EXAM (2026) s01e04 Episode Script
The Strangled Voice
RAMAKKAL
Brother…
Sir asked me to come over.
He's inside. Go meet him.
How do you know Ms. Shantiamma?
Sir, sometime ago, her son
had contracted a pox illness.
My mother gave her some barracuda
and asked her to make a stew.
"He'll be alright soon," she said.
Ma'am did so, and her son recovered.
Since then, Ms. Shantiamma
always bought fish from our shop.
Alright.
Are you open to doing any job?
I am, sir.
Triumphing over evil
Unfolds this new tale
Triumphing over evil
Unfolds this new tale
This is my institute.
This computer center, that xerox shop…
I own it all.
-Do you know how to make photocopies?
-No, sir.
Learn. It's easy.
Hope is but a ruined statue
Crushed by the hands of time…
Can I work and study
at the same time, sir?
How much do you think you are earning?
How will you study?
What will you and your sister do for food?
Listen. Just do as I say.
Your job is…
to identify which of the students
in this institute are rich.
Make them want to resort to illicit means
and secure high-ranking posts.
Triumphing over evil
Unfolds this new tale
Triumphing over evil
Unfolds this new tale
Triumphing over evil
Unfolds this new tale
-Brother!
-This new tale…
If you have money,
you can easily buy an education.
Once you buy it,
hotshot careers
will be within your reach!
And once you get those jobs?
You will have authority in your hands.
And if you have authority in your hands?
Daddy…
The subscriber you're trying to reach
is not within the network coverage area.
TEN YEARS AGO
KEEZHAKAADU
How many eggs have you collected
in two days?
Around 1,800, sir.
What's up, Paruvatham?
The low number of eggs
makes it seem like you've built a nest
with the money you skimmed!
I don't even touch the eggs
when having my meals, sir.
Fine. I'll go and get the vehicle.
I had asked for an advance payment
for my daughter's education, sir.
I inquired about it, and it turns out
you don't need that much money
for studying to be a cop.
Sir! No ordinary cop, sir!
The cop of cops!
There are specialized courses for that!
"The cop of cops?"
What kind of hotshot cop is that?
"The Quit India Movement
was launched in which year?"
"1942."
"The layer of atmosphere closest to Earth
is called the troposphere."
"Which Indian state
has the longest coastline?"
-"Gujarat."
-Dear?
We're a bunch of nomads.
To call our own,
we have no town or home.
Why, no cemeteries either!
When your father went
to shepherd ducks in some town…
a snake bit him, and he died!
Back then, you were just a little girl.
Don't cry, Mom.
I just…
abandoned him in the river of that town!
Mom…
You must change all of this.
Here!
Take this, dear.
Use this to pay the fee.
Take that course you've been
wanting to do!
A mother's lullaby
Will I hear near my ear?
Will your comforting melody
Make my grief fade away?
Will the Almighty pay heed to my prayer?
Will that blessed gaze fall on my face?
A mother's lullaby
Will I hear near my ear?
Will I hear?
Dashing against rock and thorn
Half my life has gone
What will become of the rest?
Will I get to hear all that's best?
Come, my dear
You must win
Study and reach high
A mother's lullaby
Will I hear near my ear?
Will your comforting melody
Make my grief fade away?
Will the Almighty pay heed to my prayer?
Will that blessed gaze fall on my face?
A mother's lullaby
Will I hear near my ear?
Will I hear?
POOKOTTAI
Almost as a reward to me
for studying hard,
every question was from books I read.
I wanted to scream with joy!
"I'm going to be a high-ranking cop!"
But that joy didn't last long.
LADIES
Hello?
This is the tahsildar's daughter, sir.
Can you hear me?
Yes, this is the tahsildar's daughter!
As you said,
I didn't write the answers!
I wrote the code word!
Even paid the fee!
I'll pass, won't I, sir?
Okay, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Hey.
Who were you talking to?
"I wrote the code word. Didn't write
the answers. Will I pass if I pay up?"
What is all this?
What's going on?
What's it to you who I speak with?
