Purampokku Engira Podhuvudamai () is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language political thriller film co-produced, written and directed by S. P. Jananathan, which stars Arya, Shaam, Vijay Sethupathi, and Karthika. Also produced by UTV Motion Pictures, the film features cinematography by N. K. Ekambaram and a score by Srikanth Deva, while the soundtrack was composed by newcomer Varshan. The film, which was earlier titled Purampokku, a term used for a piece of land that is common to all, revolves around the relevance of capital punishment in a democratic and free society. The film released on 15 May 2015 to mixed reviews. It also marked Karthika's last official acting performance, as she'd cited of not enjoying acting much and a bright chance to mark her future endeavours.
Plot
The film begins with a narration on how India has been turned into a landfill site for domestic and foreign countries, with the countries dumping even ammunition waste on Indian soil.
In Delhi, Balusamy, a communist leader who is convicted by court on counts of robbery, murder, and treason, is given the death sentence. Despite Balu's request to execute him as a martyr by shooting, the court orders that he be hanged within a month's time by a professional executioner or hangman. He is escorted to a high security prison complex in Chennai by Macaulay, an honest, law-abiding police officer who is given the charge of monitoring him until his execution. The prison provides freedom to all prisoners, including Balu, to do whatever they want, as long as they do not cause unrest. Balu is instantly admired by the inmates for his patriotism and philosophy, as well as his empathy with the inmates. They view him as a spokesperson to the prison officials on behalf of them.
Meanwhile, Macaulay searches for a hangman and learns of Yamalingam, an executioner who has had a disdain of execution since his teens due to remorse of hanging an innocent man who was wrongly accused. Macaulay tries to convince Yamalingam to carry out the duty of executing Balu, to which he agrees after much coercion by Macaulay that Balu is a convict. Yamalingam is given a special phone tuned to a certain frequency where Macaulay can contact him.
Elsewhere, Kuyili, Balu's trusted comrade, learns about his conviction and assembles a group of computer hackers to hack into the prison's surveillance system. She befriends Yamalingam and uses him as a messenger to convey their escape plan to Balu. Kuyili also explains to Yamalingam that Balu was a communist leader in North India who wanted to prevent India from turning into a landfill site. To justify his actions, Balu took to violence and tried suicide bombing the Indian Army but failed due to Kuyili's reluctance to kill him. He was apprehended and jailed in Delhi. Kuyili tells Yamalingam that her refusal to kill Balu and his past guilt of executing an innocent person were the reasons that made them allies.
Yamalingam becomes impressed by Balu's ideologies and decides to stop Balu from being executed. He requests Macaulay to meet Balu in person, to which he agrees. Yamalingam makes a mannequin based on Balu's likeness to test the rope for hanging, with Balu conveying the escape plan to him, unknown to Macaulay, through a sheet of paper. Soon, with the help of two inmates, Balu escapes from jail in the place of a South African convict, but he surrenders upon seeing the convict being battered by the police. Macaulay and the police beat Balu up and lock him up in a secured prison cell, chained. Kuyili disguises herself as a fiancee of Balu and visits him in prison to convey the escape plan to him in Sanskrit. She later devises a plan with Yamalingam to aid Balu's escape at the execution chamber.