed by Renuka Kathir)
* Santhanam as Paalsamy, A thief who enter the palace by servant.
* Kovai Sarala as Eshwari
* Manobala as Kesavan, Eshwari's husband
* Nithin Sathya as Mulian Kannan, Eshwari's and Kesavan's son
* Meera Krishnan as Lakshmi, Murali's mother
* Chitra Lakshmanan as Sivaraman
* Saravanan as Ayyanar
* Baby Priya as Meena
* Ganeshkar as Nallamuthu
* Swaminathan as Nachimithu
* Akila as Ramya, Selvi's unblood sister
* Yogi Babu as Sagidi, a fortune teller
* Santhana Bharathi as Chairman Paramasivam
* Kadhal Dhandapani as Rangan
* Vichu Vishwanath as Samikannu
* Gowtham Sundararajan as Inspector Ramkumar

#### Cameo appearances

* Manikka Vinayagam as a devotional singer
* Sirkazhi G. Sivachidambaram as a devotional singer
* Sivasankar as a devotional singer
* Aarthi Ganeshkar as Aarthi

### Aranmanai 2

* Sundar C as Ravi, Anitha's brother
* Trisha Krishnan as Anitha, Murali's fiancée, Ravi's younger sister (Voice dubbed by Krithika Nelson)
* Hansika Motwani as Maya, Arun's wife, Murali's younger sister (Voice dubbed by Renuka Kathir)
* Siddharth as Murali, younger brother of Ramesh
* Poonam Bajwa as Manju, a nurse, Ravi's love interest
* Soori as Devadas & Sandhu Bondhu Naadimuthu, Devadas's father
* Kovai Sarala as Komalam, Sandhu Bondhu Naadimuthu's ex-lover, a servant
* Manobala as Vera Shekar, Komalam's brother, a servant
* Vinodhini Vaidyanathan as Sandhya, Ramesh's wife
* Nithin Manivannan as Suresh, Ramesh's son
* Radha Ravi as Maya's father
* Subbu Panchu as Ramesh, Murali's eldest brother
* Raj Kapoor as a driver
* Chitra Lakshmanan as Ravi's father
* V. I. S. Jayapalan as Namboothiri, Manju's uncle
* Dhindukal Saravanan as Devadas's assistant
* Thalapathy Dinesh as Namboothiri's assistant
* Vichu Vishwanath as Namboothiri's assistant
* Rahul Thatha as a priest

#### Cameo appearances

* Vaibhav Reddy as Arun, Maya's husband
* Khushbu Sundar in the song "Amma"
* Hiphop Tamizha in the song "Party with the Pei"

### Aranmanai 3

* Sundar C as Ravi, Hema's husband, Shalu's father
* Arya as Saravanan, an electrician, Jyothi’s love interest (possessed)
* Raashii Khanna as Jyothi, Saravanan's love interest, believed to be the daughter of Rajasekhar and Eeshwari (Voice dubbed by Smruthi K)
** Veronika Arora as Young Jyothi
* Andrea Jeremiah as Eeshwari "Raani", Rajasekhar's late wife, Samikannu's love interest
* Sakshi Agarwal as Hema, Ravi's wife, Shalu's mother, Sarala's daughter (Voice dubbed by Priya Anand)
* Vivek as Sigamani, a failed politician, Mynavathi's husband and Rajasekhar's brother-in-law (posthumously)
* Yogi Babu as Abhishek, a thief, Saravanan's friend
* Myna Nandhini as Mynavathi, Sigamani's wife, Sarala and Rajasekhar's sister
* Sampath Raj as Rajasekhar, a Zamindar, Sarala's younger brother & Mynavathi's elder brother, Jyothi's adopted father and Eeshwari's husband
* Nalini as Sarala, Rajasekhar and Mynavathi's elder sister, Hema's mother, Ravi's mother-in-law, Shalu's grandmother
* Cell Murugan as Manickam, Money lender's assistant
* Manobala as Pencil, a thief, Abhishek's assistant
* Vela Ramamoorthy as Saamiyaadi, and Samikannu's father
* Ovi Bhandarkar as Shalu, Sarala's granddaughter, Ravi and Hema's daughter
* Amit Bhargav as Samikannu, Eeshwari's lover, Saamiyaadi's son
* Vincent Ashokan as Durai, a driver, Jyothi’s biological father
* Vichu Vishwanath as Kaali, a gardener
* Kulappulli Leela as Valliamma, a cook
* Madhusudan Rao as Vallimalai Swamiji
* TSR Srinivasan as Poosari, the Temple Priest
* Sri Ganesh as IAS Collector

#### Cameo appearances

* Hariharan as a devotional singer in the song "Theeyaga Thondri"
* Shankar Mahadevan as a devotional singer in the song "Theeyaga Thondri"
* C. Sathya in the song "Theeyaga Thondri"

### Aranmanai 4

* Sundar C as Lawyer Saravanan
* Tamannaah Bhatia as Selvi, Saravanan's younger sister (Voice dubbed by M. M. Manasi)
* Raashii Khanna as Maaya, Zamindar's granddaughter (Voice dubbed by Smruthi K)
* Santhosh Prathap as Santhosh, Selvi's husband$^{:1:04:21}$
* Ramachandra Raju as the swami
* Kovai Sarala as Saravanan's aunt
* Yogi Babu as a mason
* VTV Ganesh as the carpenter
* Delhi Ganesh as the zamindar, Maya's grandfather
* Jayaprakash as Varatha Rajan SV, village president$^{:1:04:41}$
* Fredrick Jhonson as Ravi, Varatha Rajan's son$^{:1:04:41}$
* Rajendran as Rathnam
* Singampuli as Constable A. Sakthivel$^{:1:44:23}$
* Deva Nandha as Sakthi, Selvi's daughter$^{:1:03:35}$
* Sanjay as Saravanan Jr
* Lollu Sabha Seshu as the zamindar's servant
* Vichu Vishwanath as the money lender
* Yatin Karyekar as the priest
* Namo Narayana as K. Duraipandi
* Jayashri Chaki as Selvi, Duraipandi's daughter
* Harsha Harish as the priest’s daughter

