The Priest is indeed a 2021 Indian Malayalam-language mystery movie directed by Jofin T. Chacko, who made his directorial debut. Mammootty, Manju Warrier, Nikhila Vimal, Baby Monica, as well as V.P Venkitesh appear in the movie. B. Unnikrishnan and Anto Joseph co-produced the movie, which has original music and soundtrack created and produced by Rahul Raj. The movie was supposed to be released on Eid Al Adha, July 31, 2020, however, it was postponed because of the COVID-19 epidemic in India. The movie was released on March 11, 2021, to largely favourable reviews, especially universal appreciation for such performers and background soundtrack. The movie is available on Amazon Prime.
On June 4, the movie seems to have its broadcast premiere on Asianet, where it received a record 6.1 million+ impressions and topped the TRP rankings. In Kerala, the film grossed 26 crores, and in the rest of the globe, it grossed 40 crores.
Diya, a little girl, asks Father Carmen Benedict to look into a spate of suicides in the wealthy Alatt family. The sole surviving member is Elizabeth Alatt; Father Benedict and a police officer set up a meeting with her the next day to ask about the unexplained suicides. That night, though, she commits suicide. Elizabeth was alone with Ameya Gabriel, an 11-year-old orphan girl she had picked up in Chennai.
Ameya, a calm, depressed young lady, was attempting to flee the orphanage. Ameya is returned towards the orphanage, in which an assassination attempt the very same night alerts Father Benedict as well as the police to a serious plot, indicating that she saw Elizabeth’s killer.
To investigate the Alatt home, Father Benedict recruits several locals. A strip of powerful psychiatric tablets is discovered; the pills can only be administered by a licenced medical professional.
Subsequent research indicates revealed Elizabeth, like some other Alatt family members who committed suicide, had been under the care of Dr Sanjay. Dr Sanjay confesses to brainwashing Elizabeth into committing suicide and mentions two additional collaborators when questioned. According to the evidence, all three were members of the Alatt Trust and plotted to assassinate the family in order to seize control of a Alatt family company, money, and power. They admit their guilt and thus are sentenced to prison.
Diya Alex already has died, and that was her spirit that spoke with Fr. Benedict when she was hidden towards the rest of the world. Despite the fact that the Alatt family murders have been solved, Father Benedict notices a strange atmosphere around Ameya, who has stayed silent regarding Elizabeth’s death and has never cooperated with both the authorities.
Unless a new teacher, Jessie Cherian, started high school, Ameya stayed dark, depressed, unhappy, and foul-tempered. Jessie adopts Ameya beneath her wing and gradually improves her grades as well as behaviour. Father Benedict reveals that he has been closely monitoring Ameya’s behaviour and tells Jessie that she will need his assistance in dealing with Ameya at some point.
Summer holidays approach, and Ameya persuades Jessie to obtain permission from the orphanage to spend two months with her. For several weeks, everything is blissful till Jessie’s fiancé, Siddharth, joins the tale.
When Ameya sees Siddharth, her demeanour shifts; she rushes away, break glass with her hand, and stalks Jessie, claiming they don’t need anybody else in their life. Jessie is terrified, so she phones Father Benedict, who informs her that Ameya is possessed by Elizabeth’s spirit and it can only be saved via exorcism.
As during exorcism, nevertheless, Father Benedict discovers that now the spirit is not of the Elizabeth, but of Susan, Jessie’s older sister, who died in a crash 11 years before.
Susan and Jessie lost their parents while Jessie was indeed a toddler, according to flashback scenes. Susan raises Jessie and works as a sports instructor at the same school that Jessie and Siddharth went to school.
Jessie slips out of the house one day to go to a party alongside Siddharth and their mutual acquaintances. Both become inebriated, and when driving home, they collide with a scooter ridden by Susan, who was looking for Jessie. Susan’s spirit possessed Ameya at birth in order to get revenge on Siddharth for killing her and isolating her from Jessie. Father Benedict, on the other hand, confesses that it was Jessie who was behind the wheel that fatal night, and she had inadvertently caused the accident while inebriated.
Siddharth was only attempting to shield Jessie from the repercussions since she was still ignorant of the situation. Susan’s soul departs Ameya’s body once she realises the truth.
The narrative comes to a surprising conclusion. Susan may have been rescued when she was transported to the hospital following the accident, according to flashback sequences. Dr Muraleedharan, however, opted to end Susan’s life in order to protect his friend, a sports instructor who was discovered by Susan administering steroids to children. Susan’s spirit worked with Father Benedict to wreak vengeance on the couple, and when they saw her ghost, their automobile veered and crashed, killing both of them. “Now Susan, you can rest in peace,” Father Benedict says at the close of the film.
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