Give me the phone!
Give me the damn phone!
Give it!
Let go!
Let go!
Move aside!
Give me that!
What's the problem?
Why are you fighting?
She told someone over the phone
about putting in a code word,
not writing the answers,
and asking if she'd pass
because she paid up.
Sir…
Something's not right, sir.
Sir! No, sir!
I was saying I did well on the exam!
She's trying to pick a fight
like some lunatic!
I'm a lying lunatic,
and you're honest, huh?
-Hey, watch your mouth--
-Hey!
I'm right here,
and you're fighting like this?
-We'll take this up at the station!
-Sir!
-Get in the jeep!
-What did I do wrong?
-She is at fault!
-Hey!
-Get in, I say!
-Sir!
Get down!
-Sir…
-Walk faster!
Sir…
Get in!
Get in, I say!
Fill this out!
Bring them over!
-Get down quickly!
-Get down!
-Get in here!
-Go on!
-Sit!
-Sir…
Sit down!
Sir?
After the Group 1 exam
at the Arts College,
two girls were fighting there.
When questioned, one of them says
the other wrote a code word
on the answer sheet.
The other says this one's a lunatic.
I didn't know what to do.
I thought it'd be best if you questioned
them, so I brought them over here.
This is the mobile used
by one of the girls.
Send them both in.
The inspector's calling you.
Both of you go in!
Sir…
Whatever it is, talk to him!
What's your name?
Jhansi, sir.
Yours?
Maramalli, sir.
The tahsildar's daughter.
Whose phone is this?
Mine.
What's the problem here?
She was talking about writing a code word,
not writing the answers,
and asking if she'd pass
because she paid up
to someone on the phone.
I felt something was amiss.
If you investigate the person
she was talking to,
you'll find the link.
Where are you from?
Keezhakaadu.
Keezhakaadu?
Where is that?
The sub-district of Jeevanand.
Did you do the exam well?
Yes, sir.
I'll pass with a high rank.
So, a government posting is confirmed!
What's next for you?
I want to become a DSP.
Superb!
You may even outrank me someday!
You can marry a guy with the same rank
and settle down in life.
What does it matter
if someone puts a code word or doesn't?
What does it matter
if someone writes the answers or not?
Why should we care about that?
How can you say such a thing, sir?
Why do we have such government exams?
It's conducted to select competent
officers to carry out public service.
If some people resort to forgery
and pass this exam,
how will they do good to the public?
That's true, isn't it?
Would you two care for some tea?
-Sure, sir.
-None for me, sir.
There's only one bus to my village.
If I miss that, I can't go home.
My mother will be there all alone.
No, my dear.
You will leave only after having tea.
Please, sir.
Ma'am?
Where's your husband?
Why, sir?
What's the matter?
Why are you panicking?
It's nothing.
To segregate the question papers,
they wanted a deaf-mute chap.
They enlisted your husband
for that, right?
They need another signature from him
for that.
So, I came to get your husband.
He never goes anywhere alone, sir.
He always travels with me.
He's not wise to all this.
Can you take him there
and drop him back safely?
No problem. I'll take care.
Send him over.
Let's go.
Come.
Who is he?
I don't know, sir.
Don't know?
To segregate the Group 1 question papers
at the district treasury…
Learning that they appointed
deaf-mute people to carry it out,
you both had a liaison!
Sir?
How did you leak the question paper?
I think you're doing something wrong, sir.
Who?
Me?
Yes, sir.
WOMEN'S PRISON
What is it?
My daughter is in prison, sir.
I want to see her.
See that queue over there?
Go wait there.
My daughter's name is Jhansi, sir.
I'm her mother.
I want to see my child.
Is she a suspect or a convict?
I don't know, sir.
Go check with your lawyer!
Move!
Go! Next!
Make it fast!
DAY TWO
Didn't I come that day?
Thousands of people visit here every day.
Name of the prisoner?
Her name is Jhansi.
A convicted prisoner, sir.
Convicted?
You can't see them today.
Come by on Tuesday or Thursday!
