Kizhakku Vasal 1990

Ponnurangam Karthik Muthuraman is a folk singer who travels with a small troupe to villages for festival appearances, while also working part-time as a labourer for Vijayakumar. He harbors a quiet crush on Selvi Khushboo, the daughter of Valliyuran, a wealthy headman of a neighboring village and brother-in-law to Vijayakumar. Selvi looks down on him and hatches a cruel prank by sending his mother to Valliyuran’s house with a marriage proposal. The plan backfires when Ponnurangam’s mother is beaten by Valliyuran’s men and dies later in her sleep from the trauma.

Thaayamma Revathi is a holy woman in the village, revered as a god and worshipped for the guidance she offers, though she leads a cloistered life and rarely visits others. Ponnurangam befriends her, and the two form a quiet, companionable bond, spending more time together as mutual confidants and supporters.

Meanwhile, Selvi, touched by remorse, begins to see a new side of life with Ponnurangam, yet he is weighed down by life’s hardships. To end their twenty-year feud and to secure the wealth of the villages, Vijayakumar Vijayakumar arranges a marriage between his spoiled son Thiyagu Thiyagu and Selvi. The plan is strategic and ruthless, aiming to eliminate rivals and seize property. On the eve of the wedding, Ponnurangam is asked to perform at Valliyuran’s house. Selvi apologizes to Ponnurangam for his mother’s death and offers money, which he coldly rejects. Thiyagu spots them together, sparking a fresh clash between the families and causing the wedding to be canceled. The next day, Thiyagu and his men launch a brutal strike, stabbing Ponnurangam in the back with a poisoned knife. Thaayamma steps in to care for him and reveals more of her own story through her patient, compassionate gaze.

Thaayamma’s backstory unfolds further: she was an orphan found by street performer Janagaraj Janagaraj. They wandered from house to house begging for food, forming a tight, improvised family. One day, a lonely woman, Sulakshana Sulakshana—the secret mistress of the village’s powerful man—welcomes Thaayamma and Janagaraj, adopting them as her daughter and brother. After ten years, Thaayamma reaches puberty and begins to see Sulakshana’s complicated life more clearly. When Thaayamma and Janagaraj attempt to leave, Sulakshana falls ill and dies, and Vijayakumar tries to take advantage of Thaayamma. Thaayamma resists, steadfast in her decision to stay chaste and independent.

Now, as Ponnurangam fights to recover, his longing to marry Thaayamma grows stronger, and the couple begins to dream of a life beyond the village’s constraints. But Vijayakumar continues to intervene, abducting Thaayamma to sever their bond. The confrontation escalates when Maakaan [Chinni Jayanth] is killed by Vijayakumar’s men, provoking anger and an outcry from the villagers who rally to protect the couple. In the end, the two lovers choose to walk away from the conflict and the village, stepping into an uncertain future together, united against the odds.