Aranmanai (transl. Palace) is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language comedy horror film directed by Sundar C. Produced by Vision i Medias, it is the first film in the Aranmanai series. Loosely based on Aayiram Jenmangal (1978), the film features an ensemble cast including Sundar, Vinay, Santhanam, Hansika Motwani, Andrea Jeremiah, and Raai Laxmi. In the film, a family returns to their hometown to sell their ancestral palace, but their arrival is marked by supernatural events, and a relative of the family decides to uncover the truth.

Filming for Aranmanai took place between September 2013 and January 2014, while post-production took place over the next several months. The film was released on 19 September 2014 and became a commercial success. The first of three successors, Aranmanai 2 was released 2016.

In a village, Ayyanar leads a group of people to clean a palace whose owners plan to sell it. At night, the cook is frightened by some supernatural being in the palace and disappears.

The next day, an estranged Eshwari returns to the village with her husband Kesavan and son Muliankannan, along with her older brother and his daughter, Maya. The pair, and their late elder brother's son Murali and his new wife Madhavi, have gathered to sell their palace off to Ayyanar. Meanwhile, Paalsamy sneaks into the palace disguised as a cook to find a photo that is the sole evidence that he is also an heir to the palace so Paalsamy can claim his share of the money. Strange events begin to happen during their stay at the palace. Madhavi sees a servant's daughter talking to a mysterious girl called Selvi, who no one else can see. The girl's mother explains that she is mentally impaired. Mishaps continue to happen, delaying the sale of the palace and the family extend their stay. Meanwhile, two other servants go missing. Ravi, Madhavi's elder brother, visits the palace to meet his sister. Later, Madhavi and Maya tell Ravi of the strange happenings, so Ravi sets up cameras around the palace with Maya's help.

While watching the camera feed, Ravi sees a worker backing away from something, but the camera's feed suddenly dies. At the same time, a fortune teller in front of the house runs away in terror after seeing something. On the next day, the police find the bodies of the missing servants in a local pond. Ravi is shocked and visits the fortune teller, who reveals he witnessed a woman possessed by a vengeful spirit kill a worker. The fortune teller gives him an egg and informs him that when the possessed person is near the egg, the egg will spin. To Ravi's horror, the egg reacts to Madhavi. Since the little girl always speaks of a woman named Selvi, Ravi sets out to investigate. Ayyanar becomes angry when mentioned about Selvi, who stole the temple's jewels and ran away from the village. However, Selvi's friend Ramya tells Ravi that Selvi is a good person, not a thief, and narrates her flashback.

Past: A few years back, before his marriage, Murali came to the village and fell in love with Selvi. Selvi also likes him, but she is a girl often possessed by the goddess and predicts the future. Wishing to maintain her holiness and wary of the difference in their statuses and lifestyles, she is reluctant to accept his confession. Murali planned to depart the village that morning and asked her to meet him at the palace if she wanted to join him. With Ramya's encouragement, Selvi leaves to confess her love to Murali but disappears before reaching him.

Present: As per Ravi's plan, Ramya comes to meet the possessed Madhavi. Selvi, recognising Ramya, tells her all that happened that day. It had been Ayyanar and his friends who had stolen and replaced the temple jewellery with fakes. When Selvi had touched one of the fakes, she received a premonition and confronted the culprits. When they attacked her, she fled to Murali but narrowly missed him. Ayyanar and his accomplices, the dead servants, brutally killed and buried her inside the palace.

Selvi tells Ramya that she intends to live on with Murali in Madhavi's body. As that day is auspicious, if Murali and Madhavi get intimate, no one can ever drive her out of Madhavi's body. If they cannot consummate their relationship, she will kill Murali so that they will be together in death. After hearing the story, Ravi meets a priest who says there are only two ways to stop Selvi: use a powerful emotion to bring Madhavi to her senses or bring Murali to the river junction where a holy ritual will take place, generating a powerful energy that will lay Selvi to rest. The palace inhabitants disturb Selvi's attempts to become intimate with Murali. Meanwhile, Ravi attempts to find a way to bring Murali to the river junction without tipping off Selvi. Meanwhile, Selvi puts Murali into a trance so that she can track down and kill Ayyanar.