J.K. Wicky has been anything but ungiving with his Malaysian-Tamil creature horror “Poochandi” (Posandi Varan). Keeping up with the altering expectations that have evolved just as the genre has, “Poochandi” hoards up almost every trope the myriad of horror fanatics will look for. Barring the atmospheric manifestation of fear, the film has combined every expected cliche with unforeseeable mystiques that range from jump scares to the kind of gripping mystery that will make you stick around until the end. That being said, for a film guarding the treasure of the progressively unfolding historical mystery, “Poochandi” is more often than not a slave to the tasteless expressions of horror that are prevalent in almost every run-of-the-mill film of the genre. The narrative accompanies the Madurai-born small-time paranormal journalist Murugan on his curious journey that leads him to the den of deadbeat Shankar, who has a frightening story to tell. But that isn’t all he’s getting into on his path to finding a fascinating paranormal event. The intrigued journalist couldn’t possibly fathom what horror awaited him if he decided to take a closer look.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Poochandi’ Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?
Home in the crowd of Tamils that make up a large portion of the Malaysian population, paranormal journalist Murugan hopes to find a new story for the pages of the magazine he works for. His quest for a real paranormal event leads him to the store and the home of Shankar. Caregiver to partially paralyzed and wheelchair-bound Anbu, who has a passion for buying more vintage items than he sells, Shankar doesn’t quite have a life that surpasses the necessities of making ends meet and taking care of the forsaken store. Agreeing to be recorded for Murugan’s journal, Shankar starts off with the story of his own ghostly experience that involved Anbu and their other friend Guru. One lazy evening, Shankar planned a game of Ouija and decided to summon a spirit with Anbu and Guru. After a series of failed attempts, Shankar found an extremely old coin from Anbu’s collection in hopes of communicating with an actual spirit and decided to strengthen the summoning with a drop of his own blood. Someone from the other world did answer that time. But the spirit spoke in Tamil instead of English, making it difficult for the three friends to grasp it at first. The first thing spelled out on the board was the real name of Guru’s great-grandfather. Through countless questions and haphazard understanding, Shankar, Anbu, and Guru found out who the spirit was. The spirit was identified as Malika, a 23-year-old student at UUM. When asked how and when she passed, the answers revealed that she had drowned back in 2010. What the friends found even more convincing was that the spirit knew about the time Guru had brought a girl home in the absence of the other two.
That night, Malika appeared in Shankar’s dream to seduce him. Meanwhile, Guru looked up Malika online and found a picture of her in a paddy field with a guy named Deepak. During another seance, Malika said that she was drowned in an invisible river and she wanted revenge. When Shankar asked if she would predict the winning lottery numbers for him in exchange for bashing Deepak, Malika demanded something way creepier. She wanted them to give her a two-legged animal. Guru was evidently uncomfortable with the turn the game was taking and urged them to end it. When Shankar met with him at a local dive, Guru revealed that Malika’s ghostly figure strangled him in his nightmare, and when he woke up, he found a handful of hair. Guru believed that the spirit was lying to them and that it was something far more sinister.
That night, the inebriated friends called forth the spirit again, and this time she threatened Guru. Triggered by the unpleasant game, Guru lashed out and tossed away the coin and the board. Shankar woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and to his absolute shock, he found the bloody body of Guru lying over a shattered porcelain sink. When he went closer, howling at the realization that his friend was dead, he found the coin in the drain. Guru’s death was ruled a drunken accident, but Shankar and Anbu were the only ones who knew what really happened.
Intrigued by the story he just heard, Murugan asks Shankar to take him to the place of Guru’s death and show him the coin so that he can take pictures of it for the magazine. Although he is apprehensive at first, Shankar agrees to go back to the house with a little bit of persuasion and some cash. Shankar points Murugan to the spot of the death, and after removing the mesh, he finds the coin in the drain. Looking through Anbu’s exhaustive notebook, Shankar and Murugan find out that it was Deepak who sold the coin to Anbu, and that too in 2010, the year that Malika passed. At this point, Shankar and Murugan both suspect that Deepak was behind Malika’s death. Murugan suggests that they should trace the coin back to its origin and find out why the spirit latches onto it.
