Siragadikka Aasai (transl.The Desire to Fly) is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language television drama that airs on Star Vijay starring debutant Vetri Vasanth with Gomathi Priya. The series is directed by S. Kumaran and produced by Radhika Srinivasan and B. Srinivasan for Vikatan Televistas.[1] It is also available on the digital platform Disney+ Hotstar.[2][3][4][5] The series is one of the most popular TV shows in Tamil Nadu. The series was launched along with Mahanadhi.[6]
The show centres on the unexpected marriage of Meena, the eldest daughter of a lower-class family, and Muthu, an eccentric taxi driver struggling with alcoholism. They slowly understand each other. Their journey to self-improvement and togetherness, despite external pressures, is a testament to the enduring power of love.
Plot
The show introduces Muthu, a delinquent who despises the concept of love, as well as Meena, a family-oriented woman who works at her parents' flower-stall near their local temple.
Circumstances force Meena to marry Muthu. He is an alcoholic who regularly comes home drunk, whilst also engaging in fights as well - even arguing with his mother Vijaya, who resents him for his bad past as well as his bad habits. The only three people in Muthu's family that have some sort of love and affection for him are his father Annamalai, a retired locomotive pilot, his younger brother Ravi, who works as a chef, and his grandmother Nachiyar, who raised him. Muthu's elder brother, Manoj, is an affluent corporate employee and Vijaya's favourite son. He is selfish, money-minded, status-minded and dislikes both Annamalai and Muthu.
Meena faces problems with Sudhakar (a loan shark), who lusts for Meena, as well as a poor financial status. Muthu and Meena often fight, with Meena not knowing that Muthu is Annamalai’s second son, when Muthu comes across Meena and her family. This ends up with the two of them disliking each other due to their constant conflicts.
After Sathya (Meena's brother) is negatively influenced by Chiti, a local don, he ends up stealing Muthu's bike out of envy of not getting one from his parents. He ends up going to jail but is released after Muthu withdraws the case after Meena asks him to. Sathya then speaks harshly to his father after he scolds him and kicks him out, which makes him depressed and he kills himself by being hit by a train, which Annamalai was driving on his final day on the job. Feeling guilty, Annamalai pays them a visit and decides to make Meena his daughter-in-law instead of giving them money, as he sees that there’s more than what meets the eye in their situation. Amidst this all, Manoj is in love with Jeeva, who has hidden intentions as she wants Annamalai's settlement money and wants to emigrate to Canada.
On the day of the wedding, it's revealed that Manoj has eloped with Jeeva and has left a letter for his family - however, Jeeva and her friend have drained the 27 lakh from their joint account and Manoj goes into hiding out of embarrassment that he has no money and no girlfriend - leaving everyone at the wedding hall in shock. An argument ensues between Chandra and Annamalai about the wedding, Sudhakar intervenes with his own intentions of marrying Meena and proceeds to beat Annamalai and Ravi up for intervening in his plan. At that moment, Muthu sees this and beats up Sudhakar in retaliation and it's revealed to the gathering that he is Annamalai's second son. A flashback is shown to a previous episode, where Sudhakar kidnaps Meena and Muthu (in a helmet) saves her - Meena realises that Muthu was the person that saved her from Sudhakar. Chandra pacifies Meena and makes her accept the marriage with Muthu to avoid shame; whilst Annamalai has Muthu agree to marry Meena after nearly falling at Muthu's feet. They marry, against each others wishes.
Whilst Meena deals with the new challenges that come along with marriage, as well as her personal life, can Muthu overcome his past and accept Meena as his wife?[7]
Cast
Main
Vetri Vasanth as Muthukumar (Muthu)
Meena's husband; Annamalai and Vijaya's second son; Manoj and Ravi's brother.
A taxi driver with anger issues due to past incidents. He is disliked by Vijaya due to his lack of education. He supports his wife Meena a lot. (2023–present).
Muthu's wife; Jayaraj and Chandra's eldest daughter; Sathya and Seetha's sister; Annamalai and Vijaya's daughter-in-law; Rohini and Shruthi's co-sister
A florist who is kind and respectful. (2023–present).
Supporting
R. Sundarrajan as Annamalai: Manoj, Muthu, and Ravi's father; Vijaya's husband; Nachiyar's son; Rohini, Meena and Shruti's father-in-law and a retired Locomotive pilot.
The only one in Muthu's family that cares for him, as well as acting as a father figure towards Meena due to her father's death.
Anila Sreekumar as Vijaya Annamalai: Manoj, Muthu and Ravi's mother; Annamalai's wife; Nachiyar's daughter-in-law. Rohini, Meena and Shruti's mother-in-law
She dislikes Muthu due to some past mishaps and hates Meena for her low economic status.
Favours her eldest son Manoj due him being the most educated person in their family. She also blindly believes Rohini without knowing the truth about her previous marriage.
