Thangam (TV series)


Thangam is a Tamil soap opera on Sun TV which premiered on 29 June 2009. Its main cast include Ramya Krishnan,Vijayakumar, Seema and Manju Bhargavi. The show was produced by Srinivasa Visuals and directed by B. Nakkeeran. Owing covid-19 outbreak, it was retelecast since 1 st April 2020 at 3pm and was later shifted to 2.30pm.A show named Magarasi replaced it and from 27 july 2020 it is aired at 8:30AM IST.
It revolves around a woman and the challenges she faces among family members and society.

Plot

Raja Ramachandra Raghunath, popularly referred to as Ayya, is the head of Ayyakudi village. His family is famous for its line of kind philanthropists. He has two wives, Naachiyar and Subbulakshmi. He has two sons with Naachiyar, Karthikeyan or Karthik and Saravanan and three daughters with Subbulakshmi, Ganga Devi or Ganga, Ramaa Devi or Ramaa, and Charulatha or Charu.
Ayyaa has a beautiful younger sister named Mutharasi, who is married to Kunasekharan, the main antagonist in this serial. Kulasekharan is also Naachiyar's elder brother. They have two children named Jayachandran and Ilavanji.
Karthik is married to Ilavanji. Ganga is married to Selvakannan, a well known and respected IAS district collector. Along with him, Ganga works as the sub-collector because she is also an IAS graduate. Saravanan is married to Shanmukavadivu a.k.a. Vadivu, and Ramaa is married to Jayachandran.
Ganga is the golden goose child in Ayyaa's family. She was named after the family goddess. Her sisters and mother are also equally loved and respected dearly by Ayyaa, Naachiyar, Mutharasi and Selvakannan's family.
However, some people do not like Subbulakshmi and her daughters, mainly Kulasekharan. He hates Subbulakshmi because he does not like the fact that she is sharing spouse space with Naachiyar. Kulasekharan is supported by his daughter, Ilavanji and her husband, Ayyaa's son Karthik. He only wants his sister Naachiyar to be called Ayyaa's wife and no one else. Therefore, he tries to get rid of Subbulakshmi, Ganga, Ramaa and Charu and banish them from the village. He tries to kill Selvakannan, tries to separate Ramaa and Jayachandran and cheats Subbulakshmi into letting him out of jail. Sometimes the attempts he makes succeed slightly, and some fail miserably and even backfire on him. Naachiyar does not give in to Kulasekharan's intentions because she loves Subbulakshmi like her own sister.
Selvakannan has an aunt who lives with him and his parents. Her name is Rasammah, and she has a niece named Manimegalai, whom she wanted Selvakannan to marry. Manimegalai also loves Selvakannan very much, but seeing his insistence on marrying Ganga and even knowing Ganga to be a perfect person; she sacrifices her love for their happiness. However, Rasammah does not like it that Ganga has married Selvakannan, and she tries her best to poison Selvakannan's mother, Karpagam's mind into compelling Selvakannan to break bonds with Ganga. Still, eventually, she takes a liking to Ganga, and she forgets about separating them. Karpagam initially gives in to Rasammah's talk, but she too begins to love and respect Ganga and her family.
Ilavanji is portrayed to be a sensitive woman who does not like Subbulakshmi's family and is always in support of her father, whom she loves very much. She soon gets along slowly with Subbulakshmi's family, but she does not forget her hatred towards them. She is usually snobbish and thinks highly of herself. She is jealous of Ramaa because she is married to her brother and also because everyone in the family love Subbulakshmi's family. She and Vadivu are both Ayyaa's daughters-in-law. She and Vadivu never quickly get along, and they always fight. Ilavanji has the support of Mangai in this matter. Mangai is Ganga's friend Vishwanathan's mother as well as Ilavanji's best friend. Vadivu is a brilliant, good girl, and she also loves Subbulakshmi's family. She always finds out Ilavanji's mischief and makes their mother-in-law punish Ilavanji and Mangai. Sometimes Ilavanji, Mangai and Rasammah usually meet up and end up in some damage. These scenes provide some comedy to the otherwise severe serial.
Ganga becomes pregnant, but her child has to be aborted because she is hit while trying to protect her husband from a raging bull, which is released by Kulasekharan during Vadivu's wedding with Saravanan. The beast hits her, resulting in the need for her abortion. After some time, Ramaa becomes pregnant.
