Jaya is a cinephile. So obsessed is she with cinema, that she worships the popular actor Jaishankar, believing all that he portrays on screen, to be his real self. He becomes the ideal man of her dreams, and she even tattoos his name in her arm. Hell breaks loose when she refuses to marry Natarajan, the boy arranged by her brother and her sister-in-law. At this juncture, her uncle steps in, taking it upon himself to show her the true world, by taking her on a trip around the real life of a star.
Cinema Paithiyam was released on 31 January 1975.[10] Kanthan of Kalki positively reviewed the film, comparing it favourably to the Hindi original.[11]Kumudam praised the performances of Kamal Haasan, Jayachithra and Sowcar Janaki and added that Guddi was pleasant and sweet; however Cinema Paithiyam lacked it.[12] Jayachitra later claimed in an interview that this film ran for 100 days at Devi-Sridevi Complex in Madras, and that "this was the first Tamil black-and-white film that ran for so long in that theater complex".[13]
