Virupaksha began with Venkata Chalapathy being killed by a mob of villagers because they assumed the worst. They believed this person was behind all the mysterious children’s deaths. Venkata died chanting prayers; he and his wife were sadly charred to death. Virupaksha gave the audience a peek into fantasy horror fiction and created an atmosphere of rumors and deceit that led to a revenge plan being concocted, not by any ghost but by the village’s very own Nandini, the daughter of the Sarpanch.
The name Venkata Chalapathy appeared for the first time in the movie when the doctor revealed that 11 years ago, similar strange events had occurred that had mysteriously killed children. This time around, it was the adults who were targeted. When Surya is informed of the death of Venkata Chalapathy, he is keen to know what exactly transpired that led to his death. Chalapathy happened to be a learned man who had moved to the village 12 years ago, but he and his family remained aloof. Venkata’s wife was bedridden due to paralysis, and his discouragement of people from visiting their home who would show pity to him, and his wife can be safely assumed as the reason he did not mingle with the villagers. The villagers mistook his behavior for arrogance and were quick to spread rumors about him and his family. In any small town or village, news spreads like wildfire, and probably the villagers were quick to conclude that Venkata and his family were the weird ones, and it would not be ideal for mingling with them as well.
Because it was the 1980s, there was a rampant lack of education in the rural side of the country, and the villagers would always get carried away by what others would say about Chalapathy instead of thinking logically. Venkata had other reasons for staying aloof as well. The man was well-versed in the Atharvana Veda. Venkata mastered this Veda because he believed he would come up with solutions to help his wife be a mobile person and end her misery of being bedridden. He wanted to create something for her that no modern medicine of that time could do. He and his wife had given up on a regular doctor’s treatment, and that’s why they stayed in a village, hoping to remain closer to nature. Venkata was not a black magician; he was only improving on the knowledge he had.
In that pursuit, he was mistaken for someone who was killing the kids of the village, which led to uncalled-for vigilante justice. Chalapathy’s interest always remained in rediscovering powers that would be useful not just for his wife but for others as well. Maybe that would have been his plan. If his science and powers work out successfully for his wife, he will be able to help others as well. The man was innocent as a lamb. He was also quick to conclude that the kids in the village died due to cholera and that there were no supernatural elements involved. The villagers were quick to believe in the power of the mysterious but never in the power of science. Chalapathy was trying to enhance the powers of ancient science and make wonders out of them.
All of this was ruined in one night. The villagers may not have been ready to believe the other side of the story because the rumors spread so quickly that there was no way anyone would understand rational advice. Their act of so-called defiance had a traumatic effect on Bhairava, the son who lived to witness the death of his parents. The Sarpanch quickly moved Bhairava to an orphanage based in another town. The young boy did not react well to the death of his parents and the big change. Unbeknownst to many in the village, Chalapathy’s daughter Nandini was adopted discreetly by the Sarpanch. The girl also lived with the trauma of seeing her parents die. They found their path to exacting revenge. Bhairava wanted the villagers to pay for the crimes they committed because they robbed him and Nandini of a childhood they could have had. Nandini’s reason stems from the fact that none of the villagers were arrested for the crime they committed, and none of them showed any remorse. This may have pushed Nandini to concoct an elaborate revenge plan that would help her destroy the people who destroyed her family. The brother and sister eventually join hands to make sure the plan comes to fruition.
Bhairava and Nandini will have nothing to lose this time around by hatching a plan to kill the villagers using the black magic because they have already lost everything that mattered to them. Chalapathy probably wouldn’t have liked his kids idea of taking revenge in such a brutal manner because he was not willing to harm anyone. He seems to have conducted experiments without harming anyone. This is why Nandini and Bhairava failed to understand that the powers manifested by their father were for the welfare of the people and not to be misused for their benefit.
Nandini and Bhairava were relentless, but Surya taps into the human side of Nandini. He was right that harming villagers purposefully is worse than a mistake that was made 11 years ago. Nandini may have felt some emotion in Surya’s pleas. She tapped into her emotional side by letting herself be killed so that Bhairava could not complete the task of annihilating the village. Nandini probably convinced herself that some of them were the people she grew up with, and it wouldn’t be right to punish the innocent. Forgiving the people who mobbed his parents would be the right thing to do. This is what her father, Chalapathy, would want. Her sacrifice for the greater good would serve a bigger purpose than Bharaiva’s sacrifice. Hers would be compared to her parents’ deaths, who died unaware. Nandini’s death would probably bring an end to belief in rumors and blind faith and restore the legacy of Venkata Chalapathy.