Selvakannan has a P.A. named Vandhana, a very mysterious and evil girl, who knows that Selvakannan had a brain tumour for a very long time and did not inform his family members about this until the condition worsens and Selvakannan is on his deathbed. All the doctors give up on him and tell the family that he will die in nine days, and no one can prevent it. But Ganga is very strong-willed and believes that her husband can be cured through God's grace. She observes nine different types of penances in these nine days in the name of Goddess Amman. Her family members also do their part by going to Palani and carrying milk pots. Miraculously her paralysed husband can move, and he is immediately operated on and cured. All in the family hate Vandana for who she is and for the fact that she hid the matter of his sickness from them. They also hate her because of her false allegations against Selvakannan that he had married Vandana before he had married Ganga.
To clear Selvakannan from Vandana's allegations, the family decide to meet up with the villagers at the Ellaiyamman temple at the outskirts of the village. The Goddess residing in this temple is mighty because the people believe that when ground chilli paste is rubbed on Her when they are in trouble, the Goddess will the punish the person who is at fault by setting the sinning person on fire. The family makes Selvakannan and Vandana rub chilli paste on Goddess Ellaiyamman so that she will find out who is guilty. To their shock, neither Selvakannan nor Vandana feel their bodies burning. Realising that there is some mischief behind this matter, the priest invokes the Goddess, and he tells everyone through the Goddess' words that this matter will be resolved in 60 days. After that, Vandhana gets even more evil and mysterious. Everyone in Ganga's family is very annoyed that Vandhana is living in Ganga's house until very late in the night. She is chased out brutally by Mutharasi, Ilavanji, Charu and Mangai.
One day, Subbulakshmi's pet cow, Lakshmi, gives birth to a beautiful baby calf. Lakshmi's mother is given to Subbulakshmi by Naachiyar as a wedding gift. This is a very happy occasion in the family. On the same day, Ganga is tested pregnant. The whole family rejoices and the women in the family crowd into Ellaiyamman temple to make Pongal for the Goddess. Suddenly, winds are blowing, and the brick stoves do not catch fire as they are supposed to. The women begin to do the Kummi Adi, a folk dance done by Tamil village women in a circle, to appease the Goddess. During the dance, the idol of the Goddess falls flat on the floor. Horrified, the people at the temple try to carry the icon and put it back in place, but they feel that the idol was very light and hollow. Selvakannan and Ganga were there too, and they realise that the icon has been changed into a fake one and the real idol is elsewhere. They now understand that this was why the Goddess did not punish Vandhana when she rubbed chilli paste on the Goddess. Initially, they all suspect Vandhana. After some arbitration and temple ceremonies, the real idol of the Goddess is found dumped in an available temple tank. After some investigation by the police, through Ilavanji, it is found out that Kulasekharan is guilty of changing the idol.
During Ayyaa and his two wives' 60th marriage anniversary ceremony, it is known that Ayya married Subbulakshmi for a reason. This is revealed to be a very dark secret, and only Ayya, Naachiyar and Subbulakshmi know the secret. No one else knows about it, not even Mutharasi. Kulasekharan is also aware of this matter, and he very recently tried to find out that secret by filing a case against Subbulakshmi, citing that she is not Ayyaa's legal wife, hoping to find out the secret. This case was resolved after Ayyaa explained in private to the judge about why he married Subbulakshmi.Ayya won the case. Angered and humiliated, Kulasekharan ponders over the secret of Ayyaa and Subbulakshmi. When Karthik comes to see him, Kulasekharan narrates a flashback from his childhood.
