Chinna Thambi Periya Thambi 1987

Chinna Thambi, Prabhu and Periya Thambi, Sathyaraj are brothers who work in a spinning mill in Booluvampatii, on the outskirts of Coimbatore district. They live with their widowed grandmother, Ganthimathi. Though they quarrel often, their bond remains strong. When their mother’s younger brother returns after twenty years, both brothers set their sights on Kavitha, the uncle’s daughter. Kavitha, Nadhiya, is well-educated and beautiful, but Kavitha’s parents reject the match because the brothers are not rich or educated. In response, Kavitha and her family are sent out of the village by the grandmother, who also forbids her grandsons from visiting the uncle’s family for any personal reason.

Kavitha is initially arranged to marry Mohankumar, the heir to a wealthy garment company in Tirupur, where the brothers work. The couple travels to Chennai for the wedding. On the eve of the ceremony, Kavitha’s parents are involved in a serious accident en route to the wedding hall. On his deathbed, Kavitha’s father reveals debts, and both parents die soon after. All of Kavitha’s properties are sold to settle the debt, and the wedding is called off as Kavitha has fallen into poverty. The brothers console her and bring Kavitha back to their village, where she begins to appreciate a simpler life with her cousins and aunt. Both brothers resume their efforts to woo her. Periya Thambi even takes up work as a sandalwood cutter to afford luxuries for Kavitha, which she rejects because sandalwood felling is illegal. Periya Thambi is arrested by the local police; their mother dies of a heart attack. Periya Thambi serves a three-month term and is released to work in a mill. Kavitha grows closer to the honest Chinna Thambi, while Periya Thambi rescues a widow named Thayamma, Sudha Chandran, and falls for her.

The mill owner then tries to claim Kavitha as his concubine, and the brothers beat him. Chinna Thambi is jailed for one month as a consequence. Periya Thambi arranges for their wedding on the day of Chinna’s release, and Thayamma’s family accepts her remarriage. But on the wedding day, Kavitha is kidnapped by the mill owner’s son and the local landlord. Periya Thambi goes to rescue her and discovers the men attempting to rape Kavitha. He defeats them and kills both the mill owner’s son and the local landlord. This is not revealed to Kavitha or Chinna Thambi, and the wedding goes ahead. Police come to arrest Periya Thambi, who marries Thayamma and immediately surrenders to the police. He receives a ten-year sentence and completes it. When he returns home, he finds his house rebuilt and his wife waiting. As he moves to consummate his marriage, he realizes his brother has also decided to marry Kavitha. In the end, all is well.