‘Poochandi’ Ending Explained – Who Is The Spirit That Haunts The Fateful Coin?
Anbu avidly joins Murugan’s plan of finding Deepak, and the three set out on a train journey leading to Deepak’s place. Anxiously knocking on the apartment door, they find the person they’re looking for. But when they ask Deepak about the circumstances of Malika’s death, the door is shut in their faces. Shankar knocks on the door again, and this time—to their utter shock—Malika herself opens the door. When she finds out that her husband Deepak sold the coin, Malika relives the hauntings that traumatized her back in her dorm days. She was indeed a student at UUM, but she clearly didn’t drown or die. Malika starts with the story of how the coin ended up in her possession. Engrossed in archeological findings after a visit to the museum with her roommate Saro, Malika enrolled in an archeological survey that took her to the paddy fields. There, she spotted an area that stood out from the rest of the field. Malika stuck her hand in the crack of the ground, and after it cut her finger, she came across the old coin and brought it back with her. With the coin came the spirit that was attached to it.
Soon after getting the coin, Malika started feeling an incomprehensible presence in her room whenever Saro wasn’t with her. Marks started showing up on her body, and even though those were taken as hickeys by her friends, she felt that they were done by whatever was following her. One night in the market, an old man told Malika that he could see a dark figure following her. Feeling that it was a sinister presence, the man asked her to visit the local temple the following morning. Back in her hostel, Malika locked herself in the bathroom alone and was frightened to see a dark shadow behind her through her phone’s camera. That night, after dozing off, Malika woke up to the petrifying sight of a dark entity licking off the blood that was dripping from her fingers. Her screams awakened Saro, who then held her down to comfort her. But soon, she heard the real Saro banging on the door and realized that she was, in fact, in the arms of the entity.
The following morning, Malika visited the local temple. The old priest urged her to remember if she had taken anything from anywhere without permission. She realized that it had to be the coin she had taken from the paddy field. After giving her holy ash for protection, the priest advised her to give back the coin where she found it and apologize to the spirit that was attached to the coin. Before she could fix her mistake, however, a trident-wielding frightening entity showed up right in front of her. Instead of being warded off by the sacred ash, the entity rubbed it on himself with his eerie hands and spoke for the first time. He identified himself as the worshiper of the father of Suppan. Malika asked Deepak to return the coin to the paddy field, and without knowing the extent of the danger, Deepak sold it to Anbu.
What Is The Origin Of The Spirit?
The group is way too knotted up in the mystery of the coin to return it without unraveling its origin first. Murugan figures out that the entity is a worshiper of Shiva, who happens to be the father of Suppan, which is another name for Lord Murugan. Now to deduce the cryptic hints left behind by the entity, Malika turns to the map of Kadaram. It was once a place of international iron trade, frequented by yachts from all over the world. After Rajendran Chola’s invasion, the trade all over the rivers of Kadaram came to a halt. With time, the rivers narrowed, and muddy patches took over where there was once water. Those very same muddy patches eventually turned into the paddy field where Malika found the coin. This concludes the mystery of why the entity said that his death happened in an invisible river. He must’ve died in the same paddy field, which was once a river.
Murugan receives a call from his father, who has done his research on the coin and put together a fascinating revelation. According to his father, the fish engraving on the coin suggests that it came from the ancient Pandian era when fish was considered an auspicious sign of trade. The figure of the trident-bearer on the other side of the coin is suggestive of the fact that it came from the Sangam period, which ended 1800 years ago. Burdened with the new findings and with the anticipation of danger, they set out for the paddy field to return the coin.