Kulasekharan's father, Thavasi, married for the second time because he lost his first wife. This too was under the village head, the Ayyaa of that time's decision, considering that young Kulasekharan and little Naachiyar were motherless. Though Naachiyar loved her stepmother dearly, Kulasekharan was the total opposite. He despised her. The stepmother, Bhagyalakshmi, was a very kind and loving woman and never harboured any hatred towards Kulasekharan. However, Kulasekharan felt that with this stepmother and her newborn baby, Naachiyar and Thavasi were not the same like before. Naachiyar loved the new mother and also loved her step-sister. Feeling outcast, Kulasekharan never let Bhagyalakshmi's baby lie in the cradle that Naachiyar slept on and never let Bhagyalakshmi touch him. He even tried to kill her and her baby with a gas spray. Seeing that the case was going out of hand, Ayyaa called for arbitration and stated that Kulasehkaran should stay with Ayyaa until Bhagyalakshmi's child had grown up. Bhagyalakshmi refused this judgement and said that the family need not be separated because of her and that she would go far away from them as this hatred would not end. True to her words, she left and was never seen again.
Kulasekharan thinks that Bhagyalakshmi's daughter could be Subbulakshmi since Naachiyar and Subbulakshmi are so close like sisters, something that is very unusual because if two women were to share the same husband, there would be a lot of jealousy and enmity among the wives. But this was a completely different situation. Kulasekharan even questioned Naachiyar about this. For Charu's marriage, they found a young boy named Aravindan. Later, Kulasekharan asks Subbulakshmi about who she is. Subu faints, and Kulasekharam takes her to the hospital. After Subu wakes up, Ayya tells him the dark secret behind his marriage. After learning that Subu is his sister, Bhagyalakshmi's daughter, he pretends to like her and her kids, but he doesn't.
One day he gives Subu food but puts poison in it. Subu thinks that he is good now and eats the food. The doctor who checks Subu realises she is poisoned but only tells Selvakannan. He goes to get the cure, a rare herb in one forest. He has some difficulties, but he gets it, and Subu is saved.
Ayyaa's brother's children return to the village. They were banished 30 years ago from the village for committing a crime. They try to do things against Ayyaa, like surrounding the public well with a wall so the people cannot get water to drink. They have plans to destroy Ayya's family to get Ayya's place.
Now Subhu is cured after receiving the medicine from son-in-law. Subhu's youngest daughter Sharu got a proposal and was near to fixed, but there is a bad scene between the groom's side and bride side. The groom's side accepts the proposals, but they are not satisfied because Ayya's brother-in-law Kulaskharan threatens them not to have the marriage take place. This causes the family to be depressed and upset. Sharu refuses to talk to Aravindan due to the problems they are facing between the parties. Therefore, Aravindan is in love with her and plans to get her at any cost. He joins with Kulaskharan to get help. However, Kulasharan has given him a bad idea to rape Sharu. One night, no one is at home except Sharu. He rapes her, and she faints. Subhu accidentally sees it, grabs the knife, and stabs the guy. He narrowly escapes, and Subhu also escapes somehow. The next day, the public in the village find the dead body lying in the middle of the path and inform the police and Ayya. The groom's side party thinks that Ayya's party only killed their son. As the days go on, they keep searching for Subhu, but he is nowhere to be found, and they plan to publish in the newspaper.
In the meantime, Ganga is pregnant with twins, and she comes to know about how her mother went missing. She keeps searching and analysing what happened with her mother. She ends to know where is her mother and gets injured by a gang. The real person who is threatening Ganga is Vandhana to destroy Ganga. She is taken to the hospital by Selvakannan as he was searching for her and found her on the ground with injuries. She was at risk as were her unborn babies were. The doctors request Selvakannan for the operation to save Ganga and his children, and they survived too. Vandana hires a nurse to kill the twin babies without anyone noticing. The doctor tells the bad news to Selvakannan only.
