Chinna Gounder


Chinna Gounder is a 1992 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by R. V. Udayakumar and starring Vijayakanth, Sukanya, Manorama, Salim Ghouse, Sathyapriya, Goundamani, Senthil and Vadivelu. This film was remade into Telugu as Chinarayudu with Venkatesh and Vijayashanti in the lead. It was also remade in Kannada as Chikkejamanru with Ravichandran and Gautami. The film was a bloockbuster hit and ran over 250 days. The film also turned out to be the biggest hit in Vijayakanth's career as well as one of the highest grossing film during that time.

Plot

Thavasi aka Chinna Gounder is the village landlord and is responsible maintaining law and order in the village. The movie starts with a scene showing how skillfully he solves a case quickly and is appreciated by an advocate upon seeing his swift decision-making skills. Chinna Gounder lives with his mother Aatha and is the most respectable person in the village, known for his justice and loyalty. Rivalry exists between Chinna Gounder and his brother-in-law Sakkara Gounder, who is accused of marrying Sundari, following Chinna Gounder's sister's death.
Sakkara Gounder plans to grab the local temple premises by forging false documents, but Chinna Gounder exposes the frauds committed, thereby preventing the temple premises from going into the hands of the roadies. Sakkara Gounder is angered and waits for an opportunity to knock out Chinna Gounder.
Deivanai is a poor, talkative girl in the village who has a few goats and runs her life. Deivanai often gets into funny verbal conflicts with Chinna Gounder and his mother. One day, Chinna Gounder's mother is bitten by a snake in their farm and is luckily spotted by Deivanai, who offers help, and her life is saved. Chinna Gounder thanks Deivanai for her timely help and offers her money, which she does not accept. Chinna Gounder is impressed upon seeing her genuineness.
Deivanai owes some money from the villagers which she had borrowed for her younger sister's education. As she could not repay the debt in the timely manner, she was asked by the villagers to serve food for everyone and collect some money donated by the invitees after having the food. Chinna Gounder offers a marriage proposal to Deivanai as he says that he is also bound to repay for the timely help offered by her, which saved his mother's life.
Chinna Gounder is married to Deivanai, and life progresses smoothly for sometime, until Sakkara Gounder interferes with a plan. Sakkara Gounder poisons the local pond and blames Chinna Gounder for that. He also sets up a false witness to trap Chinna Gounder. Deivanai overhears Sakkara Gounder's plans, and in the act of trying to stop the witness from reaching the panchayat, she attacks the witness with a sickle. Later, the police arrests Deivanai with a murder charge, as the man whom she attacked is dead. Deivanai is jailed in the event of saving her husband.
Deivanai's sister now comes to Chinna Gounder's home as she is left alone. One day, it is revealed that Deivanai's sister is pregnant, and Chinna Gounder is blamed for that too. As Chinna Gounder also remains silent over the issue, his mother sends him out of their house. Deivanai is shocked upon hearing this and believes that her husband has betrayed her trust and love. She refuses to even meet him when he comes to visit her in jail.
A few months pass by, and Deivanai comes from jail to visit her sister, who is about to deliver a baby. She scolds her sister for having an illegitimate relationship with Chinna Gounder. However, her sister reveals that he is no way related to her pregnancy. A small flashback is shown where Deivanai's sister was in love with a local villager, following which she got pregnant. As Chinna Gounder does not want to tarnish her image in front of the villagers, he accepted the blame. Deivanai realizes her mistake and apologizes to her husband. Deivanai's sister gives birth to a baby and dies.
Now the advocate, who already knows about Chinna Gounder, finds out that he is in trouble and decides to offer help. He takes over the case in favor of Deivanai and begins his ground work. He gets the postmortem report and finds out that the cause of death of the man attacked by Deivanai was lack of breath. Meanwhile, Deivanai is kidnapped by Sakkara Gounder. Chinna Gounder comes to the rescue and saves her. Chinna Gounder produces Sakkara Gounder in front of the village panchayat, where it is revealed that it was him who killed the witness and decided to blame Deivanai. In the end, Chinna Gounder and Deivanai come out clean from the accusations made over them. Sakkara Gounder begs pardon to the villagers, but no one listens to him. Chinna Gounder then forgives him for all his misdeeds by stating that he only wanted Sakkara Gounder to realise his mistakes.

Cast

The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja while the lyrics were by R. V. Udayakumar.
S:NoSong'sSinger'sLyrics
1Antha VaanathaiIlaiyarajaR. V. Udayakumar
2Chinna Kili Vanna KiliS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. JanakiR. V. Udayakumar
3Suthi SuthiMalaysia VasudevanR. V. Udayakumar
4Kannu PadaIlaiyarajaR. V. Udayakumar
5KoondukullaS. P. BalasubrahmanyamR. V. Udayakumar
6Muthumani MaalaS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. SusheelaR. V. Udayakumar
7Sollaal AdichuIlaiyarajaR. V. Udayakumar
8Antha VaanathaiS. JanakiR. V. Udayakumar

Production

The film was entirely shot at Sethumadai near Pollachi.

Classic scenes

Most versatile actress Manoramma has performed a comical role with big protruding teeth. A comedy scene were Goundamani and Senthil perform along with Manoramma is unforgettable. Another classic scene where the male protagonist spins a top on the female protagonist's navel is an all new idea of that time.

Award

1992 Tamil Nadu State Film Award