Go.
Move aside! Next!
DAY THREE
Fill this out.
Next.
Oh, it's you.
Give me your Aadhar card.
I don't have an Aadhar card.
The coupon card is at home.
Quit bugging me first thing in
the morning! Get your ration card!
Go! Move aside! Next!
Move aside!
Mother, why have you left me all alone
And gone?
Mother, why have you left me all alone
And gone?
Mother, why have you left me all alone
And gone?
Mother, why have you left me all alone
And gone?
Will these wounds ever heal
When you drift away from me?
Will life turn empty?
Can a life without you ever be saved?
Everyone wants to make it big
for their parents to see.
Not everyone gets the chance to do so.
I wanted to make it big
and make my mother proud.
She died.
For whom must I make it big now?
What's the point in my doing so?
There's nothing left for me to accomplish.
I decided to die.
Hey!
What do we have here?
Sir!
She's lost so much blood!
Won't you even patch her up?
What's wrong?
She slit her wrist, ma'am.
Why the hell did you do that?
You should've slit your throat!
We could've buried you right here!
She's not conscious, ma'am!
I think I can save her
if I take her to the hospital!
Don't you get it, Jayachandran?
She'll die on her way there!
I feel that I can save her, ma'am!
Please grant me permission
to move her.
Why are you begging like this
for some bloody convict?
Fine!
Do what you want, Jayachandran!
Thank you, ma'am!
Give me a hand!
Everything you said about
the government exam scams…
is nothing.
It's a huge world of its own!
They buy out the professors in charge
of preparing the question papers.
At the modulator section,
where 1,300 questions
are whittled down to 200.
There is a huge price for anyone
who wants to buy the questions.
They made an employee of the press
where the question papers are printed…
print out the questions
on his white lungi.
The case for that scam is still ongoing.
Magic pens were given to the kids
who paid bribes to use in the exam.
Once it's erased, they have other people
fill out those answer sheets.
Take my case.
I should've become an IAS officer.
Because of this scam,
I ended up as a jailer.
You need to understand one thing
that the Lord has said, Jhansi.
"I know your thoughts and expectations.
Not for evil,
but for peace."
Suicide is never the solution
for anything.
Life will not desert you.
What life is this, sir?
Losing everything
and living just for the sake of it?
That's just it, sir.
Can you do one thing for me, sir?
Please don't let me go out of prison.
Keep me there forever.
The tears of Mr. Jayachandran and my own
made us want to oppose this scam.
Other convicts… Manikandan, Prabha,
Amar, and Mami.
They all joined hands with us.
Including Marimuthu, who was
also affected by this, like me.
We discovered that Maramalli's transfer
during exam time was for this scam.
After that, we hatched
this abduction plan.
But only after we nabbed her
did we realize
we couldn't get a single lead with this.
The scam's going down in Thykara.
We've closed in on the perpetrator.
I don't know if you believe in me, sir.
But I believe in you.
The perpetrator…
is Rajesh, the MD of Good Institute.
I have nothing else to say to you, sir.
You can inform whoever you want.
When I was new to the job, ma'am,
I would arrest suspects
and put them in jail.
They would be bailed out
the very next day.
They would come say to me, "Howdy, Uncle?"
and take off, without a care.
It used to hurt, ma'am.
Now, I'm used to it.
Where we come from, and what
we're up against, is what matters.
I stand with you.
-Hello?
-Where are you, Jhansi?
What's wrong?
Tell me!
See the news right now!
Turn on the TV, Ilangovan.
Turn on the news.
At Thykara, in the district
of Udhagam Malai,
there's a coaching center
for government exams.
Rajesh, the MD of this coaching center,
committed suicide by hanging himself
in his office premises.
At this time, with the Group 1 exams
drawing near,
his suicide has attracted much attention.
More on this story
after a short commercial break.
I'll send you a recording from the bug
you planted at Good Institute, Jhansi.
Listen to it right away!
How do you intend to make
the other ten pass?
I'm sorry, sir!
I'll refund the other ten.
