Gaslight (2021) Plot Summary & Ending Explained

Meesha returns to the ancestral palace after years away, only to find her father, Raja Ratan Singh, missing. Strange noises, phantom silhouettes and a series of unsettling events convince her that something terrible has happened, but everyone around her—especially her step‑mother Rukmini— insists she is imagining it. With the help of Kapil, the Raja’s loyal aide, Meesha begins to piece together a dark conspiracy.

Ratan’s body is eventually recovered, weighted down and hidden in the palace’s wharf, confirming that he was murdered. The investigation reveals that Rukmini, who is pregnant with a child that is not Ratan’s, had conspired with Kapil. Years earlier, Kapil had been taken under Ratan’s patronage after a childhood crime, but the king’s later humiliation left Kapil bitter. When Ratan discovered Rukmini’s affair with Kapil, Kapil killed the Raja to protect his lover and their unborn child. To secure the inheritance, Rukmini and Kapil tried to convince everyone that Meesha was losing her mind, staging sightings of her father’s “spirit” and even staging a fake drowning.