Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen (Eng: ‘I Gave Myself to You’) is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Vikraman. It stars Karthik and Roja, with Ajith Kumar in an extended guest appearance. Ramesh Khanna, Moulee, Sathyapriya, Fathima Babu, and Madhan Bob play other supporting roles. It was Karthik’s 100th film. Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen won critical acclaim and was a huge commercial success at the box office. It was also considered one of the best Tamil films of 1998.
Selvam (Karthik) lives with his friend Bhaskar (Ramesh Khanna) doing small jobs. One day, they both decide to steal a Ganesh idol from a temple, believing that having a stolen Ganesh idol at home will bring prosperity. They are spotted by the local people around the temple, and the two hide in Radha’s (Roja) home. Radha works in Viswanathan’s (Moulee) home as a maid after her mother’s death. However, Radha is actually the illegitimate daughter of Viswanathan, which both of them alone know about.
Viswanathan, along with his wife (Sathyapriya), has gone to attend a function, while Radha alone stays in the home along with Viswanathan’s grandchildren. Radha spots Selvam and Bhaskar and locks them in a room, mistaking them as thieves. However, she later realizes their good nature and releases them. One day, Viswanathan’s wife raises an issue that her diamond necklace is missing and accuses Radha for stealing it and sends her out of the home. Radha does not want Viswanathan to reveal her true identity and instead leaves the home.
Now, Selvam meets Radha and gets to know her situation. He joins Radha in a women’s hostel and helps her. One day, Selvam hears Radha singing and understands her singing talent. He helps music director Gangai Amaren during midnight when his car was repaired. Gangai Amaren thanks Selvam and offers him help, but Selvam informs Gangai Amaren about Radha and her beautiful voice and requests him to provide her a chance for singing in movies.
Gangai Amaren agrees and calls Radha to sing in a chorus along with others, but he is impressed with her singing ability and offers her a solo song. Radha gets popular as a singer and receives so much fame and prosperity. She moves to a big bungalow along with Selvam and Bhaskar. In the meantime, Viswanathan also reveals that Radha is his daughter and wants to reunite with her. Viswanathan’s wife also accepts Radha as her stepdaughter. Everyone now lives in the same bungalow, but unfortunately, Viswanathan’s wife and her sister Vasanthi (Fathima Babu) hate Selvam and Bhaskar staying along with them.
Radha’s family members plan her wedding with Sanjay (Ajith Kumar), Viswanathan’s wife’s brother who lives abroad. Sanjay comes to India on a visit. Radha leaves to New Delhi to receive a national award, and in the meantime, Viswanathan’s wife accuses Selvam for stealing money and sends him out of the home while Radha is away. When Radha returns, she gets shocked upon knowing that Selvam and Bhaskar have already left somewhere. She finds a diary in Selvam’s room where he has expressed his desire to marry Radha and thereby understands his love.
Meanwhile, an event has been organized in Chennai for congratulating Radha on her achievement of winning a national award. Selvam is an auto driver now and comes to drop a customer to Radha’s function. On getting to know that the function is for Radha, Selvam decides to watch it along with the crowd. On the stage, Radha speaks emotionally about the hardships faced by her during early days and praises that it was Selvam who stood by her during her tough days. She dedicates all her fame and glory to Selvam and says that he is somewhere in the crowd watching the program and requests him to come on stage. Selvam comes to the stage amid huge applause from the crowd. In front of everyone, Radha expresses her wish to marry Selvam, for which he agrees happily. A small flashback is shown where Radha has already informed her wish of marrying Selvam to Sanjay, for which he agreed immediately and wished her good luck. Selvam and Radha get united in the end.
Directed by Vikraman
Produced by G. Venugopal, K. Muralidaran & V. Swaminathan
Written by Vikraman
Starring Karthik, Roja
Music by S. A. Rajkumar
Cinematography M. S. Annadurai
Edited by V. Jaishankar
Production Lakshmi Movie Makers
Release date 14 August 1998
Running time 165 minutes
Country India
Language Tamil
Visitor Rating: 5 Stars