While Malika is satisfied with returning the coin to the ground and leaving, Murugan’s curiosity makes him dig up the ground. Frightened with the possibility of further chaos, Deepak leaves and takes Malika with him. Murugan digs up the ground with the help of Shankar, and they unearth an ancient skeleton that is chained to an iron anchor. Confused and distracted by the baffling sight, Shankar fails to notice that Anbu is about to hit him with the shovel. His attempt, nonetheless, is quickly blocked by Murugan, who now demands that Anbu reveal his wrongdoings.
When he sensed that the entity would grant wishes if his demands were met, Anbu played the game all by himself and asked for the ability to walk. Although he is apologetic now, Anbu was tempted by the coin’s entity when it promised to give him the ability to walk in exchange for a two-legged animal. At first, Anbu thought that he could trick the entity by giving him a random two-legged animal, but what he later demanded was a human host. Assuming that the entity would kill the host, Anbu asked for reassurance that the host would not be harmed. The entity made him walk for just a minute to reel him in even more. After Guru had thrown the coin out the window, Anbu went back to retrieve it and play the game again. Guru, however, found out what he was doing, and when he tried to flush the coin down, he was accidentally tripped over by Anbu and fell to his death. With the promise that no harm would be done to the host, Anbu meant for Shankar to be the sacrifice. Intrigued by Anbu’s agenda, instead of fear, Shankar feels greed. He had once asked the spirit about the winning lottery number. Now he has the perfect offering that he can submit in exchange for winning the money that can change his life. Shankar hits Murugan with the shovel and decides to give him up as the host body if it means that Anbu can walk again and he can win the lottery.
When Shankar destroys the chain that kept the skeleton tied to the anchor, the entity crawls out of the muddy water in all his dark glory. Praising the almighty with his growling, grim voice, he says that he is “Poochandi,” the banished worshiper of Shiva. Poochandi takes over Murugan’s flesh, while Shankar and Anbu rejoice at the thought of reward. But instead of rewarding the two greedy men, Poochandi nudges them into the pit of insanity. The eerie worshiper of Shiva did not come alive to grant wishes. His purpose is to seek revenge for his cruel banishment and death. Alive in his newfound host, Poochandi finds the ability to avenge his prehistoric imprisonment and unleash his wrath. It can not be a mere coincidence that the person named after Lord Murugan ends up being the host for the baleful worshiper of Shiva. Poochandi did not possess the power to physically manipulate the events that led to his rebirth. But it is fair to assume that Murugan’s fate guided him down the dark path according to Poochandi’s wishes. He found a convenient means of advantage in the greed of the two men, who would do anything for a reward.
Although it is a term liberally used in South India as some form of a phantom, the origin of the name “Poochandi” leads back to the dark era in Tamil history that dates back to the time period between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE. During the reign of the Kalabhra dynasty, the worshippers of Shiva were stopped from pursuing their faith and were punished if they broke the rules. And as there has to be a rebellion against every form of suppression, a group of worshippers covered themselves in Thiruneer and continued to serve the banished deity. Smearing their bodies with holy ash earned the worshippers the name “Poochandi.” This explains why Poochandi couldn’t be turned away with the blessed ash the priest had given Malika for protection. The priest thought the dark entity he could see behind her was a ghostly presence. It was Murugan who first had the understanding that they were perhaps being haunted by something that wasn’t necessarily a ghost. While Poochandi did die centuries ago, and he is technically a spirit, he must have been a significantly powerful worshiper of Shiva for him to be tied down to an anchor instead of receiving a more understated death.
Is There A Possibility Of A ‘Poochandi’ Sequel?
Poochandi’s grim journey has only begun. If he has gone through the extensive measures of manipulating multiple people into bringing him back, he certainly has a bigger, much more menacing agenda. With Murugan’s body giving him the ability to go anywhere, Poochandi takes a flight to a place not disclosed to the audience. J.K. Wicky will most likely bring back the grotesque character to terrorize the grounds of a sequel.
“Poochandi” is a 2022 Tamil-language horror thriller film directed by J.K. Wicky.
