A child stolen. A hospital under suspicion. And a man who trusts his wife’s instincts over logic. DNA, directed by Nelson Venkatesan, is not your average whodunnit — it’s personal, chaotic, and hits hard when it counts.
Starring Atharvaa Murali and Nimisha Sajayan, this Tamil thriller isn’t just about a baby gone missing — it’s about what lengths a parent will go to when the world calls them paranoid. If you’ve watched DNA on JioHotstar and are still thinking about that nail-biting climax, you’re not alone. Here’s a breakdown of how it all wrapped up.
It All Starts with Doubt — Or Was It Instinct?
Anand (Atharvaa Murali), a broken man with a tragic past, and Divya (Nimisha Sajayan), his emotionally intense wife, are thrust into parenthood under already tense circumstances. But things go from happy to horrifying when Divya insists that the baby handed to her in the hospital isn’t theirs.
Nobody believes her at first. Not the hospital staff. Not the families. Not even Anand… initially.
Eventually, her conviction starts to make Anand question what actually happened during the delivery. With no signs of physical foul play, it all hinges on one thing: a mother’s instinct.
A Missing 20 Seconds That Changed Everything
That’s where things take a turn. Anand ropes in Chinnasamy — a quirky, soon-to-retire head constable who’s sharper than he looks. Together, they start going through CCTV footage at the hospital, hour by hour.
It’s in this search they discover a tiny, crucial detail: there’s a 20-second gap during the baby handover. That’s the wormhole. That’s the switch.
They zoom in. Slow it down. Cross-check timecodes. And that’s when the big twist shows up.
Turns out, the nurse responsible for delivering Divya’s baby has a twin sister. One works in the hospital. The other, part of an illegal child-trafficking ring, sneaks in and swaps newborns during shift changes. It’s clean, it’s quick, and terrifyingly common.
The Real Horror: A Well-Oiled Trafficking Ring
The moment Anand learns about the twin nurses, the story swerves into darker territory. This isn’t a one-time thing. It’s an ongoing, organized operation that spans hospitals, orphanages, and even adoption agencies.
He and Chinnasamy follow the clues — bags that look too bulky, unregistered hospital volunteers, unexplained vehicle logs.
They catch the elderly nurse. She caves. Turns out she’s been involved for years, justifying her crimes by claiming the babies go to “better lives.”
It’s gut-wrenching. Because for Anand and Divya, this isn’t just crime — it’s their child.
In one of the most intense scenes of the film, Anand storms into a remote adoption center where he finally finds their baby boy, handed over illegally just days after the switch.
A Reunion That’s Bittersweet and Bloody
Of course, the rescue isn’t smooth. There’s a scuffle, a gunshot, and a police bust that exposes the entire racket.
But in the middle of all that chaos, Anand picks up his baby. No DNA test needed. He just knows.
Divya too — the moment she holds the child, her face changes. The tears, the silence, the certainty. It’s the film’s most emotional moment and leaves viewers with a mix of anger, relief, and something like hope.
But that’s not where it ends.
So, What Happened to the Imposter Baby?
The film doesn’t sweep this under the rug. The swapped baby, the one Divya refused to accept, is revealed to be from another young mother who’d been tricked into believing her own child was stillborn.
It’s messy. Painful. But the system tries to correct itself in the end. The traffickers are arrested. The mothers are reunited. There’s no full justice — just fragments of peace.
And Anand? He quits drinking. Divya begins therapy. The baby, finally, is theirs — no longer by blood alone, but by fight.
