Richie (formerly titled as Santa Maria and Avargal) is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language neo noir action crime film directed by Gautham Ramachandran and written by Rakshit Shetty. It is a remake of the 2014 Kannada film Ulidavaru Kandanthe and stars Nivin Pauly in the title role, along with Natraj, Shraddha Srinath, and Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli in lead roles, while Prakash Raj, Elango Kumaravel, Raj Bharath, and Aadukalam Murugadoss play supporting roles.

Plot

The film opens on Boxing Day with Megha, a news reporter from Chennai who is writing a story about the mysterious death of a young man named Richard K. Sagayam alias Richie, who was shot dead during a Santa Claus parade in the port city of Thoothukudi. Megha actually knows Richie as he grew up at the reform school her parents used to work at. Megha goes to the port city to investigate the story for her article.