Gunaa is a 1991 Tamil romantic drama film directed by Santhana Bharathi and written by Sab John. The film stars Kamal Haasan, newcomer Roshini in lead roles with Rekha, S. P. Balasubramaniam, Girish Karnad, Ajay Rathnam, Janagaraj, and Sharat Saxena playing supporting roles. The story is about a mentally challenged man who assumes a fictitious character Abhirami to be an angel who is going to marry him which leads him to kidnap a rich girl assuming her to be his angel. The girl initially hates him but later finds herself falling in love with him after understanding his situation. The film’s plot is a remake from Spanish dark romantic film Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!. The film was mostly shot around Kodaikanal. The film’s original soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The song “Kanmani Anbodu” from this film remains one of the evergreen songs. The film was released on 5 November 1991. The film’s release prints were 5,203 m. It was critically acclaimed for its unique theme and performances. The film failed at the box office but it later acquired cult status in Tamil cinema and inspired similar themes. The film was dubbed and released in Telugu with same name.
Gunaa (Kamal Haasan) is a mentally affected person and receives treatment in a mental asylum in Hyderabad. He does not like his father and his mother is a moll in the house that they live. He assumes a fictitious character named Abirami (also, the name of an Indian goddess) and registers in his mind that she is an angel who is going to marry him on a “full-moon day”. After coming out of the asylum, he believes the story to be true and believes that his Abirami is somewhere around.
A bunch of hooligans led by Guna’s uncle, Janakaraj trick the mentally unstable Gunaa into robbing a temple of Abirami, an Indian goddess. He happens to see a rich girl(Roshini) in there, right after Janakaraj tells him that “Abirami will come”. He decides that she is the one, and in the confusion following the robbery, he takes her with him to a lonely, damaged house situated at the top of a hill in Kodaikanal. Police start investigation regarding the robbery and missing of Roshini. Initially, Roshini hates him for his weird nature and for holding her captive. Guna comes to know that her parents were killed in an accident and was brought up under a guardian. At one point, she breaks the chains Guna ties her up with and sets out to escape. Here, guardian of Roshini, SK arrives with the help of Guna’s uncle and the local goon. SK attempts to kill her to swindle her wealth, but Guna saves her by killing the local goon set by SK.
There after to get away from all these people Gunaa takes her to a perilous cave in a remote area, where she is moved by his deep love and is attracted to him. Sequentially, police predict that Guna is a culprit and starts to search for him. She understands Guna’s innocent love and accepts his marriage proposal. She convinces him and marries him before the “full-moon day”, but contracts a fever in addition to a broken leg caused by SK. Gunaa goes out to bring a doctor, who recognises him and calls the police.
Meanwhile, the CBI officer investigating Roshini’s kidnapping also reaches the scene with Guna’s family. In the end Roshini is shot by SK to hide his crimes, and is killed by Guna in revenge. Roshini passes away before she can inform the police about the truth.In his grief, Gunaa jumps off the cliff with her while proclaiming his eternal love for her through the famous dialogue “This is not human love, to be understood by humans. It is something pure even beyond that”. Movie ends up by showing “the full-moon” conveying that they were killed on a full-moon day.
Directed by Santhana Bharathi
Produced by Alamelu Subramaniam
Written by Sab John & Balakumaran (dialogues)
Story by Sab John
Starring Kamal Haasan, Roshini, Rekha, S. Varalakshmi, S.P. Balasubramaniam, Janagaraj, Girish Karnad
Music by Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography Venu
Edited by B. Lenin & V. T. Vijayan
Production Swathi Chithra International
Distributed by Raaj Kamal Films International
Release dates 5 November 1991
Running time 180 minutes
Country India
Language Tamil
