''Chokka Thangam'' () is a 2003 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, na ...

-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

written and directed by

K. Bhagyaraj Krishnasaamy Bhagyaraj (born 7 January 1953) is an Indian director, actor, screenwriter, music director, producer and politician active mainly in Tamil films. He has also written and directed Hindi and Telugu films and TV serials. As an actor, ...

and produced by G. Venkateswaran under the banner GV Films. It stars

Vijayakanth Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami (born 25 August 1952), better known by his stage name Vijayakanth, is an Indian politician and former actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Leg ...

Soundarya K. S. Sowmya (18 July 1972 – 17 April 2004), better known by her stage name Soundarya, was an Indian actress who worked predominantly in Telugu films and has also worked in Kannada, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam films. She was regarded as one o ...

, and Uma with

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 ...

Senthil Senthil (born 23 March 1951) is an Indian comedy actor who works in Tamil cinema. He is famous for his comedian roles along with fellow actor Goundamani. The pair dominated the Tamil industry as comedians in the 1980s and 90s.Prakash Raj Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films, he is the recipient of several ...

, and Swathi playing supporting roles. The background score and music was composed by Deva. The film was released on 15 January 2003 and became commercially successful. The film also marked actress

in her last

Tamil film Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywo ...

to date.

Plot

Muthu lives in a village with his sister Maragatham. Muthu is very fond of his sister and ready to do anything for her. Pavazham is an orphan who lives in the same village. Muthu and Pavazham have a liking towards each other. Periya Minor is the local baddie who tries to molest Pavazham when she is alone. However, Muthu comes for rescue and takes Pavazham along with him to his house. Maragatham is married to Sundaram. Sundaram's sister Gowri's wedding is also arranged. But on the day of Gowri's wedding, her fiancé passes away which makes the villagers believe that Gowri is unlucky. Sundaram's family members want Muthu to marry Gowri, but Muthu refuses as he is in love with Pavazham. Angered by this, Sundaram's family members kick out Maragatham from their house as a means of revenge. Maragatham comes back to Muthu's house. Muthu tries hard to get Gowri's wedding fixed again, but in vain. He meets Akash with a wedding proposal, but is turned down by his parents. Meanwhile, Maragatham is conceived. Sundaram understands Muthu's situation and visits Maragatham frequently without informing his family members. Finally, Sundaram finds a bride groom for Gowri and their wedding is arranged. Sundaram also brings Maragatham to his house and the families are united. One day, Akash and his family members are about to meet with an accident, however Muthu spots them and saves them. Akash's family members understand the good nature of Muthu despite them humiliating him when he came with a marriage proposal with Gowri. On the day of Gowri's marriage, it is revealed that the groom is a cheat and is set by Ponnambalam with plans of trapping Muthu. Ponnambalam wants Muthu to give him Pavazham, so that Gowri's wedding will go as planned. Else, he threatens that the wedding will be cancelled which might hurt Gowri again. Muthu fights Ponnambalam and decides to sacrifice his love. Muthu agrees to marry Gowri as he does not want Gowri to be disappointed again by cancelling her wedding. However, Akash's family members, now agree to get Akash married to Gowri. Akash and Gowri are married. Finally, Muthu and Pavazham are also married.

Cast

as Muthu *

as Pavazham * Uma as Maragatham *

as Muthu's uncle *

as Sundaram * Swathi as Gowri *

C. R. Saraswathi C. R. Saraswathi is an Indian actress and politician who has predominantly appeared in Tamil films. She is currently acting as spokesperson of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, a split group from All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Caree ...

as Sundaram's cousin *

Sindhu The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...

as Sundaram's cousin *Jaya Murali as Sundaram's mother *

S. S. Chandran S. S. Chandran (25 September 1941 – 9 October 2010) was an Indian comedy actor, producer, and politician from Tamil Nadu. He belonged to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party and was a Member of the Parliament representing Tamil N ...

as Sundaram's uncle *

Vinu Chakravarthy Vinu Chakravarthy (15 December 1945 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and director who is known for acting in more than 1000 movies in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Badaga and Malayalam mostly as a comedian, supporting actor or i ...

