Annabelle Sethupathi

In 1948, Kadhiresan visits a magnificent palace built by King Veera Sethupathi and wishes to own such a palace himself. In 1966, Kadhiresan's niece lives in the palace with her husband and daughter. During a full moon, she is possessed by a mysterious spectre, who cooks for the family. Afterward, the family dies in their sleep and reunite with other family members who died in the palace, along with Kadhiresan's dead cook, Shanmugam. Shanmugam claims that a mysterious force compels him to poison the inhabitants of the palace every full moon, and that a person who can survive after eating on the full moon will set them free. Until then, the spirits, including Kadhiresan (who has become a recluse), are trapped in the palace.

In 2021, Rudra's family including her father, mother and brother are thieves, feuding with two other thieves. The dispute between the two groups lands them in front of a police inspector - Kadhir, the great-great-grandson of Kadhiresan. Kadhir and his grandfather hope to sell the palace, but are stymied by rumours of the palace's haunting. Kadhir hires Rudra's family to supposedly clean the palace. In reality, he wants them to live there until the full moon in order to prove that the palace is safe, and plans to secretly dispose of their bodies if they die. Rudra's family agrees to clean the property, planning to loot the palace.

When Rudra first steps foot in the palace, the ghosts feel mysterious energy and hope that she can set them free. Rudra's family are terrified by several inexplicable events, but Rudra, who has been enchanted by the palace, convinces them to help her fake a haunting so that they can acquire the palace. Kadhiresan's ghost, spooked after seeing Rudra, begins to secretly follow her around.

On the day of the full moon, Rudra's family go to the temple, leaving Rudra behind. Shanmugam possesses Rudra's mother to cook for her. Rudra eats and falls asleep, and upon waking up, is scared and angry to see the ghosts surrounding her. The ghosts are initially disappointed, thinking that Rudra has died, but soon realise she has survived after all. After hearing their story, Rudra convinces the ghosts to help her with her plan in return for finding a way to free them.

Shanmugam, after asking whether Rudra recognises him, takes her to a secret room in the palace, which he claims is her bedroom. Among the items in the bedroom are pictures from the 1940s of a woman resembling her. Shanmugam tells Rudra the story of Veera Sethupathi, a king who built the palace for his beloved queen, Annabelle, as a symbol of his love. The two lived happily until Kadhiresan began to covet their home. After Veera Sethupathi refuses to sell him the palace, Kadhiresan poisons the couple. A pregnant Annabelle dies after swearing vengeance against Kadhiresan. This is secretly seen by the couple's cook, Shanmugam, who seeks revenge on Kadhiresan.

After Kadhiresan and his extended family move into the palace, Shanmugam poisons their food. Kadhiresan, knowing of Shanmugam's loyalty to the late king and queen, forces him to eat first, which Shanmugam does without hesitation. By the next morning, Shanmugam, Kadhiresan and his family are all dead, except for a single grandson who had missed the meal. Since then, Shanmugam has been killing the relatives of Kadhiresan who had moved into the palace. The sole survivors of the family now are the grandson who escaped the original poisoning and his own grandson, Kadhir.

Kadhir reappears with goons and attempts to kick Rudra's family out of the palace. When the ghosts attempt to assist Rudra's family, the ghosts mysteriously lose their ability to interact with the living world. A mysterious force grabs the inspector and his goons and throws them out, though none of the ghosts can figure out who did so. Meanwhile, Shanmugam tries and fails to convince Rudra that she is the reincarnation of Annabelle. The ghosts, who have overheard their conversation and realised that Shanmugam poisoned them, are initially angry, but wish to return ownership of the palace to Rudra, hoping that it will allow them to finally rest in peace.

Kadhir and his goons return, this time with his grandfather. Kadhiresan's grandson is shocked at seeing Rudra, now dressed in Annabelle's clothes, due to her resemblance to Annabelle. He accuses her of attempting to snatch back the palace and plans to kill her to satisfy his grandfather's ghost. When the goons capture Rudra, the ghosts of Kadhiresan's family manage to combine their powers and stop Kadhiresan's grandson from hitting Rudra.