Hello? Sir? Hello?
Kill yourself.
Brother…
Sir asked me to come over.
He's inside. Go meet him.
How do you know Ms. Shantiamma?
Sir, sometime ago, her son
had contracted a pox illness.
My mother gave her some barracuda
and asked her to make a stew.
"He'll be alright soon," she said.
Ma'am did so, and her son recovered.
Since then, Ms. Shantiamma
always bought fish from our shop.
Alright.
Are you open to doing any job?
I am, sir.
Triumphing over evil
Unfolds this new tale
Triumphing over evil
Unfolds this new tale
This is my institute.
This computer center, that xerox shop…
I own it all.
-Do you know how to make photocopies?
-No, sir.
Learn. It's easy.
Hope is but a ruined statue
Crushed by the hands of time…
Can I work and study
at the same time, sir?
How much do you think you are earning?
How will you study?
What will you and your sister do for food?
Listen. Just do as I say.
Your job is…
to identify which of the students
in this institute are rich.
Make them want to resort to illicit means
and secure high-ranking posts.
Triumphing over evil
Unfolds this new tale
Triumphing over evil
Unfolds this new tale
Triumphing over evil
Unfolds this new tale
-Brother!
-This new tale…
If you have money,
you can easily buy an education.
Once you buy it,
hotshot careers
will be within your reach!
And once you get those jobs?
You will have authority in your hands.
And if you have authority in your hands?
Daddy…
The subscriber you're trying to reach
is not within the network coverage area.
TEN YEARS AGO
KEEZHAKAADU
How many eggs have you collected
in two days?
Around 1,800, sir.
What's up, Paruvatham?
The low number of eggs
makes it seem like you've built a nest
with the money you skimmed!
I don't even touch the eggs
when having my meals, sir.
Fine. I'll go and get the vehicle.
I had asked for an advance payment
for my daughter's education, sir.
I inquired about it, and it turns out
you don't need that much money
for studying to be a cop.
Sir! No ordinary cop, sir!
The cop of cops!
There are specialized courses for that!
"The cop of cops?"
What kind of hotshot cop is that?
"The Quit India Movement
was launched in which year?"
"1942."
"The layer of atmosphere closest to Earth
is called the troposphere."
"Which Indian state
has the longest coastline?"
-"Gujarat."
-Dear?
We're a bunch of nomads.
To call our own,
we have no town or home.
Why, no cemeteries either!
When your father went
to shepherd ducks in some town…
a snake bit him, and he died!
Back then, you were just a little girl.
Don't cry, Mom.
I just…
abandoned him in the river of that town!
Mom…
You must change all of this.
Here!
Take this, dear.
Use this to pay the fee.
Take that course you've been
wanting to do!
A mother's lullaby
Will I hear near my ear?
Will your comforting melody
Make my grief fade away?
Will the Almighty pay heed to my prayer?
Will that blessed gaze fall on my face?
A mother's lullaby
Will I hear near my ear?
Will I hear?
Dashing against rock and thorn
Half my life has gone
What will become of the rest?
Will I get to hear all that's best?
Come, my dear
You must win
Study and reach high
A mother's lullaby
Will I hear near my ear?
Will your comforting melody
Make my grief fade away?
Will the Almighty pay heed to my prayer?
Will that blessed gaze fall on my face?
A mother's lullaby
Will I hear near my ear?
Will I hear?
POOKOTTAI
Almost as a reward to me
for studying hard,
every question was from books I read.
I wanted to scream with joy!
"I'm going to be a high-ranking cop!"
But that joy didn't last long.
LADIES
Hello?
This is the tahsildar's daughter, sir.
Can you hear me?
Yes, this is the tahsildar's daughter!
As you said,
I didn't write the answers!
I wrote the code word!
Even paid the fee!
I'll pass, won't I, sir?
Okay, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Hey.
Who were you talking to?
"I wrote the code word. Didn't write
the answers. Will I pass if I pay up?"
What is all this?
What's going on?
What's it to you who I speak with?
Give me the phone!