as Temple trustee * Thyagu as Sindhu's husband * T. P. Gajendran as C. R. Saraswathi's husband * Ponnambalam as Periya Minor * Besant Ravi as Chinna Minor *B. V. Balaguru as Villager * Sriman as Muthu's friend *Akash as Muthu's friend *Lekhasri as Sundari *Usha Priya as Sundari's mother *

Pasi Sathya Pasi Sathya is an Indian actress who has worked predominantly in Tamil cinema and television. She has worked in popular movies like ''Veedu'', '' Magalir Mattum'', ''Pudhupettai''. She made her debut in the National award-winning Tamil film, ' ...

as Muthu's aunt *

Nellai Siva Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British Raj, British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian ...

as Village Nattamai *

Chelladurai Chelladurai (1941 - 7 February 2015) was an Indian comedian who worked in Tamil-language films. He acted in over 350 films. Career Chelladurai made his film debut with '' Thooral Ninnu Pochchu'' (1982). He is known for his comic sequences ...

as Villager * Kovai Senthil as Villager *

Idichapuli Selvaraj Idichapuli Selvaraj ( – 30 January 2012) was a veteran Tamil comedy actor. He acted in more than five hundred films. He acted along with lot of actors. He also worked as an assistant director for the M. G. Ramachandran films like ''Idhayakk ...

as Villager *Tirupur Ramasamy as Villager *Soundar as Abusing husband *Kalidoss as Police inspector *Mippu as Villager *Lollu Sabha Soundarya as Mentally challenged woman

Production

Soon after GV Films announced their collaboration with

, the producers approached Cheran to direct the film. However, due to issues concerning remuneration,

eventually took on the role.

Vidhya Venkatesh Vidhya Venkatesh is an Indian actress who has appeared in Tamil and Kannada language films. After making her debut with Kamal Haasan in the Tamil film '' Panchathanthiram'' (2002), she won critical acclaim for her performances in Kannada movi ...

was originally approached for the role of Vijayakanth's sister since she was busy with ''Kalaatpadai'', she could not spare her dates and she was replaced by Uma.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Deva Deva may refer to: Entertainment * ''Deva'' (1989 film), a 1989 Kannada film * ''Deva'' (1995 film), a 1995 Tamil film * ''Deva'' (2002 film), a 2002 Bengali film * Deva (2007 Telugu film) * ''Deva'' (2017 film), a 2017 Marathi film * Deva ...

and lyrics were written by

R. V. Udayakumar R. V. Udayakumar is an Indian film director and lyricist who worked predominantly in the Tamil film industry throughout the 1990s, making films including '' Yejaman'' and '' Chinna Gounder''. He has also directed some Telugu films. Early lif ...

, P. Vijay,

Thamarai Thamarai (born 10 November 1975) is a noted Tamil poet and lyricist. She is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. She made her debut in the Tamil film industry through the 1998 film Iniyavale, which was directed by Seeman and music c ...

, and

Snehan Snehan (born Sivaselvam) is a Tamil poet, politician, lyricist, and actor who has worked in the Tamil film industry. In the year 2018 he entered politics with Makkal Needhi Maiam and contested in the Lok Sabha election. In 2021 Tamil Nadu Legi ...

Critical reception

Balaji of ''Thiraipadam'' noted "The movie is not much different from other movies where Vijayakanth stars as the village do-gooder and has all the usual ingredients found in his movies like a squeaky clean image for him, duets in bright costumes and a bunch of fights" and also wrote "Bagyaraj's trademarks of a humorous screenplay, sprinklings of double entendre dialogs and a close look at marital issues are all but absent". Malathi Rangarajan of ''The Hindu'' wrote "The film does have its plus points, yet somehow Bhagyaraj's magic touch in films .is definitely missing in 'Chokka Thangam.'"

References

External links

* in

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the sec ...

{{K. Bhagyaraj 2003 films 2000s Tamil-language films Films scored by Deva (composer) Films directed by K. Bhagyaraj