Chinna Veedu is a 1985 Tamil film written and directed by K. Bhagyaraj. The film was deemed a commercial success. The movie is the debut in Tamil for lead female Kalpana, who is also sister of actress Urvashi, who made her debut with K. Bhagyaraj in the 1983 filmMundhanai Mudichu.
Plot
Madanagopal is a bachelor who dreams about his future wife. He imagines his dream girl having all sorts of beauty right from head to foot. But his parents arrange marriage with a girl, Bhagyalakshmi without his consent. Gopal is shocked on seeing the photograph of his future wife as she is fat, ugly and uncultured and not even near to his expectations of his dream girl according to him. On the day of marriage, he runs away from the marriage hall. Gopal's parents find him and make him marry her as their daughter needs to marry the brother of the bride. Gopal gets very disappointed about his marriage. On the first night he shouts at his wife that she is no way suited to his personality and he does not want to live with her. Bhagyalakshmi understands his feelings and keeps quiet. Both of them live in the same room, but do not live together. Gopal feels that he made a sacrifice of his life by marrying a woman like Bhagyalakshmi and so he does not respect his in-laws. She tolerates all of his stupid acts as she loves him very much and also has an inferiority complex. Even after his marriage, Gopal does not stop dreaming about his dream girl and introduces himself as a bachelor in the office of the new Bank job which he got from recommendation of his father-in-law. Chakavarthi, brother of Bhagyalakshmi visits his sister's home and finds out about Gopal. He keeps on following Gopal and informs his whereabouts to his sister. Bhagyalakshmi asks him to have a mistress for himself, to which Gopal refuses half-mindedly. Gopal's mother gets angry that her daughter has conceived, but Bhagyalakshmi shows no sign of pregnancy and she pricks her a lot. Hence Gopal seduces his wife, but reveals he did it for her sake as he feels pity for her. This angers Bhagyalakshmi as she wants the love of her husband and not his pity. Gopal is given a task of collecting the loan amount from a woman named Maragathambal and he goes in search of her. On the way he is stopped by a young woman who calls him to her home. She sells some vessels at her home and pays the loan installment. Gopal feels bad on that and so he gets some time from the bank to repay the amount. The girl introduces herself as Banu, an unemployed woman and granddaughter of Maragathambal. Slowly a friendship develops between both of them and he visits her home frequently. One day Gopal becomes emotional while both are alone and seduces Banu. Banu forgives him for his act and asks him to marry her, but gets shocked when she knows he is married. Gopal runs away from the place feeling guilty of spoiling a homely girl's life. Actually Banu is not a homely girl, but a prostitute who cunningly wants to trap Gopal. Bhagyalakshmi becomes pregnant and Gopal turns his attention towards her to take good care of her, because of which he reduces the frequency of his visits to Banu. Banu understands that he slowly escaping from her and blackmails him that she is also pregnant and compels him to marry her. She ties the sacred knot by herself when police come to arrest on a brothel case. Gopal accepts to them that he married Banu. Gopal's family comes to know about his relationship with another woman and shouts at him. But Bhagyalakshmi keeps quiet and calm and is confident that her husband will come back to her. Meanwhile, Gopal finds out the background of Banu and the woman who is not her grandmother, but her servant. He catches her red handed and warns her that she should not interfere in his life any more and dumps her. Banu complains to police that Gopal married her as second wife when his first wife is alive and Gopal is arrested. Bhagyalakshmi meets Banu and tells her to leave her husband, to which Banu does not accept and she threatens that she will face the consequences in court. But Bhayalakshmi shows all evidences of previous cases where Banu trapped men like how she trapped Gopal and so her case will not succeed. Banu gets furious and sets a revenge on pregnant Bhagyalakshmi after Bhagyalakshmi leaves her house. Gopal convinces police about Banu and struggles to save his wife, but Bhagyalakshmi gets attacked by the Banu's henchman when she tried to save her husband. She is admitted in hospital and after much serious treatment delivers triplets. Gopal re-unites with his wife and kids and live happily.
, sister of actress Urvashi made her debut in Tamil cinema with this film. Kovai Sarala portrayed the role of Bhagyaraj's mother at a young age. It was the first film in Tamil language to introduce Vijayalakshmi as the first woman cinematographer.
Soundtrack
The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The song "Chittu Kuruvi" is set in the Pushpalathika raga, and based on Antonín Dvořák's "Scherzo: Molto Vivace".
Critical reception
Chinna Veedu's initial release was postponed by a few years because it was found to have similarities with other films like Gopurangal Saivathillai, Rosappu Ravikkaikari and Kanni Paruvathile. Silentcritics wrote "The main attraction of the film is its screenplay and witty dialogues. The pace of the film is uniform throughout and the scenes in which one track goes hand in hand with the other is dealt with ease." The film ran for over 100 days in theatres.
