Mundhanai Mudichu (Eng: Saree Knot) is a 1983 Tamil comedy movie directed and acted by K. Bhagyaraj along with Urvasi in the lead roles. The movie marked the debut of Urvashi in Tamil cinema.
It was remade in Telugu as Moodu Mullu with Chandramohan and Radhika and the original was dubbed in Telugu as Vaadante Pelli. The film was a blockbuster and was remade in Hindi as Masterji in the year 1985 with Rajesh Khanna and Sridevi in lead roles. It was also remade in Kannada as Halli Meshtru with Ravichandran.
Parimalam (Urvasi) is a mischievous nubile lady who perennially plays pranks on unsuspecting villagers, aided by her gang of preteen children. These often end her and the gang in the panchayat. A widower (K. Bhagyaraj) enters the village with his infant child (Sujitha) to take up the vacant teacher’s post in the local school and is immediately pranked by Parimalam’s gang upon his arrival. Parimalam’s playful nature transforms into love when she learns that he’s a widower. She tries many ways to win the teacher’s heart, but fails every time. The teacher believes that a stepmother could not care for his child. As a desperate measure to attain him, Parimalam falsely accuses the teacher of molesting her. She even swears upon the teacher’s child’s life to prove her case at the panchayat. The teacher is then forced to marry her against his wishes. However, he vows never to touch Parimalam and to remain forever in celibacy. Parimalam relentlessly tries to seduce him by various methods. All her advances are ignored by the husband. Faced with the prospect of never attaining her husband’s love, Parimalam decides to take the drastic measure of going through a tubal ligation procedure. With this she hopes that her husband will understand that she would never ill treat his son as a stepmother. Shocked upon hearing of Parimalam’s decision, the husband rushes to the hospital to prevent her from undergoing the procedure. He reaches the hospital to find Parimalam unconscious on the bed and assumes she has already undergone treatment. However, the doctor assures him that she has not been operated as he found Parimalam to be a virgin and realized that she must have wanted the operation under duress. The story ends with the couple happily united and in the process of planning for another child.
Directed by K. Bhagyaraj
Produced by M. Kumaran, M. Saravanan & M.Balasubramanian
Written by K. Bhagyaraj
Starring K. Bhagyaraj, Urvasi, Deepa, Poornima Bhagyaraj, Sujitha
Music by Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography Ashok Kumar
Edited by A. Selvanathan
Production AVM Productions
Distributed by AVM Productions
Release dates 22 July 1983
Running time 150 minutes
Country India
Language Tamil
Visitor Rating: 4 Stars