Once upon a time, in the deep dark forest of Aranmani kaadu, there lived an old woman named Pechi, who was infamous for her terrifying black magic. To stop her, the villagers got rid of her long ago, and thought that she was gone for good. But that was far from the truth, as Pechi wasn’t gone, she was just waiting. One day, a young couple wandered into the forest of Aranmani kaadu, which was the same place where in an old tree, Pechi’s voodoo doll was buried. As they went to chop some wood for a bonfire, they accidentally cut down the tree that held Pechi’s doll, and just like that, the tree fell and Pechi was freed. The couple? Well, they didn’t make it out alive, as Pechi was back to haunt anyone who dared to enter her forest. Not long after, a group of young friends decided to explore that same forbidden area. They had heard the warnings from the local guide Mari, but ignored them. Will they survive Pechi’s wrath? That’s the question we’re about to explore from this explainer of B. Ramachandran’s Pechi movie.
Spoilers Ahead
How was Pechi returned to the forest again?
There was once a girl named Pechi, who lived in the forest of Aranmani Kaadu. From a young age, she was obsessed with black magic and always wanted more power. To sharpen her skills, she went to Kerala and returned after many years, as one of the most feared black magic witches around. Everyone in the village was terrified of her. Why? Because Pechi had become powerful by serving demonic goddesses. She and her family would perform strange and dark rituals deep in the forest. But it wasn’t enough for her, as she got hungry for even more power, as Pechi wanted to live forever. To achieve this, she began offering human sacrifices to the goddesses. She would target villagers and demand they sacrifice themselves, and if they refused, she would threaten to kill them with her black magic anyway. Naturally, the villagers were terrified, as they had to live in constant fear of Pechi and her dark powers. Eventually, they couldn’t take it anymore, so they went to the village head to beg him to take action against Pechi. But she was no ordinary witch, and anyone who tried to stop her would mysteriously disappear. Pechi wasn’t willing to let anyone stand in the way of her becoming immortal. Finally, the villagers found a loophole when they realized that, in order to defeat her, they must avoid looking her directly in the eyes. If they did, she would use her magic to destroy them. So, carefully, they followed this plan and, one night, they snuck into Pechi’s cottage and managed to kill her without making eye contact. The village priest then trapped Pechi’s spirit in a voodoo doll and nailed it into a tree deep in the forest, to make sure she could never harm anyone again. But when the couple accidentally cut down that very tree, Pechi was freed and her spirit returned to the village, and, people started dying. Her reign of terror had begun all over again.
What happened to the group of friends?
A few days after the tragic death of the couple in the forest, a group of friends arrived there for a trekking adventure. The group included Charan and his girlfriend Meena, Jerry the photographer, Sethu, and Charu. They had hired a local guide, Mari, who knew the forest inside and out. Before they entered the forest, Mari tried to warn them about the haunting tales of Pechi and how the area had become government-restricted due to strange occurrences, with it now being a no-entry zone. But the group was full of youthful energy and they were eager to explore, so they didn’t take him seriously as they laughed off the haunting stories and superstitions. Meena, in particular, was annoyed by Mari’s warnings. But what the others didn’t know was that Meena was hiding a dark secret, as she was a descendant of the infamous witch Pechi, who had returned to the forest. Meena knew that Pechi had come back, and she had a plan to offer her friends as human sacrifices to Pechi, so Pechi could gain eternal life. For this, Meena even pretended to be in love with Charan when she lured him and the rest of the group into the forest, who all ignored all the warning signs. They passed all the sacred bells and chimes meant to keep people out as they didn’t care.
But, the danger soon became real as, at first, Charu nearly fell off a cliff, but Mari saved her just in time. Then, Jerry lost his camera and wandered off to find it, but as he searched, he saw a terrifying creature that looked like an old lady lurking behind the trees. Before he could react, the creature killed him. Sethu and Charu did not know what happened to Jerry and they continued to go deeper into the forest, stumbling upon Pechi’s old cottage by accident. As soon as they entered, they were attacked and killed and became Pechi’s latest victims. When Charan and Mari realized something was wrong, they started searching for their missing friends, but sadly they found only bodies. Mari therefore naturally urged Charan and Meena to run, to save themselves before it was too late. But Charan refused to leave, and Mari was also loyal to the group, and couldn’t abandon them. What they didn’t know was that Meena had set the trap from the start. She pretended she was being attacked by Pechi, which terrified Charan and made him run. But Mari stayed behind to try to protect Meena, only to be killed by Meena herself, after being stabbed in the throat to be offered as a sacrifice to Pechi.
So, in Pechi’s ending, only Meena walked away alive from the forest, but she didn’t know that Charan had survived too. Actually, when Charan ran from the chaos, he accidentally snatched a sacred amulet from Mari’s neck. Mari was a descendant of the priest who’d buried Pechi’s spirit, and that amulet was meant to protect him from Pechi’s wrath. Before they entered the forest, Mari’s daughter had made him wear the amulet for safety. Unfortunately, it didn’t save Mari, but it did protect Charan. He escaped Pechi’s curse, but Meena did not even know about it. But, it is clear that this is just the beginning because Meena would surely lure more victims into the forest to fulfill Pechi’s dark wish for immortality, so this cycle of terror is far from over.
