Sreenu, Satyam Rajesh the filmmaker also known as Athreya, and his ally Arudra, Shakalaka Shankar, share a penthouse with a friend named Ayan, a quick-witted optimist whose dreams of stardom have him boasting in every corner. Sreenu’s career had a bright peak with the film Geetanjali, but that glow was followed by three tough box-office flops, leaving him wary of repeating past risks. Ayan, who runs a busy fast-food cart in Vizag, is a loyal companion, yet his swagger hides a risky game of vanity, especially when he brags to his girlfriend’s father about becoming a movie star with Sreenu directing a new project produced by Dil Raju. The plan sounds tempting, but Sreenu senses a trap in the air. On a quiet night in Hyderabad, he confronts the truth and, after a modest farewell party, resolves to step away from the film world for good.
The very next day, fate offers a second chance in a package deal. Vishnu, a boss figure who has his own script for a horror-comedy, approaches Srinu (the director’s alias remains a beacon of possibility). Vishnu’s pitch is simple and bold: he will finance the production, with Srinu directing and Athreya and Arudra handling the writing. The catch is clear and immediate—Ayan must be the lead. If that condition isn’t met, Srinu won’t take the job. Ayan accepts with a swagger he’s built on bravado, and the wheels of a new movie begin turning.
Meanwhile, Geethanjali makes a chilling return in a strange twist of fate.[Ventriloquist Venkat Rao], played by Ali Basha, finds Geethanjali again, but this time she is trapped inside a doll by a mysterious Babaji in a corporate office after a harassment incident involving a male HR. Geethanjali’s demand is urgent: Venkat Rao must locate her sister Ushanjali, a woman who runs a struggling coffee shop in the hill town of Ooty. The two paths—gearing up to shoot a film in a haunted setting and rescuing a sister in need—begin to weave together into a single, eerie thread.
Their journey leads them to Ooty, where Vishnu himself narrates the film’s premise from the safety of his bungalow and offers the Sangeeth Mahal property as the shooting location. Yet this isn’t merely a picturesque backdrop. Sangeeth Mahal is shadowed by a legend and haunted by three restless spirits: Nataraja Sastry, his wife Lakshmi, and their younger daughter Mohini. They belonged to a respected family of classical dancers, a lineage torn apart by a string of honor killings after a disastrous sequence of elopements and betrayals. Mohini’s own secret — a love she pursued, the consequences that followed, and the traumatic fires that claimed the family’s lives — lingers in the air, shaping the ghostly presence that now haunts the mansion. Vishnu lays out the story as the backbone for the film, a meta-narrative that blurs the lines between fiction and a very real haunting.
As the crew settles into Sangeeth Mahal, Ushanjali becomes the proposed lead actress for the production. After reconnecting with old friends, Anjali helps to smooth the path for Ushanjali’s casting, a small victory in a larger struggle against fear and superstition. The shooting days bring the supernatural into daylight as the ghosts begin to make their presence known. Srinu, Govinda Govinda, Arudra, and Athreya—together with the rest of the crew—realize that they might need more than method acting to survive this project. They improvise, lean on each other, and pretend to be deeply committed to their on-camera roles in order to placate the spirits and press forward with the shoot.
The tension peaks when, on August 8th, the specters disrupt a crucial scene, forcing everyone to confront the possibility that this film may be more than a cinematic experiment. The truth behind Vishnu’s presence is revealed in a shocking turn: Vishnu is the son of Ramesh Rao, a man bent on avenging his father’s murder by weaponizing the project against those who killed him. Ramesh Rao had used Geethanjali as a means to trap the protagonists, and by buying Sangeeth Mahal he intended to force their deaths in the very same manner they killed his father. He also harbors another bitter memory: he killed Anjali’s boyfriend, a man who had hoped to recruit his father’s company, a detail that remains largely hidden from the others.
Srinu, faced with the mounting danger and the web of lies, confesses all the facts to Ushanjali. The pair decide to steal the agreement papers, hoping to derail Vishnu’s plan by exposing the real motive behind the film’s creation. Their search leads them to a hanging photograph of Ramesh Rao, and with that image comes the gravity of Vishnu’s intentions. When Vishnu arrives at the house, Ramesh Rao’s ghost—now possessing Vishnu’s body—strikes with brutal force, killing Arudra and Athreya in a bid to extinguish the opposition to his vendetta.
In a dramatic rescue, Venkat Rao—carrying the possessed doll—arrives to interrupt the carnage. Geethanjali breaks free from the doll in a stampede, and she possesses Ushanjali to confront the vengeful specter. The two sisters fight side by side against Ramesh Rao’s ghost, declaring that their bond will withstand the trial of death itself. Realizing that sheer force won’t end the curse, Ushanjali and Geethanjali harness the old magic of a mirror and a spare doll to trap Ramesh Rao’s spirit within another doll. The final act sees Vishnu defeated, his threat neutralized, and the cycle of vengeance broken as the sisters reclaim their safety and the film’s fate is sealed with a hard-won ending.
In the end, what began as a reckless plan to turn a haunted property into a blockbuster becomes a test of loyalty, courage, and the power of family ties. The project that started as a professional opportunity transforms into a supernatural battle where the living and the dead must navigate trust, deception, and the responsibility that comes with power. The crew comes away with a hard-won lesson: some stories aren’t merely written on paper or shot on a set—they are lived, and sometimes the most chilling truth lies in the shadows of a house where the past refuses to stay put.
