''My Dear Marthandan'' is a 1990 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language film directed by Pratap Pothen and produced by

Sivaji Productions Sivaji Productions was an Indian film production and distribution company based in Chennai. Established in 1958, it was involved mainly in Tamil and Hindi-language films until 2010. History Sivaji Productions company is owned by Prabhu and h ...

, starring

Prabhu ''Prabhu'' means master or the Prince in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God. The term is also used by devotees of the Hindu God Lord Krishna/Vishnu as a title and form of address. It is also appended ...

and

Khushbu Khushbu Sundar (born Nakhat Khan; 29 September 1970) is an Indian actress, politician, film producer and television presenter. She is known for her works predominantly in Tamil, besides Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada films. She is a rec ...

. It is loosely based on the 1988 American film ''

Coming to America ''Coming to America'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy film directed by John Landis and based on a story originally created by Eddie Murphy, who also stars in the lead role. The film also co-stars Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, Shari Hea ...

''. The film was released on 24 August 1990.

Plot

Marthandan lives with his parents in a palace. He sets out to Chennai to find a girl. There he meets "Idea Mani", who is very cunning and tries to make money from the innocent Marthandan in comical ways. He meets a girl named Rani in a bakery and befriends her. The rest of the story is about how he tries to win her over and how he understands the value of money.

Cast

as Marthandan *

as Rani *

Goundamani Subramaniyan Karuppaiya (born 25 May 1939), known by his stage name Goundamani, is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Tamil cinema. He is known for his comic duo partnership in Tamil films with fellow actor Senthil. The pair dominated t ...

as Idea Mani * S. S. Chandran as Maharaja * Nizhalgal Ravi as Pankaj *

Kovai Sarala Kovai Sarala is an Indian actress and comedian, who prominently plays supporting roles in Tamil and Telugu films. She has won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Comedian three times, for her performances in '' Sathi Leelavathi'' (1995), '' ...

as Maharani *

Venniradai Moorthy Vennira Aadai Moorthy (born 25 July 1936) is an Indian actor and comedian in Tamil cinema. He has starred in many Tamil films and television serials as a comedian and also played supporting roles. He is a lawyer by education, and holds a B.L. ...

as Hotel Owner *

Thyagu Thozhar Thiyagu (born 30 January 1950), also known as Comrade Thiyagu, is a social activist, politician, writer from Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He is also the General Secretary of Tamil National Liberation Movement and is well known for his ...

as Kattupanni * Pandu as Umapathy *

Kumarimuthu Kumarimuthu (20 December 1940 – 28 February 2016) was a Tamil film character actor, comedian and politician of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He was known for his unique comical laugh. Career Kumarimuthu starred in 728 films in his car ...

as Teacher *

Kullamani Kullamani (1952–2013) was an Indian actor and comedian who appeared in South Indian films. He acted over 500 films. He is known for films like '' Karagattakaran'', '' Apoorva Sagodharargal'', ''Panakkaran'', '' My Dear Marthandan'', and many mo ...

Chinni Jayanth Chinni Jayanth (born Krishnamurthy Narayanan on 26 July 1960) is an Indian film director, producer, comedian, actor and mimicry artist who has appeared in many main, character and supporting roles in Tamil films. He is also a popular television ...

* R. S. Shivaji as Sengodan *

Oru Viral Krishna Rao Oru Viral Krishna Rao was an Indian actor and comedian who appeared in Tamil-language films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani award, Rao got the nickname ''Oru Viral ''Oru Viral'' () is a 1965 Indian Tamil-language mystery fil ...

Disco Shanti Santha Kumari (born 28 August 1965), famously known as Disco Shanti, is an Indian actress who was particularly famous in South India for her appearances in item numbers. She has appeared in more than 900 films in different languages of India, ...

* Ponnambalam *

Subbu Panchu Arunachalam Subramaniam Panchu Arunachalam, credited as Subbu Panchu or P. Ar. Subramaniam (born 16 February 1973) is an Indian actor and film producer. Son of noted writer-producer Panchu Arunachalam, Subbu first appeared as a child artist in the Malayala ...

as the guy who teases Khushbu (Uncredited) *

Ramkumar Ganesan Ramkumar Ganesan (born 12 January 1955) is an Indian film producer and actor. He is the head of Sivaji Productions, a film productions company that has produced several films, particularly featuring his father Sivaji Ganesan or his younger broth ...

(Guest appearance)

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

Release and reception

''My Dear Marthandan'' was released on 24 August 1990. N. Krishnaswamy of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'' wrote, "It has some idealism (message: money cannot buy happiness), it has comical situations abounding and as it is, it is clean, it has engaging music and songs (Ilayaraja) and dance, and it is photographed with an artistry and creativity that only an Ashok Kumar is capable of. It is a technically perfect film that way". Ravi, writing for ''

Kalki Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...

'', said the film's plus points were the cinematography and music.

References

External links

* {{Pratap Pothen 1990 films 1990s Tamil-language films Films directed by Pratap Pothen Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Indian remakes of American films