The movie begins with a convict(Mohanlal), who's to be hung for committing 4 murders, being brought to jail.
Other characters are introduced like the jailor(Murali); the person who gets food for the convict(Srinivasan) and tries to befriend him; and the father of one of his victims(Tilagan), a doctor by profession.
The convict is impassive, speaks little but is uncannily serene and at peace with himself. This intrigues all, including the father who once comes to visit him with the sadistic intention to see him in fear of his looming death and to despise him for killing his son, the person who'd given him a job.
The convict once has a surprise visitor, the elder sister of the two girls he's killed. He refuses to meet her. She comes near his dark isolated cell nevertheless. Shockingly, she breaks down pleading to him to rescue her too. This brings back memories he'd buried deep within. The film intermittently goes into flashback.
He's a painter moving to a new home. Near his is that of some women of ill-repute where the girl who'd visited him in jail also lives. One night the girl comes running to him requesting him to hide her from the lust of a man.
In part due to her indebtedness to him, she and her two sisters help him in his daily chores. They come to know each other better. He''s living with the fact that his mother was a woman of ill-repute. He was bought up by a priest(Nedi Mudi Venu) who is everything to him. The girl has to stay with her aunts due to a cruel twist of fate. The priest once comes visting and notices the love between the two. The painter confides in him that he'd like to marry her one day. But fate willed otherwise...
The owner of an agency(Sai Kumar) spots his talent and gives him a job to create ad paintings. He also gives the girl a job. But the chap is involved in fraudulent activities and the painter loses his job. The girl falls for his wealth. Her conscience pricks at the piercing glance from the impassive face of the painter. He also subtly warns her from going the way of his mother. She''s sure she won't. But she's wrong...the guy disowns her when she''s pregnant. Shattered at having to abort her baby, she loses esteem and goes the way of her aunts...
This was the culmination of the depressing state of events the
painter'd been witness to. His inner feelings are well-potrayed when he paints a ferocious demon. Just at that instance, the younger sister comes running to him with the eyes a deer has when fleeing a tiger. Reminded of her elder sister, the painter realises that hiding her for the night won''t release her from this hell forever. He consoles her and assures her he'd help. With a spear-shaped object he uses while painting, he stabs her...he also sets free her youngest sister who'd come searching.
As if by God's verdict, the rich guy comes in with a friend with a new offer. The painter now is face-to-face with one of the tigers himself. While repeatedly muttering that that one must not lure people at the pretext of setting them free, he kills them both.
The convict had earned the sympathy of the jailor. The father of the victim also saw light when told about is son by the girl. The priest always had faith in him. With their efforts, the sentenced was put on hold on that very day itself. The convict began crying with folded hands. With a renewed zest to live, he even agreed to sign the papers requesting Presidential Pardon. Heartbreakingly, he is not pardoned. The priest too passes away. On the day of reckoning, shown in detail, the father admits that his son got what he deserved. The painter says that he'd realised that taking someone's life is no solution. The painter's dead body is claimed by the girl. The girl too is not left uncared. The victim's father takes her as his child. The intensity of Mohanlal's performance should have kept him in contention for the National Award.
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