Give me the damn phone!
Give it!
Let go!
Let go!
Move aside!
Give me that!
What's the problem?
Why are you fighting?
She told someone over the phone
about putting in a code word,
not writing the answers,
and asking if she'd pass
because she paid up.
Sir…
Something's not right, sir.
Sir! No, sir!
I was saying I did well on the exam!
She's trying to pick a fight
like some lunatic!
I'm a lying lunatic,
and you're honest, huh?
-Hey, watch your mouth--
-Hey!
I'm right here,
and you're fighting like this?
-We'll take this up at the station!
-Sir!
-Get in the jeep!
-What did I do wrong?
-She is at fault!
-Hey!
-Get in, I say!
-Sir!
Get down!
-Sir…
-Walk faster!
Sir…
Get in!
Get in, I say!
Fill this out!
Bring them over!
-Get down quickly!
-Get down!
-Get in here!
-Go on!
-Sit!
-Sir…
Sit down!
Sir?
After the Group 1 exam
at the Arts College,
two girls were fighting there.
When questioned, one of them says
the other wrote a code word
on the answer sheet.
The other says this one's a lunatic.
I didn't know what to do.
I thought it'd be best if you questioned
them, so I brought them over here.
This is the mobile used
by one of the girls.
Send them both in.
The inspector's calling you.
Both of you go in!
Sir…
Whatever it is, talk to him!
What's your name?
Jhansi, sir.
Yours?
Maramalli, sir.
The tahsildar's daughter.
Whose phone is this?
Mine.
What's the problem here?
She was talking about writing a code word,
not writing the answers,
and asking if she'd pass
because she paid up
to someone on the phone.
I felt something was amiss.
If you investigate the person
she was talking to,
you'll find the link.
Where are you from?
Keezhakaadu.
Keezhakaadu?
Where is that?
The sub-district of Jeevanand.
Did you do the exam well?
Yes, sir.
I'll pass with a high rank.
So, a government posting is confirmed!
What's next for you?
I want to become a DSP.
Superb!
You may even outrank me someday!
You can marry a guy with the same rank
and settle down in life.
What does it matter
if someone puts a code word or doesn't?
What does it matter
if someone writes the answers or not?
Why should we care about that?
How can you say such a thing, sir?
Why do we have such government exams?
It's conducted to select competent
officers to carry out public service.
If some people resort to forgery
and pass this exam,
how will they do good to the public?
That's true, isn't it?
Would you two care for some tea?
-Sure, sir.
-None for me, sir.
There's only one bus to my village.
If I miss that, I can't go home.
My mother will be there all alone.
No, my dear.
You will leave only after having tea.
Please, sir.
Ma'am?
Where's your husband?
Why, sir?
What's the matter?
Why are you panicking?
It's nothing.
To segregate the question papers,
they wanted a deaf-mute chap.
They enlisted your husband
for that, right?
They need another signature from him
for that.
So, I came to get your husband.
He never goes anywhere alone, sir.
He always travels with me.
He's not wise to all this.
Can you take him there
and drop him back safely?
No problem. I'll take care.
Send him over.
Let's go.
Come.
Who is he?
I don't know, sir.
Don't know?
To segregate the Group 1 question papers
at the district treasury…
Learning that they appointed
deaf-mute people to carry it out,
you both had a liaison!
Sir?
How did you leak the question paper?
I think you're doing something wrong, sir.
Who?
Me?
Yes, sir.
WOMEN'S PRISON
What is it?
My daughter is in prison, sir.
I want to see her.
See that queue over there?
Go wait there.
My daughter's name is Jhansi, sir.
I'm her mother.
I want to see my child.
Is she a suspect or a convict?
I don't know, sir.
Go check with your lawyer!
Move!
Go! Next!
Make it fast!
DAY TWO
Didn't I come that day?
Thousands of people visit here every day.
Name of the prisoner?
Her name is Jhansi.
A convicted prisoner, sir.
Convicted?
You can't see them today.
Come by on Tuesday or Thursday!
Go.
Move aside! Next!
