Priyamudan

“Priyamudan” (1998) is a romantic psychological thriller directed by Vincent Selva. It stars Vijay and Kausalya in the lead roles. The movie follows Vasanth, son of a rich businessman, who meets and falls in love with Priya while travelling in Rajasthan. In order to win her love, he assumes the identity of Vasanth Kumar, the very man who saved her life from the accident, to get close to her and form a relationship.

Vasanth, a rich young heir from Chennai, is controlling and possessive even by Bollywood standards. He smashes a statue in a shop to avoid the moral choice of confessing that it had already been sold. During his trip to Rajasthan, he meets Priya and falls in love, only for her to be crippled in an accident. Vasanth Kumar, Vasanth’s friend, saves her by donating blood, and they are childhood friends and live together. Priya, not knowing who saved her, during recovery, looks for Vasanth Kumar and lives with her uncle in Chennai. Vasanth pretends to be Vasanth Kumar and keeps her hidden from his friend.

Their relationship gets further complicated as Vasanth discovers Priya is familiar with Vasanth Kumar. When discovered, tensions escalate and eventually Vasanth murders Priya’s father Rangarajan, when confronted about his lies. Officers from India’s premier investigative agency, the CBI, Lawrence and Gopal, immediately began investigating the murder. During a music audition, Vasanth Kumar confronts Vasanth about misusing his name, leading to Vasanth accidentally injuring him, resulting in Vasanth Kumar sacrificing his life for Vasanth.

When Vasanth knows of his mistakes, he tries to amend and take care of Priya. When Priya learns the real circumstances behind both murders, she flees. Just as Vasanth tries to make peace, he is shot dead by the authorities. In a wishful, alternate ending, he lives, and they run away together, the cops letting them go, knowing what it’s like to love deeply.

“Priyamudan” is an engrossing romantic psychological thriller that adeptly deals with themes of love, obsession and betrayal. Its depiction of a controlling suitor’s arc from charismatic to sinister tomfool before finally finding his moral at the end of the story is both magnetic and harrowing. Deep exploration of character and a palpable sense of dread elevate this film to new heights, easily making it one of the best films of the year, regardless of genre.