He is upset, doesn't know what to do, and wants to save his wife from depression. He accidentally meets his good old classmate Kokila and tells her what happened to his life and unborn babies' death. She feels sorry for him and gives him her youngest child, who born recently. They make a promise that the secret shouldn't leak out as Kokila has very poor due to her husband's drinking habit. Selvakannan decides to pay for the children's education as a help. Selvakannan takes the baby to the hospital and put it where the twins were. Ganga regains consciousness and is happy to see the baby and sad that her other baby died. She thinks that it is her baby, as Selvakannan wants her to think, to save her. Vandana is suspicious of this and tries to find out. Ganga comes home with the baby, and Sharu gets pregnant with Aravindan's baby. None of her family members tells Ganga about Sharu and what happened to her.
A minister in the next village e finds Subhu's picture published in the newspaper and calls the number given. He tells the person that he found Subu in his village. Bad luck! It is Kulaskeran who answers the call, and he lies to Ayya that someone called, and he runs to the village to meet the minister. He brainwashed the minister that his people want to kill his sister Subhu and hides from Ayya and the family. Ganga meets the minister and asks him to let her if he comes to know Subhu's whereabouts. On Kulaskeran's request, the minister doesn't tell the truth to Ganga.
Subhu is held in the police station for murdering Aravindan in her village, and she doesn't tell them who she is and where she is from. The police take her to jail and leave her there. Kulaakeran knows her whereabouts and hires a jailer to kill Subhu. The plan succeeds, but Ayya comes to know where she is from a policeman and runs to the jail. Subhu faints due to the bleeding from her hand which the jailer has cut with a sharp blade. Subhu is taken to the hospital, and Ayya follows them. Ayya tells the family, and they come to the hospital. Karthik hates Subhu as he was asked by Kulaskeran to kill Subhu. Naachiyar is cautious, knowing that her son will kill her in some way and always beside Subhu. Subhu has not regained consciousness. Then Karthik kills Subhu by removing her oxygen cap, but she is rescued by Naachiyar. Naachiyar slaps her son and reveals their dark secret.
The dark secret is now revealed that Naachiyar is not the biological mother of Karthik and Saravanan. She is their adopted mother and to save the boys from Kulaskeran she said that they were her sons. The boys' real mother is Subhu. Saravanan is pleased and happy that he got two good mothers. Karthik doesn't believe the secret and keeps thinking that they are lying. Naachiyar took him to the delivering lady doctor and got to know the truth that Naachiyar couldn't give birth to children and Subhu only gave her sons to her as their sons. Karthik is very upset and wegoesnt over to Kulaskeran. Kulaskeran refuses to accept that Karthik is his son-in-law for him and separates the couple. Kulaskeran takes his daughter to his house and leaves her there. Ilavanji and Karthik missed each other, and they become sad that they can't live together anymore.
Karthik angrily kidnaps Ramma and Jayachandran goes missing on baby shower day. Kulaskeran has done something to Jayachandran for an unknown reason. Ramma is in pain to deliver her baby. Karthik feels bad and calls his wife to bring a delivering lady to the place. They come, and Ramma gives birth to a baby boy. Karthik feels happy and guilty of kidnapping Ramma. Ramma forgives him, and he accepts her as his sister. Ilavanji goes to Ayya's place and tells the news. They are angry with Karthik's behaviour, and they don't look at his face after all. Ilavanji begs Ayya to forgive him, and Karthik thinks he can join the family if he does good for the family. However, he can't bear up about his real mother and doesn't know what to do.
One of Vandana's mental brothers escapes from a gang and falls into the well while Karthik is thinking a lot about his mother and his wife. He sees that, and he chases them. Karthik rescues the mental brother, and he gets to know from him that Subhu did not kill Aravindan. Someone else killed him and escaped. Then the mental brother took Karthik to where he heard the news and Karthik does a great deed. He calls his wife to give the phone to Ayya to listen to what is happening. Karthik confronts the gang, and they tell the truth about what happened to Aravindan on that day.
