En Jeevan Paduthu is a 1988 Tamil-language Indian feature film directed by R. Sundarrajan starring Karthik and Saranya in lead roles, supported by Sudha, Captain Raju and Kapil Dev. The movie was dubbed into Telugu as "Akarshana", and some scenes were re-edited, as the Tamil version was not a box-office success. However, the soundtrack was very popular, especially in Tamil.
Narmada (Saranya Ponvannan) joins a new college, as she feels so bored sitting alone in her house. Her father is a businessman. In college, she happens to see the paintings and books written by Surendran. She is very much fascinated by him, but unable to find him in college. She is shocked when she finds Surendran (Karthik Muthuraman) has already committed suicide. Narmada frequently visits his grave in the following days, and the ghost of Surendran appears, advising her to cease visiting his grave. Those around Narmada suspect that she is mentally ill, as nobody else can see Surendran.
Surendran tells Narmada he was duped to love by his colleague Philomina (Sudha). He genuinely loved her, even converting to Christianity; Surendran's father dies, shocked at the conversation. Philomina proves unfaithful, and marries Dr. Vijay (Prathap Pothen), which results in Surendran committing suicide. Later it is revealed that, Philomina dies during delivery. Anand (Kapil Dev), a rich businessman, becomes attracted to Narmada asks for her hand in marriage. Narmada's father approves of this marriage proposal, but Narmada is against this alliance as she is in love with Surendran. Narmada's father forcefully announces the marriage, but she escapes from marriage hall and commits suicide to join with Surendran in the afterlife.