DAY THREE
Fill this out.
Next.
Oh, it's you.
Give me your Aadhar card.
I don't have an Aadhar card.
The coupon card is at home.
Quit bugging me first thing in
the morning! Get your ration card!
Go! Move aside! Next!
Move aside!
Mother, why have you left me all alone
And gone?
Mother, why have you left me all alone
And gone?
Mother, why have you left me all alone
And gone?
Mother, why have you left me all alone
And gone?
Will these wounds ever heal
When you drift away from me?
Will life turn empty?
Can a life without you ever be saved?
Everyone wants to make it big
for their parents to see.
Not everyone gets the chance to do so.
I wanted to make it big
and make my mother proud.
She died.
For whom must I make it big now?
What's the point in my doing so?
There's nothing left for me to accomplish.
I decided to die.
Hey!
What do we have here?
Sir!
She's lost so much blood!
Won't you even patch her up?
What's wrong?
She slit her wrist, ma'am.
Why the hell did you do that?
You should've slit your throat!
We could've buried you right here!
She's not conscious, ma'am!
I think I can save her
if I take her to the hospital!
Don't you get it, Jayachandran?
She'll die on her way there!
I feel that I can save her, ma'am!
Please grant me permission
to move her.
Why are you begging like this
for some bloody convict?
Fine!
Do what you want, Jayachandran!
Thank you, ma'am!
Give me a hand!
Everything you said about
the government exam scams…
is nothing.
It's a huge world of its own!
They buy out the professors in charge
of preparing the question papers.
At the modulator section,
where 1,300 questions
are whittled down to 200.
There is a huge price for anyone
who wants to buy the questions.
They made an employee of the press
where the question papers are printed…
print out the questions
on his white lungi.
The case for that scam is still ongoing.
Magic pens were given to the kids
who paid bribes to use in the exam.
Once it's erased, they have other people
fill out those answer sheets.
Take my case.
I should've become an IAS officer.
Because of this scam,
I ended up as a jailer.
You need to understand one thing
that the Lord has said, Jhansi.
"I know your thoughts and expectations.
Not for evil,
but for peace."
Suicide is never the solution
for anything.
Life will not desert you.
What life is this, sir?
Losing everything
and living just for the sake of it?
That's just it, sir.
Can you do one thing for me, sir?
Please don't let me go out of prison.
Keep me there forever.
The tears of Mr. Jayachandran and my own
made us want to oppose this scam.
Other convicts… Manikandan, Prabha,
Amar, and Mami.
They all joined hands with us.
Including Marimuthu, who was
also affected by this, like me.
We discovered that Maramalli's transfer
during exam time was for this scam.
After that, we hatched
this abduction plan.
But only after we nabbed her
did we realize
we couldn't get a single lead with this.
The scam's going down in Thykara.
We've closed in on the perpetrator.
I don't know if you believe in me, sir.
But I believe in you.
The perpetrator…
is Rajesh, the MD of Good Institute.
I have nothing else to say to you, sir.
You can inform whoever you want.
When I was new to the job, ma'am,
I would arrest suspects
and put them in jail.
They would be bailed out
the very next day.
They would come say to me, "Howdy, Uncle?"
and take off, without a care.
It used to hurt, ma'am.
Now, I'm used to it.
Where we come from, and what
we're up against, is what matters.
I stand with you.
-Hello?
-Where are you, Jhansi?
What's wrong?
Tell me!
See the news right now!
Turn on the TV, Ilangovan.
Turn on the news.
At Thykara, in the district
of Udhagam Malai,
there's a coaching center
for government exams.
Rajesh, the MD of this coaching center,
committed suicide by hanging himself
in his office premises.
At this time, with the Group 1 exams
drawing near,
his suicide has attracted much attention.
after a short commercial break.
I'll send you a recording from the bug
you planted at Good Institute, Jhansi.
Listen to it right away!
How do you intend to make
the other ten pass?
I'm sorry, sir!
I'll refund the other ten.
Hello? Sir? Hello?
Kill yourself.