A car stops outside the palace, and the ghosts once again feel the mysterious energy that accompanied Rudra's arrival to the palace. This allows Kadhiresan's family finally find peace and disappear after realizing the folly of their patriarch's greed. The new arrival, a government official, tells them that the government intends to seize the palace as a heritage-listed tourism site. Realizing that the palace is out of their grasp, Rudra and her family depart in a huff.

The government official, having fallen in love with Rudra at first sight, proposes to her in the same way that Veera Sethupathi proposed to Annabelle - by offering to build her a palace if she marries him. Rudra accepts with a smile. Shanmugam, watching their reunion, is finally at peace, though he is miffed that they still don't remember him and breaks the fourth wall by promising to return for the sequel. Kadhiresan's ghost, now alone in the palace, attempts to leave but is shocked to find that he is still trapped. The movie then returns to the scene where Kadhir and his goons were pushed out of the palace, indicating that yet another spirit also lingers there, once again hinting at a sequel to the story.

Deepak Sundarrajan, son of director-actor R. Sundarrajan, who worked under the assistance of A. L. Vijay was reported to make his directorial debut with a film starring Remya Nambeesan and Natarajan Subramaniam, was announced in June 2017.[4] But the project did not materialise due to various reasons.[4] Three years later, in August 2020, he was reported to direct a horror comedy film, starring Taapsee Pannu and Vijay Sethupathi.[5] It was her third Tamil film she signed after her prior commitments to Bollywood films, she made her return to Tamil cinema with Game Over (2019) and also signed Jana Gana Mana, which went on floors during late-2019.[6] She was essayed to play a "street-smart woman", and the film featured an ensemble cast with popular comedians from South Indian cinema acting in pivotal roles.[6] Yogi Babu and Radhika Sarathkumar reported to play pivotal roles in September 2020.[7][8] Both the characters play dual roles in the film — one being featured in the period portion, and the other in the present timeline.[9]

The film was initially titled as Annabelle Subramaniam[10] and the principal photography began on 28 August 2020 in Jaipur. The film was entirely shot in a single schedule, following COVID-19 restrictions,[11] and had also shot in City Palace, Rambagh Palace and Samode Palace for the past 20 days. It is the first Tamil film to be shot after 50 years, since Adimai Penn (1969), as other production teams found difficult to obtain permission to shoot the films in the palace.[12] The team managed to complete the entire shoot, following the co-operation of the Rajasthan government and the authorities had provided hospitalities for the cast and crew members working in the film.[12] The filmmakers wrapped the shoot within October 2020, and subsequently began post-production with the team had supervised extensive computer graphic works in the film.[13] In August 2021, the makers announced the title changed as Annabelle Sethupathi, under the dubbed South Indian versions, whilst the Hindi version was titled Annabelle Rathore.[14]

The film's soundtrack and score is composed by newcomer Krishna Kishor.[15] Before his debut as film music composer, Kishor worked as a percussionist for leading music composers including A. R. Rahman, Anirudh Ravichander, Hiphop Tamizha and Bollywood musicians.[16][17] It was his second film he signed before Mughizh, a web-film which also starred and produced by Vijay Sethupathi and his first to be released.[17]

The soundtrack album featured five songs written by Uma Devi, Vivek and Ku. Karthik. Singers Asees Kaur, Sanam Puri and Yashitha Sharma made their Tamil debut in playback singing, by providing vocals to one of the songs. The audio rights were acquired by Think Music.[18] All the songs in the film were released as singles starting from 6 September 2021, with one song being released per day.[19] The full album was unveiled along with the fifth song and two theme tracks in addition on 10 September 2021.[19]

The film was released on Disney+ Hotstar on 17 September 2021.[20]

• Annabelle Sethupathi at IMDb