| Director: | Santhana Bharathi |
| Screenplay: | Crazy Mohan Santhana Bharathi |
| Story: | P. Kalaimani |
| Starring: | Prabhu Sukanya |
| Producer: | T. Siva |
| Music: | Ilaiyaraaja |
| Cinematography: | Ravishankar |
| Editing: | G. Jayachandran |
| Studio: | Amma Creations |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Tamil |
Sinna Mapplai, also spelt Chinna Mappillai,[1] is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed and co-written by Santhana Bharathi. The film, released on 14 January 1993, stars Prabhu and Sukanya, with Radha Ravi, Anand, Sivaranjani and Visu in supporting roles. It has been remade in Telugu, Kannada, and twice in Hindi.
Thangavel is a bachelor working as a coolie in a bus stand. One day, he goes to look for a bride for himself at someone's house. There, he is insulted as a porter by someone who works for small wages. On that day, with an upset face, he is at the bus stand where, unexpectedly, he meets the marriage broker Ambalavanan, who he had helped a few days earlier. They have a conversation in which Thangavel says everything about how was he insulted. At the same time, Ambalavan was also insulted by Aalavandhan (also known as Periya pannai) for bringing a low status groom for his elder daughter (Janaki) at Periya pannai's house. In revenge, Ambalavanan intends to teach Aalavandhan a vital lesson about controlling his arrogance. Ambalavanan and Thangavel make a deal with each other to cheat Periya pannai. In this drama, Thangavel pretends to be a rich man and professional of engineer called Singapore, who returns and decides to check in on the planning of construction builds up in the Periya pannai's village. He goes to the village to find out the site.
While he is on the way to the village, Thangavel luckily meets Janaki driving a bullock cart. He makes a bet with her to join in a race between his car and her cart. The race begins. At one stage, somewhere on his way, Thangavel's car breaks down, so Janaki takes an easy win. Upon meeting her, Thangavel falls in love with Janaki and plans to marry her, fulfilling his plan with Ambalavanan and his desires for social status and a bride. The marriage goes through as planned, and time passes.
One day, the Periya pannai comes to the city and gets off from the bus. Suddenly, he meets his son-in-law working at the bus stand and feels that he is being deceived by Thangavel. Later, he murmurs he will let his daughter know everything about what was happened in the bus stand. Then, when Thangavel comes back to the house, he is stopped by Janaki. He makes a new plan to tell his father-in-law that the person he met was his younger brother. All of them trust his words. Moreover, Periya pannai decides to let his second daughter marry him. He makes a plan without Ambalavanan's knowledge, then lets him know the details later on. What Thangavel and Ambalavanan do with these cheating plans carries forward to add interest to the remainder of the film.
The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.[2] [3] The song "Vennilavu Kothipathanu" is set in Madhyamavati raga, and "Kadhorum Lolakku" is set in Natabhairavi.
| Song | Singer(s) | Lyricist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Vaanam Vazhthida" | Vaali | ||
| "Vennilavu Kothipathenna" | Piraisoodan | ||
| "Kattu Kuyil Paatu" | Vaali | ||
| "Kadhorum Lolakku" | Mano, S. Janaki | ||
| "Kanmanikkul Chinna" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Minmini, Uma Ramanan | ||
| "Ada Mama Nee" | Mano | Gangai Amaran |
Sinna Mapplai was released on 14 January 1993.[4] The Indian Express wrote, "[''Sinna Mapplai''] is a hilarious, racy comedy of the Wodehousian sort with engaging situations, well directed by Santhana Bharathi." Kalki critic advised not to ask about the story or logic but to put aside the old films that come to mind. The critic praised the comedy, adding that Prabhu, Visu, Radha Ravi and others would make the audience laugh for two hours.[5] Crazy Mohan won Best Dialogue Writer for the film at the 14th Cinema Express Awards.[6]
The film was remade in Telugu as Chinna Alludu (1993), in Kannada as Coolie Raja (1999),[7] and twice in Hindi, directed by David Dhawan as Coolie No. 1 (1995 and 2020).[8]