Kaalidas

The film begins with Inspector Kaalidas investigating a woman's death, which he initially believes is a suicide. Meanwhile, his relationship with his wife Vidyaa is strained due to work pressure. One day, a mysterious man arrives at Kaalidas's house looking for a place to rent. After initially turning him down, Vidyaa leases the first floor of their house to the man, a disc jockey.

Meanwhile, another woman dies after falling from her apartment terrace. The DCP ropes in George, the experienced ACP, to assist with the investigation. The police suspect connections to the Blue Whale Challenge and extramarital affairs. Further investigations reveal that both victims had similarities: they had fairly discontented married lives, and neither had any children. The respective apartment cameras were either not working or had been turned off during the incident. When the police restore the second victim's broken smartphone, they find a series of intimate exchanges between her and a man called Aarav. Subsequent investigation of the first victim's death also leads the police to conclude the existence of an extramarital affair. However, the alibis of the captured men prove they were not at the crime scenes. Meanwhile, Vidyaa starts developing a close bond with her tenant, who resembles "Pappu", her college love.

A third woman falls to her death from her apartment terrace. Her phone's call history leads them to a man, who reveals that the victim made money by illegally renting her place out on nights for prostitution. Investigations lead the police to a procurer named Shanti, who is currently hospitalised. Upon learning that the police are on her trail, Shanti escapes from the hospital but is stabbed to death. Meanwhile, the police find a common contact, parlor owner David Susai, in the call histories of the first and third victims. Kaalidas learns from the parlor CCTV footage that the victims, along with Vidyaa, were regular visitors to the parlor. Fearing that Vidyaa may be the murderer's next victim, Kaalidas frantically rushes home to warn her after she fails to respond to his calls.

Meanwhile, Vidyaa, who is celebrating her birthday at home with her tenant, is suddenly attacked by him. In the nick of time, George arrives at Kaalidas's residence, and Kaalidas soon arrives as well. George reveals that Vidyaa is the actual murderer and that the tenant was a figment of her imagination. Tracing the call history of the fourth victim led George to Vidyaa's psychologist friend, who revealed that Kaalidas and Vidyaa's daughter died two days after birth, which made Vidyaa schizophrenic. The lack of attention and care from Kaalidas pushes Vidyaa into creating an imaginary version of the Kaalidas she loved during her college days – Pappu. The face of the imaginary Pappu is also revealed to originate from George's son, who visits the same parlor Vidyaa goes to. Upon finding that the man she met in the parlor resembles her old Kaalidas, she takes on the character to be her tenant in her imagination. Hence, fearing that the women she meets in the parlor may divide her from her old Kaalidas, she empowers the imaginary Kaalidas to stop anything and anyone that attempts to separate her from her real Kaalidas, hence the murders of the women. The blood sample on the fourth victim's leg is found to match Vidyaa's blood sample, which George had collected from Vidyaa's psychologist, proving Vidyaa as the murderer.

Later, Vidyaa's imaginary character attempts to murder her, deriving from the concept that Vidyaa wanted to be with her own Kaalidas and not introduce another man in her life. Hence, when she finds herself cheating on Kaalidas, it prompts the imaginary tenant to murder her. Upon closer inspection, it is also found that Vidyaa, who was initially pursuing the tenant, freezes when he makes a move on her in her final birthday scene. This indicates that Vidyaa freezes since she does not want to cheat on her husband with another man; the realisation that she is cheating prompts the imaginary character to attempt to murder her.

Soon, Kaalidas quits his job to become the "Pappu" that Vidyaa loves. The film ends with Kaalidas singing Vidyaa's favourite Bharathiyar song, while the imaginary Kaalidas disappears.

The film was announced in October 2017, with production studios Leaping Horse Entertainment, Incredible Productions and Dina Studios announcing that they will jointly produce the directorial debut of Sri Senthil, who had earlier won the reality talent show Naalaiya Iyakkunar. Titled Kaalidas, the team selected Bharath and Suresh Chandra Menon to portray pivotal roles in the film. Bharath was revealed to be portraying a police officer, with the film set in a span of three days.^[2][3] The film completed its shoot across Chennai and Hyderabad, and was revealed to be in post-production by early 2018. Bharath began dubbing for his portions in April after a month-long industry-wide strike on working on film was called off during April 2018.^[4][5][6]

The soundtrack was composed by Vishal Chandrashekhar.^[7][8]

Sify wrote, "Overall, Kaalidas is a smart investigation thriller that conveys an important message to this fast-moving society without being preachy."^[9] Srivatsan S of The Hindu wrote, "Kaalidas gets engaging by stitching these individual plots together, even though the proceedings leading up to the final showdown leave you confused — partly because none of these deaths or characters register."^[10] Thinkal Menon of The Times of India wrote, "The movie has the required elements of a suspense thriller and the performance of lead artistes, too, elevate the decent script".^[11] Haricharan Pudipeddi of Hindustan Times wrote, "With some impressive writing and by avoiding stereotypes, the film stands out."^[12] Navein Darshan of The New Indian Express wrote, "The rock-solid story gets diluted because of this convoluted part of the screenplay, and when the ultimate reveal is shown screen, you have either already guessed it or you are not invested enough to relish it."^[13]

A sequel, Kaalidas 2, was released in 2026. Sri Senthil directed this film too, and Bharath reprised his role as Kaalidas.^[14]