The story unfolds in a small village near Pollachi. Annamalai leads a contended life with his wife Alamelu, daughter Sumathy and son Pichai. Annamalai, being a caring and loving father, even allows his son to change his name from Pichai to Raja when the latter is made fun of by his friends when he was very young. A respectable man in the village for his philanthropic activities, Annamalai gives enough liberties and freedom to his son, who emerges out as an agriculture graduate. All troubles begin when Raja loses money by cultivating dates in the barren land owned by his father. Meanwhile, an industrialist eyes the land for setting up chemical factory which is resisted by both the father and son. Raja comes across Radha, a music teacher, and he falls for her immediately. Raja's wedding is arranged with Radha by elders of both the families. Two days before their wedding, Raja gives up his property to Radha to bail her out of trouble, little realizing that it was a practical joke hatched by Radha to take away his land. Their wedding gets stopped. Raja vows to get back the land. Enters Chandra in Raja's life. She comes to know of his bad past and vows to change his heart and marry him. Eventually, it is how Raja comes up in his life and marry Chandra.
The tagline of Tamil film Mariyadhai – the latest from the stable of Raj TV and T Siva's Amma Creations—says 'Wonderful respect', and you can't help but wonder what fare 'Captain' Vijayakanth will dish out. But then again, its director Vikraman is known to make family entertainers. Mariyadhai seems to take off where Vikraman's previous film, Vaanathai Pola, left off—thanks to dozens of bullock-carts, kind father-figures and wholesome families. But half an hour into the film, the differences become apparent. Such situations, of course, mean many chances for Vijay Antony's songs which reek of S A Rajkumar's compositions. It says a lot for Vikraman's screenplay that despite the all-too-familiar landscape, the Vijaykanth-Ramesh Khanna duo can still evoke some laughs. You don't often see bumbling mothers who are terrible at cooking, but such caricatures are the director's forte. There are also the mega-serial induced stock twists and turns, peppered liberally with political punch lines and devotion to parents. Vijayakanth looks ponderous and stiff-necked, and delivers his lines in robot-fashion, and seemingly is Superman in a veshti. It's his show all the way. Meera Jasmine has little to do except prance around in ill-fitting dresses. Surprisingly, it's Meena who walks away with honours. Her role is definitely different and her saris are excellent. Ambika is fun to watch. Shanmugarajan and Sampath are wasted. Suresh Ars' editing fitsthe bill while Vidhesh's camerawork brings beautiful Pollachi to life. Mariyadhai is full of stock situations and trite dialogues but can satisfy Vijayakanth's fans.
