| Director: | R. V. Udayakumar |
| Screenplay: | R. V. Udayakumar |
| Story: | R. Selvaraj |
| Producer: | V. Mohan V. Natarajan |
| Starring: | Vijayakanth Sukanya |
| Cinematography: | A. Karthik Raja |
| Editing: | B. S. Nagaraj |
| Music: | Ilaiyaraaja |
| Studio: | Anandhi Films |
| Distributor: | Balakrishna Pictures[1] |
| Runtime: | 143 minutes |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Tamil |
Chinna Gounder is a 1992 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by R. V. Udayakumar, starring Vijayakanth, Sukanya, Manorama, Salim Ghouse, Sathyapriya, Goundamani, Senthil and Vadivelu. It was released on 15 January 1992, during Pongal.[2] The film was remade in Telugu as Chinarayudu, and in Kannada as Chikkejamanru.[3]
Thavasi alias Chinna Gounder is a rich and respected landlord in Coimbatore district. His family has been the hereditary Village Judge for a group of 18 villages and Thavasi takes over that work 10 years after his father's death. Thavasi's father, in an ill condition was asked to preside over a very tricky case and died before passing judgement. The case was that then a newly built village temple stood on a land belonging to Sundari (second wife of Sakkarai). Sakkarai's first wife is Thavasi's elder sister. Sakkara had cited law and sealed off the temple premises a day before its opening. Thavasi investigates the case and clearly proves that the document of land purchase is fake and arrives at a conclusion that the temple premises belongs to the Village. He is appreciated by a district judge upon seeing his swift decision-making skills. Chinna Gounder lives with his mother Aatha and is the most respectable person in the village, known for his justice and loyalty. Rivalry exists between Chinna Gounder and his brother-in-law Sakkara Gounder, who is accused of Chinna Gounder's sister's death and following marriage with Sundari.
Sakkara Gounder plans to grab the local temple premises by forging false documents, but Chinna Gounder exposes the frauds committed, thereby preventing the temple premises from going into the hands of the roadies. Sakkara Gounder is angered and waits for an opportunity to knock out Chinna Gounder.
Deivanai, a poor, talkative village belle often gets into silly verbal conflicts with Chinna Gounder and his mother. Later Deivanai saves his mother from a snake bite. When Tavasi rewards her with money, Deivanai refuses the money, reasoning that she saved his mother only out of respect. Chinna Gounder falls in love with her good attitude, boldness and self respect.
Deivanai owes some money to Sakkara Gounder, which she had borrowed for her younger sister's education. As she could not repay the debt in a timely manner, she invites the villagers for Moi Virunthu (one who eats food at her house has to contribute money to settle her dues) as per village custom. Chinna Gounder visits without invitation, but proposes to her. She agrees to the same.
Chinna Gounder is married to Deivanai, and life progresses smoothly for sometime, until Sakkara Gounder interferes with a plan. Sakkara Gounder poisons the local pond and blames Chinna Gounder for that. He also sets up a false witness to trap Chinna Gounder. Deivanai overhears Sakkara Gounder's plans, and in the act of trying to stop the witness from reaching the panchayat, she attacks the witness with a sickle. Later, the police arrests Deivanai with a murder charge, as the man whom she attacked is dead. Deivanai is imprisoned. Deivanai's sister now comes to Chinna Gounder's home as she is left alone. One day, it is revealed that Deivanai's sister is pregnant, and Chinna Gounder is blamed. As Chinna Gounder also remains silent over the issue, his mother sends him out of house. Deivanai is shocked upon hearing this and believes that her husband has betrayed her trust and love. She refuses to meet him when he comes to visit her in jail.
Now the advocate, who already knows about Chinna Gounder, finds out that he is in trouble and decides to offer help. He takes over the case in favour of Deivanai and begins his ground work. He gets the postmortem report and finds out that the cause of death of the man attacked by Deivanai was only due to lack of breath.
A few months pass by, and Deivanai comes from jail to visit her sister, who is about to deliver a baby. She scolds her sister for having an illicit relationship with Chinna Gounder. However, her sister reveals that he is in no way related to her pregnancy and the father of the child is the witness, who was attacked by Deivanai. As Chinna Gounder did not want to tarnish her image in front of the villagers, he accepted the blame. Deivanai's sister gives birth to a baby and dies.
Deivanai realises her mistake and apologises to her husband. Meanwhile, Deivanai is kidnapped by Sakkara Gounder. Chinna Gounder comes to her rescue and saves her. Chinna Gounder produces Sakkara Gounder in front of the village panchayat, where it is revealed that it was him who killed the witness and decided to blame Deivanai.
In the end, Chinna Gounder and Deivanai come out clean from the accusations made over them. Sakkara Gounder begs the villagers to forgive him, but no one listens to him. Chinna Gounder then forgives him for all his misdeeds by stating that he only wanted Sakkara Gounder to realise his mistakes.
The production team initially approached actress Sridevi for the lead role, but she refused the given offer as her schedules were too packed in Hindi and Telugu films. Eventually, the role for Deivaanai went to actress Sukanya. Chinna Gounder was entirely shot at Sethumadai near Pollachi.[4] The title character was largely inspired by Udayakumar's uncle Athiyan, who served as a village chairman in the Thuckanaickenpalayam municipality for many years.[5] To portray her character, Manorama wore dentures.[6]
The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, while the lyrics were by R. V. Udayakumar.[7] [8]
| Songs | Singers | |
|---|---|---|
| "Antha Vaanathai" | Ilaiyaraaja | |
| "Chinna Kili Vanna Kili" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki | |
| "Sutti Sutti Un Vaalai" | Malaysia Vasudevan | |
| "Kannu Pada" | Ilaiyaraaja | |
| "Koondukulla" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki | |
| "Muthumani Maala" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela | |
| "Sollaal Adicha" | Ilaiyaraaja | |
| "Antha Vaanathai" | S. Janaki |
Sundarji of Kalki called the story ordinary, but praised the cast performances and music.[9] Chinna Gounder won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film – Third Prize, and Sukanya won the award for Best Actress at the same ceremony.[10] At the 13th Cinema Express Awards, she won the Cinema Express Award for Best Actress – Tamil.[11]