Year: 2017
Runtime: 145 mins
Language: Tamil
Director: A.R. Murugadoss
A surveillance expert who wants to help people comes across a foe who is the very definition of evil. Can he stop the man before he destroys everything?
Warning: spoilers below!
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Read the complete plot breakdown of Spyder (2017), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.
Shiva, Mahesh Babu is an IB officer who develops a covert program to monitor people’s calls and messages with the aim of preventing harm and helping those in need. On the night of 16 March, Charlie, Rakul Preet Singh, speaks about a personal goal—she wants to push her exam score up to 98% to secure a US scholarship—and, along with a friend, decides to go on a blind date to help her stay focused on her studies. As the evening unfolds, Shiva tails her and the pair begin to fall for each other, yet the demands of his high-stakes job keep intruding on any budding romance. The balance between duty and desire becomes a constant tension in their evolving connection, shaping Shiva’s choices as he navigates a world where technology can both illuminate danger and invade privacy.
On the night of 28 April, a different pulse of fear runs through the city. A young girl, alone in her home during a power outage, pleads for help as she and her friend hear the house grow mysteriously quiet. Alarmed, Shiva sends his constable ally Renuka, Himaja, to the address to intervene. The next day, chilling headlines announce the brutal deaths of two women, jolting Shiva into a guilt-ridden resignation from the IB. Yet even as he steps away from the official badge, his father, [Jayaprakash], urges him to pursue justice and not abandon the truth. Driven by a mixture of professional duty and personal grief, Shiva begins a granular investigation—delving into the girl’s chats and traces of a stalker who followed her to a café. Using social media footprints and leads from people who knew the stalker, he follows a careful trail that threads him toward a distant village and an ominous past.
Beneath the present, a deeply buried past slowly unfolds. Bhairavudu, [Bharath Srinivasan], known in the community as Sudalai, lives with his mother and younger brother in a cemetery where his father performs funerary rites to provide for the family. This harsh upbringing intersects with a troubling condition, S.P.D., which manifests as a grotesque compulsion to kill and a perverse need to witness the pain of the bereaved. A child in the village witnesses one of his acts and reveals it to others, provoking a vengeful mob that destroys Bhairavudu’s home and kills his parents. Fractured and furious, Bhairavudu departs the village with his brother, setting off a long, brutal spree that becomes the shadow behind the present danger Shiva is pursuing.
In the present tense, Shiva corners Bhairavudu in a dense hideout and interrogates him, only to learn that the person he believes to be the killer is actually Bhairavudu’s brother. The revelation shifts the game into a public arena when Bhairavudu appears on live television, mask on, declaring that he has killed 23 people and hidden their bodies inside the pillars of a metro bridge. He threatens the city and even signals an attack on a hospital. In a rift between family loyalty and ruthless menace, Shiva takes decisive action and kills Bhairavudu’s brother in front of the victims’ families, intensifying Bhairavudu’s rage and fear. Bhairavudu uses the spectacle to taunt Shiva, while his threats escalate toward Shiva’s own circle.
When Shiva’s mother reaches out in fear—checking that her home is without power just as the earlier victim had described—Shiva realizes how close the danger has drawn to his own door. With the support of his team and the insights provided by local women who know the neighborhood’s patterns, he discovers that Bhairavudu has hidden himself in a house where he has captured the occupants. A relentless chase follows, culminating in a dramatic arrest of Bhairavudu, who hints at another catastrophic plan: a rockslide meant to devastate the city. Shiva foils the immediate danger, but Bhairavudu escapes custody and presses onward with his scheme to destroy a hospital, a target that would terrorize countless lives.
Meanwhile, Charlie learns of the hospital plot, yet a prior misunderstanding keeps her from telling Shiva at the crucial moment. Shiva tracks her taxi and learns the truth about the hospital, racing to evacuate the people inside. The mission weighs heavily as some patients cannot be saved in time, and Shiva’s heartbreak deepens as he confronts the consequences of Bhairavudu’s machinations. A final confrontation between Shiva and Bhairavudu erupts, and Shiva emerges victorious, ending Bhairavudu’s reign of terror with force.
In the aftermath, the city breathes a cautious sigh of relief as Shiva speaks to the media about the essential value of humanity and vigilance. He returns to the side of Charlie, who had worried for him, and the two walk away together, bearing the weight of loss and the glimmer of hope that their trust in people—and in each other—can endure even in the face of calculated terror. The case closes not with simply a verdict, but with a rebirth of faith in compassion and the quiet courage to act when others are in need.
Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 15:57
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