Tamil Selvi as Chandra: Late Jayaraj's wife; Meena, Sathya and Seetha's mother and Muthu's mother-in-law
Sri Deva as Manoj Kumar (Manoj) Annamalai: Annamalai and Vijaya's eldest son; Rohini's second husband and Jeeva's past love interest.
He ran away from his wedding with Meena for his love towards Jeeva. He is shown to be very bad in businesses as he gets conned easily by customers.
Salma Arun as Kalyani alias Rohini Manojkumar (Parlour Amma): Manoj's wife; Krish’s biological mother; Lakshmi's daughter; Annamalai and Vijaya's daughter-in-law and Meena and Shruthi's co-sister
She made her first husband to fake himself as he died after two years of marriage but she hides it from Manoj's family and acts as a rich girl from Malaysia.
Yogesh Kumar (2023) / Pranav Mohan (June 2023 - present)[8] as Ravikumar (Ravi) Annamalai: Annamalai and Vijaya's youngest son; Shruti's husband and a Chef
Preetha Reddy as Shruthi Ravikumar: Ravi's wife, Vasudevan and Sudha’s daughter; Annamalai and Vijaya's daughter-in-law and Rohini and Meena's co-sister
She works as a dubbing artist and supports Muthu and Meena a lot.
Revathy as Nachiyar: Annamalai's mother, Vijaya's mother-in-law and Manoj, Muthu and Ravi's grandmother.
She raised Muthu when he was young after Vijaya left him in the village.
Diwakar as Sathya: Jayaraj and Chandra's son; Meena and Seetha's brother.
He works for Chitti and exacts vengeance on Muthu and his family after being assaulted by him.
Sangeetha Leonis as Seetha: Jayaraj and Chandra's daughter; Meena and Sathya's sister
Shruthi Narayanan as Vidhya, Kalyani’s best friend
Lollu Sabha Palaniappan as Selvam: Muthu's best friend and a Cab Driver
Sudhakar as Sudhakar
A loan person to whom Meena and her family owe money. He lusts for Meena and vows revenge on Muthu after previous altercations.
Atchaya Bharathi[9] as Jeeva, Manoj's former love interest.
She cheats Manoj out of Annamalai's settlement money and escapes to Canada.
Narasimha Raju as Jayaraj: Meena, Sathya and Seetha's father. (Deceased)
Mahadevan as Vasudevan: Shruthi's father; Sudha's husband and Ravi's father-in-law
The train manager of Annamalai's company, who hates Annamalai.
Sheela as Sudha: Shruti's mother, Vasudevan's wife and Ravi's mother-in-law
An overprotective mother of Shruthi
Unknown as Chiti, a local don
Unknown as Jyoti, Muthu's ex-lover
Pushpa as Lakshmi, Kalyani's mother
Master Jagan as Krish: Kalyani's biological son and Lakshmi's grandson
Ganesh Krait as Biju, Shruti’s ex-fiancée
Jayamani as Mani/ ‘Brown Mani', a butcher and an aspiring actor
He was hired by Vidhya to act as Kalyani's uncle Vaseegaran.
Unknown as Dinesh, former P.A to Rohini's client.
He knows the real identity of Kalyani and extracts money from her to hide the truth.
Gomathi Priya was cast in the female lead role as Meena after her role as Valli in Velaikkaran, whilst newcomer Vetri Vasanth was cast as the male lead role as Muthukumar, with his rise to fame coming through his numerous short films which gained popularity with younger viewers.[10][11]R. Sundarrajan was cast as Annamalai, and makes his comeback to Tamil television after three years. Anila Sreekumar was cast as Vijaya, returning to Vijay TV after previously acting in Paavam Ganesan and Kaatrin Mozhi on the channel. Narasimha Raju, Yogesh and Tamilselvi were also selected for supporting roles. Pranav Mohan replaced Yogesh as Ravi, after Yogesh quit the show citing personal reasons.[12][13][14]
In January 2024, actor Jayamani joins the cast as Rohini's fake father.[15]
Release
The first promo was unveiled on 28 December 2022, which gave a brief insight in both Muthu and Meena’s lives. The second promo was unveiled on 15 January 2023, revealing the upcoming release date.[16] The third promo was unveiled on 19 January 2023, featuring Muthu’s family.[17] The same day, a fourth promo was unveiled featuring Meena’s family.[18] This series was launched along with Mahanadhi.[19]
Due to Vijay TV choosing to release Chinna Marumagal and Thangamagal a week after Bigg Boss Season 7 had ended, 1 hour special episodes of Siragadikka Aasai were telecasted from 17 January 2024 to 19 January 2024.[23]
Reception
On week 38 of 2023, the series entered the top 5 shows in TN with 8.17 TVR in U+R as well as became the slot leader.[24] On the 16th week of 2024 it became the slot leader with 8.18 TVR in U+R also marking 3rd position in overall TN serials.[25] On week 27, 2024 the series became the No 1 Serial Of Tamil Nadu for the first time with 8.38 TVR in UR market.[26]
In July 2024, The series was the most watched Tamil-language television series with 9.84 TVR.[26]
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