Synopsis

In mid-1998, in the village of Karungulam, southern Tamil Nadu, the primary occupation is harvesting raw banana bunches and transporting them to lorries, for which a meager payment of Rs. 1 per bunch is made. Two adolescent friends, Sivanaindhan and Sekar, are ardent fans of Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, respectively. Sivanaindhan has a crush on his social science teacher, Poongodi, and even makes a fake promise when caught stealing her handkerchief. Despite being a bright student, Sivanaindhan is forced to lug banana bunches during weekends due to poverty. He and Sekar fearing the labor-intensive work sought excuses to avoid it. However, Sivanaindhan’s mother insists he works to repay the advance credit she had received, pledging her son’s labor.

Vembu, Sivanaindhan’s elder sister, is in love with Kani, a communist and socialistic thinker who, along with a few villagers, demands a hike of Rs. 1 extra per bunch through their village broker, Muthuraj. The trader reluctantly agrees to avoid a work stoppage. One weekend, Sivanaindhan escapes from work by faking a thorn injury, leaving him to take care of their cow. However, he abandons the cow and goes with Poonkodi to the rice mill. Upon returning, he finds the cow to have entered Muthuraj’s field, leading to a confrontation. Kani intervenes, losing his job as a loadman and being forced to lug bunches like the other villagers. The humiliation and his mother’s tears prompt Sivanaindhan to promise that he would work without hesitation during the ten-day half-yearly exam holidays to pay off debts.

A few months pass, and Sivanaindhan’s family struggles to bear the increasing debts. His mother sells their cow, further saddening Sivanaindhan. As her health declines, Sivanaindhan is forced to labor. Meanwhile, he gets selected for a dance performance at the upcoming school’s annual day function. However, he can’t confront his mother and unwillingly goes for lugging with his sister, Vembu, but convinces her and escapes from the crowded lorry to attend the dance practice with an empty stomach. In search of food, he attempts to fetch bananas from a nearby field only to be caught by the field’s caretaker subjecting him to a brutal beating, but, somehow he escapes. Upon returning home, he’s caught by his mother and runs away to avoid beatings, fainting near the pond.

When he wakes up, he finds the entire village in mourning, with around nineteen corpses, including those of Vembu, Kani, Sekar, and Muthuraj, who died in a lorry accident while transporting bananas. The trader is blamed for the tragedy, as he refused to provide proper transportation and forced the laborers to climb onto the overloaded lorry. Sivanaindhan, weakened and hungry, sneaks into his house to eat but is caught by his mother, who tearfully blames herself for his hunger, and his sufferings and laments over the loss of her daughter. But the starving Sivanaindhan runs away and falls unconscious in the banana field.

The screen cuts to an archived newspaper article from Dinathanthi, reporting the death of twenty plantain farm workers near Srivaikundam, who were buried alive under bananas loaded in the lorry when it overturned. A note follows, dedicating the movie to those victims, as told by a survivor