Chithha (2023) on Netflix

NR20232h 20mDrama Thriller

Easwaran, a government employee in Palani, is protective of his niece Sundari, who is eight. When she goes missing, he and the police set out to find her.

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Netflix4.1/5
IMDb8.2/109,701 votes
Rotten TomatoesNot available

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Plot summary

Easwaran works for the government in Palani and is devoted to his niece Sundari, who is eight years old. His friend Vadivel is a police officer, and Vadivel's niece Ponni is Sundari's friend. Ponni overhears her elder sister talking with her boyfriend, cannot make sense of what is said, and takes it to mean that deer are to be seen in a forest area near the school. She asks Sundari to accompany her there after classes. The two girls plan the trip on their own and board an auto rickshaw, but Sundari becomes frightened and turns back, while Ponni continues alone. On another day Sundari leaves school by herself, and a child abuser kidnaps her. Easwaran and the police begin searching for her.

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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Chithha (2023)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

Promotions for Chithha's Kannada version in Bangalore were interrupted by threats from Karnataka Rakshana Vedike protesters over the Kaveri River water dispute; Prakash Raj and Shiva Rajkumar apologised to Siddharth on the protesters' behalf.
Arun Kumar met police officers, NGO members and survivors of child sexual abuse while researching, then drafted 440 pages of story idea and condensed it to 220 pages after rewrites.
Director S. U. Arun Kumar drew the story from real incidents of child sexual abuse he read about in newspapers and articles, and wrote a novel titled Kolkata Days about the 1996 Suryanelli rape case.
Before Chithha's release, Arun Kumar showed the finished film to psychiatrists, survivors of sexual abuse, NGO members and people in the legal system, who approved it; he did not want to release something problematic in the name of cinematic liberty.