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Chokka Thangam
Chokka Thangam
	Poster
Directed by	K. Bhagyaraj
Written by	K. Bhagyaraj
Produced by	G. Venkateswaran
Starring	Vijayakanth; Soundarya; Uma
Cinematography	M. V. Panneerselvam
Edited by	K. Mohankumar
Music by	Deva
Production; company	GV Films
Release date	15 January 2003;
Running time	160 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Chokka Thangam (transl. Pure gold) is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by K. Bhagyaraj and produced by G. Venkateswaran under the banner GV Films. It stars Vijayakanth, Soundarya, and Uma with Goundamani, Senthil, Prakash Raj, and Swathi playing supporting roles. The background score and music were composed by Deva. The film was released on 15 January 2003 and became commercially successful.^[1]

Plot

Muthu lives in a village with his sister Maragatham. Muthu is very fond of his sister and ready to do anything for her. Pavalam is an orphan who lives in the same village. Muthu and Pavalam have a liking towards each other. Periya Minor is the local baddie who tries to molest Pavalam when she is alone. However, Muthu comes for rescue and takes Pavalam 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 Pavalam. 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 the Minor brothers with plans of trapping Muthu. The Minor brothers wants Muthu to give him Pavalam, 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 the Minor brothers 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 Pavalam are also married.

Cast

Vijayakanth as Muthu
Soundarya as Pavalam, Muthu's Love interest
Uma as Maragatham, Muthu's Sister
Goundamani as Muthu's uncle
Senthil as Servant
Prakash Raj as Sundharam, Maragatham's Husband
Swathi as Gowri
C. R. Saraswathi as Sundaram's cousin
Sindhu as Sundharam's cousin
Jaya Murali as Sundharam's mother
S. S. Chandran as Sundharam's uncle
Vinu Chakravarthy 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 as Muthu's aunt
Nellai Siva as Village Nattamai
Chelladurai as Villager
Kovai Senthil as Villager
Idichapuli Selvaraj 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 Vijayakanth, the producers approached Cheran to direct the film. However, due to issues concerning remuneration, K. Bhagyaraj eventually took on the role.^[2] Vidhya Venkatesh was originally approached for the role of Vijayakanth's sister, but since she was busy with Kalatpadai, she could not spare her dates and she was replaced by Uma.^[3] The filming was held at Pollachi for thirty days.^[4]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Deva.^[5]

Track listing
No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Enna Nenache"	R. V. Udayakumar	P. Unnikrishnan, Anuradha Sriram	4:51
2.	"En Jannal"	Pa. Vijay	Hariharan, Sadhana Sargam	4:45
3.	"Ettu Jilla"	Pa. Vijay	Karthik, Anuradha Sriram, Unni Menon	4:41
4.	"Vellayai Manam"	Thamarai	Swarnalatha, P. Jayachandran, Sujatha Mohan	4:06
5.	"Oor Oora"	Snehan	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam	5:02
Total length:				23:25

Critical reception

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.'"^[6] Krishna Chidambaram of Kalki wrote Bhagyaraj's touch was visible only in first half which goes away after interval and appears only in the film's end though he praised Vijayakanth as pure gold for following director's instructions but questioned why for this spineless character. He praised Uma's acting and song "Vellaiyai Manam" citing its been a long time he heard a song with proper situation placement and concluded requesting Bhagyaraj to give retirement and send away colourful outfits of hero and white chariot in songs.^[7] Malini Mannath of Chennai Online wrote "The director seems to have compromised for the sake of his hero’s image, there are more action-scenes than in a Vijaykant action-film, and the confusion is evident throughout. Talking of action, the chord tied to Vijaykant as he does the gravity-defying leap is clearly visible. The director’s heart was surely not in this film!".^[8]

References

^ Ram, Arun (18 May 2003). "Kollywood producer Venkateswaran suicide raises fears of box-office losses, empty theatres". India Today. Archived from the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
^ "Gossip". Dinakaran. 1 October 2002. Archived from the original on 6 March 2005. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
^ Rasika (27 March 2003). "Part of the game!". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 14 April 2003. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
^ Mannath, Malini (23 December 2002). "Sokkathangam". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 13 August 2003. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
^ "Chokkathangam". JioSaavn. 1 January 2002. Archived from the original on 22 February 2024. Retrieved 27 October 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ Rangarajan, Malathi (31 January 2003). "Chokka Thangam". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 4 April 2003. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
^ சிதம்பரம், கிருஷ்ணா (23 February 2003). "சொக்கத் தங்கம்". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 16. Archived from the original on 22 February 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2024 – via Internet Archive.
^ Mannath, Malini (27 January 2003). "Sokkathangam". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 11 December 2003. Retrieved 27 October 2024.