Climax:
Karthik is shocked that Aravindan is not a good guy and he is dating a gang member's sister, and he cheated on her. She commits suicide by drinking poison. This angers her brother, and he wants to take revenge on Aravindan. On that day, Subhu pierces him, and he escapes and runs to the gang for help. Despite his sister's death, he lets him die by throwing a huge rock over Aravindan's head. Ayya hears it over the phone and tells the police. Karthikeyan is knocked down by a member of the gang. They carry Karthik to the van and are ready to escape, but the police and Ayya find them and rescue Karthik. The gang pull a gun from the policeman's pocket and shoos Karthik. Policemen arrest him and put him in jail. Karthik is taken to the hospital as he is in serious condition. Ayya gets Subhu released from jail and goes to the hospital. The doctors find it hard to save Karthik as he is at a risky stage. He is happy to accept Subhu as his mother and asks her to give a lap for him to sleep on. Everyone is very sad and cried as Karthik knows he is going to die.
The good news starts happening. Karthik survives after seeing his mother. He asks Subhu to meet Arvindan's family to know the truth and convince them to accept Sharu. Subhu goes there, confronts them and tells them the truth about Aravindan.
Aravindan's mother knows that her son is bad and she tells her husband about the true colour of Arvind. He feels shame and visits Ayya's house to seek forgiveness. Ayya realises that Subhu has visited them before him. Aravindan's family asks for Sharu as Sharu refuses to go there. Karthik pleads with Sharu to see him as he wants to ask forgiveness for the miserable mistakes he made in her life. Sharu feels so bad and doesn't see his face and cries in the house. Karthik and Ilvanji's chapter is over as they again become a couple together. Sharu's chapter is over as she is accepted to be daughter-in-law for Aravindan's family.
Selvakannan faces a little trouble with Kokila's husband Radnan. Kokila was his classmate, and she refuses to let her husband know about the baby. However, drunkard Ratnan comes to know and blackmails Selvakannan for ransom to keep the secret. Ganga finds it suspicious what is happening between Selva and the lady as she appoints her as a servant. Ratnan comes into the house to reveal the truth, but Ganga knows him who is he and Kokila. She calls everyone to the hall and begins to tell the truth of Ratnan, Kokila and the baby. She insists that Kokila take the baby back and Selva feels guilty for not telling the truth to Ganga as he asks her for forgiveness. She accepts him as she says he is the best husband who wants her to be happy after all. Kokila and Ratnan with the baby walk out of the house. Ganga and Selvakannan's chapter is over, and they are getting along to be happy.
Kulaskeran comes with his wife Mutharasi to Ayya's house to take his daughter Ilavanji which he didn't want his daughter to be with her Karthik. Mutharasi refuses to take her daughter, and she argues him and makes him remove her marriage chain by his hand. Kulaskeran challenges to demolish Ayya and his family with upcoming master plans.
Ayya catches Vandana and her mother mixing poison in the food. Subhulakshmi and Kulasekaran stop everyone from eating the foods. Kulasekaran turns over a new leaf, and everyone takes family photos and are happy.

Cast

; Main
; Supporting
In March 2010, the production team collaborated with Godrej's Cinthol soap for promotion of the series with a competition whose winner was a college student G Vidya from Coimbatore who offered a role in the series.

Remakes

The series was remade into in Kannada language as Bangara, broadcast on Udaya TV which starred Tamil film actress Rathi in the female lead role. It was also remade in Telugu as Aparanji, broadcast on Gemini TV, starring Suhasini.

Reception

A women named Kashawwa Rudrappa Badelapannavar of Basapur village in Bailhongal taluk, a keen viewer of the remake series Bangara, died due to cardiac arrest caused due to a sequence when her favourite character Kaveri was shown in trouble.

Awards and nominations

International broadcast

The series was also broadcast internationally on Channel's international distribution.