#### Telugu version

* Vennela Kishore as a mason
* Srinivasa Reddy as a carpenter

#### Cameo appearance

* K. S. Ravikumar as DSP S. Jagadheesan$^{:1:44:29}$
* Khushbu Sundar in the song "Amman"
* Simran in the song "Amman"

## Character identification

| Character(s) | Film(s) | Film(s) | Film(s) | Film(s) |
| Character(s) | Aranmanai (2014) | Aranmanai 2 (2016) | Aranmanai 3 (2021) | Aranmanai 4 / Baak (2024) |
| Recurring lead | Sundar C | Sundar C | Sundar C |
| Recurring lead's lover | Raai Laxmi | Poonam Bajwa | Sakshi Agarwal |
| Male lead | Vinay Rai | Siddharth | Arya | Sundar C |
| Female lead | Andrea Jeremiah | Trisha Krishnan | Raashii Khanna | Raashii Khanna |
| Spirit | Hansika Motwani | Hansika Motwani | Andrea Jeremiah | Tamannaah Bhatia |
| Spirit's lover | Vinay Rai | Vaibhav Reddy | Amit Bhargav | Santhosh Prathap |
| Spirit possessed | Andrea Jeremiah | Trisha Krishnan, Sundar C | Arya | — |
| Villain(s) | Saravanan | Radha Ravi, Subbu Panchu | Sampath Raj, Vincent Asokan | Ramachandra Raju |
| Comedian(s) | Santhanam, Kovai Sarala, Manobala | Soori, Manobala, Kovai Sarala | Manobala, Nalini, Yogi Babu, Vivek, Myna Nandhini | Kovai Sarala, Yogi Babu / Vennela Kishore, VTV Ganesh / Srinivasa Reddy, Singampuli |
| Child Artist(s) | Priya | Nithin Manivannan | Veronika Arora, Ovi Bhandarkar | Deva Nandha, Sanjay |
| Cameo appearances | K. Sivasankar, Sirkazhi G. Sivachidambaram, Manikka Vinayagam | Khushbu Sundar, Hiphop Tamizha | Hariharan, Shankar Mahadevan, C. Sathya | Khusbhu Sundar, Simran |

## Creative and technical crew

| Occupation | Film | Film | Film | Film |
| Occupation | Aranmanai (2014) | Aranmanai 2 (2016) | Aranmanai 3 (2021) | Aranmanai 4 / Baak (2024) |
| Director | Sundar C | Sundar C | Sundar C | Sundar C |
| Producer | D. Dinesh Karthick | Khushbu Sundar | Khushbu Sundar, Sundar C, A. C. S. Arunkumar, A. C. Shanmugam | Khushbu Sundar, Sundar C, A. C. Shanmugam, A. C. S. Arunkumar |
| Screenplay | Sundar C, S. B. Ramadoss | Sundar C, S. B. Ramadoss | Sundar C, Venkat Raghavan | Sundar C, Venkat Raghavan |
| Writer | Venkat Raghavan | Venkat Raghavan, Sundar C | Sundar C, Venkat Raghavan, S. B. Ramadass | Sundar C, Venkat Raghavan, S. B. Ramadass |
| Cinematography | U. K. Senthil Kumar | U. K. Senthil Kumar | U. K. Senthil Kumar | E. Krishnasamy |
| Editor | N. B. Srikanth | N. B. Srikanth | Fenny Oliver | Fenny Oliver |
| Composer | Bharadwaj, Karthik Raja (score) | Hiphop Tamizha | C. Sathya | Hiphop Tamizha |
| Distributors | Red Giant Movies | Sri Thenandal Films | Red Giant Movies | _____________ |
| Production Company | Vision i Medias | Avni Cinemax | Avni Cinemax, Benzz Media (P) Ltd. | Avni Cinemax, Benzz Media (P) Ltd. |

## Home media

| Films | Satellite Rights | Digital Rights |
| Aranmanai | Sun TV | Sun NXT |
| Aranmanai 2 | Sun TV | Sun NXT |
| Aranmanai 3 | Kalaignar TV | ZEE5 |
| Aranmanai 4 | Star Vijay | Disney+ Hotstar |

## Other releases

| Original release | Telugu release | Hindi release |
| Aranmanai | Chandrakala | Rajmahal |
| 19 September 2014 | 19 December 2014 | 5 September 2014 |
| Aranmanai 2 | Kalavathi | Rajmahal 2 |
| Aranmanai 3 | Anthahpuram | Aranmanai 3 |
| Aranmanai 4 | Baak | Aranmanai 4 |
| 3 May 2024 | 3 May 2024 | 31 May 2024 |

## Box office

| Films | Budget | Box office |
| Aranmanai | ₹12 crore | ₹64 crore |
| Aranmanai 2 | — | ₹16.08 crore |
| Aranmanai 3 | ₹22 crore | ₹55 crore |
| Aranmanai 4 | ₹40 crore | ₹100.50 crore |