Theeni is a 2021 indian movie directed by Ani I V Sasi starring Ashok Selvan, Ritu Varma and Nithya Menon. Theeni is produced by BVSN Prasad and the music composed by Rajesh Murugesan.
Dev arrives in London to work in a restaurant. The restaurant named Amara is run by a head chef who is revered by everyone who works there. The head chef has never cooked in 15 years and judges any dish only by smell. Rajesh and Tara also work in the same restaurant. Dev who suffers from unexpected muscle spasms is a good cook too. He quickly impresses the head chef and all the others in the restaurant with his stealthy apt additions in other’s dishes.
One evening, Dev and Tara enter the restaurant’s cold store to keep ingredients. As the cold store has a faulty door, they put on a wedge to hold it. But the wedge is accidentally removed and the door is locked. Tara is furious over Dev for his incompetence to hold the door. They are stuck inside and slowly begin to suffer from hypothermia. After some time, Dev knocks on the jammed emergency button and the door is opened. Dev pulls out Tara who has become unconscious. As the restaurant is already locked from the outside, Dev cooks hot soup to give immediate relief to her. Tara likes the soup but asks him why he behaves oddly at times, moving involuntarily and speaking as if someone else is there.
Dev replies that he had a friend named Maya since his childhood. They grew up together and always had each other’s back. Since their childhood, Maya loved to eat the food made by Dev and Dev says it is to feed her tasty food that he learnt cooking. Maya died five years ago in an accident, nevertheless, he could always see her since then. While doctors say that muscle spams and insomnia are side effects of the treatment to his hallucination, Dev believes it is Maya who always interacts with him. Tara is surprised to know but starts to understand Dev.
Tara asks Dev to teach her cooking which he obliges. When Dev asks Tara about her parents, she replies that they were separated many years ago. Her mother took her away and changed her name. Since then her father has stopped doing what he likes. Wanting to turn him back, Tara has come searching for her father. She also recalls her favourite dish named gold-crusted fish, made by her father. Dev guesses correctly that Tara is Amara, the head chef’s daughter. Tara approaches Dev to share a moment but Maya pulls him back. To ease the mood, Tara plays their favourite song and dances with Dev. However, Dev suffers a cardiac arrest while dancing and is admitted to a hospital.
The next morning, Tara addresses Maya directly. She says that Dev’s life could be in danger due to overexertion and insomnia, and pleads her to leave him. Tara promises Maya to take her place and take good care of him. Maya obliges. The head chef arrives to meet Dev, with gold-crusted fish which he made by himself. Tara, who tastes the dish with Dev, gets emotional. She involuntarily calls out to her father in a whisper. The head chef who seemingly recognises his child, asks Tara to meet him in the evening.
Tara puts Dev to sleep and crawls on to one side of his bed and sleeps like Maya used to. Visible only to Dev’s eyes, Maya smiles at Dev and leaves. Maya is seen sitting on the rooftop of the hospital room where Dev and Tara sleep.
Directed by Ani. I. V. Sasi
Written by Ani. I. V. Sasi
Produced by B. V. S. N. Prasad
Starring Ashok Selvan, Ritu Varma, Nithya Menen
Cinematography Divakar Mani
Edited by Naveen Nooli
Music by Rajesh Murugesan
Production Sri Venkateswara Cine Chitra
Distributed by Zee Plex
Release date 26 February 2021
Running time 118 minutes
Country India
Language Telugu
