Chithi 2

Chithi 2
Genre	Soap opera
Screenplay by	Sekizhar
Story by	Story : Sekizhar Dialogues : Pa. Raghavan
Directed by	Sundar K. Vijayan (Episodes 1-31) K. Sulaiman (Episode 32-present)
Starring	Preethi Sharma Nandan Loganathan
Theme music composer	Dhina
Opening theme	"Kanninmani"
Composer	Clement
Country of origin	India
Original language	Tamil
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	460 as of 12 Dec 2021
Production
Executive producer	R. Raadhika Sarathkumar
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	approx. 21-23 minutes
Production companies	Radaan Mediaworks Sun Entertainment
Release
Original network	Sun TV
Original release	27 January 2020 (2020-01-27) – present
External links
Website
Production website

Chithi 2 is an Indian Tamil-language soap opera which premiered on 27 January 2020 on Sun TV.^[1] It is a reboot of the 1999 series Chithi.^[2] Produced by Radaan Mediaworks, it starred Preethi Sharma and Nandan Loganathan.

Plot[]

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The story opens with a family, Shanmugam, his wife Padma and their children Kalai and Anbu. Padma secretly has a lover and decides to elope with him. Mallika, a lady from the village madly in love with Shanmugam wishes to marry him. Padma elopes with her lover with the help of Mallika. Padma's younger sister Sharadha has the responsibility of managing the family. A dejected Shanmugam vows to move on and raise his children on his own. Padma's parents however are embarrassed by the incident. The villagers collectively decide that to erase this shame, Padma's sister Saradha should marry Shanmugam. Saradha accepts it wholeheartedly and takes the responsibility of the family, thereby eventually becoming the root of the family.

In a past event, Saradha meets with an accident after returning from her delivery during which Dharmaraj (Mallika's older brother) exchanges his daughter with Saradha's thinking his daughter is dead which Shanmugam notices but fails to arrest him. Meanwhile, Raju (Mallika's younger brother) falls in the love with Akshaya and Raju married her. Raju and Akshaya goes and lives to happy in Malaysia.

Twenty-two years later, Kalsi is married to Deepa with a child who fails to get a job while Deepa works at an IT company and handling the expenses of their school-going child. Anbu works in a construction company and just married his lover Nandini, who seeks vengeance against Saradha and Venba for their act by messing her name. Sevanthi wanted to marry Anbu, but Saradha and Shanmugam disagree as Anbu and Nandini were in a deep relationship. Owing to this, Lakshmi and her husband Gomathinayagam seek vengeance against them. Nandini befriends Lakshmi to destroy Saradha's family. Saradha faces the problems they create and handles the family in a comfortable couch. Soon, despite Venba gets to know about her adoption, she respects Saradha and Shanmugam as her parents.

Venba works in a company under Kavin (Mallika's son). Mallika has educational institutions which involves illegal activities to bring good results and a name for the institute. Kavin has a relationship with Diana, who is later killed by Mallika as she planned his marriage with Yazhini (Dharmaraj's so-called daughter). Venba helps Kavin overcome his sorrow of losing Diana. As Yazhini with her family returns from abroad, Kavin and Yazhini's marriage is fixed. Yazhini loves Kavin and Kavin has no interest in Yazhini but Mallika has him engaged to Yazhini. Dharma follows Venba and gets to know that she is his biological daughter and wishes to have her married to Kavin as he feels she deserves all the love and to live a lavish life. Meanwhile, Kavin realizes his love for Venba and he proposes to her but Venba refuses Kavin's proposal owing to his upcoming marriage with Yazhini. But Kavin tries his best to persuade her. He then takes her to a temple and ties the Thaali (Nuptial chain) when she closes her eyes to pray. Venba is shocked to see Kavin tied around her neck when she opens her eyes. She did not understand what to do next. Kavin tells Venba that she can tell their home about the unexpected marriage. But, Venba is afraid to tell that at home and hides her Thaali inside her dress without taking off it. Venba hides this unexpected marriage from the family. She continues to ignore Kavin and suggests him marry Yazhini despite having feelings for him. Meanwhile, Saradha learns that Yazhini is her real daughter and discovers that Venba is Dharma's daughter. Saradha threatens Mallika to destroy her empire for indulging in illegal activities but promises to wait till Yazhini's marriage with Kavin before handing over Arun to police. Due to mishaps the wedding gets halted and blame falls on Saradha creating rift between Yazhini and Saradha. Later, Saradha finds out the truth behind the Mallika's arrest which was cleverly executed with Nandini's complaint. Meanwhile, Kavin meets with an accident which helps Venba open up her feeling she's had for Kavin all along. Shanmugam is arrested for illegal brown sugar business according to Mallika's plan. Venba exposes Mallika's dark secrets to Kavin after which he realizes his mother is not who he sees. Yazhini notices little behavioral changes in Kavin, who favors and cares for Venba over her, soon she gets to know of their love which irks her and she vows to separate them. Yazhini informs about Kavin and Venba's love to Saradha who later sends Venba away to keep her promise to Yazhini. Amidst all of the chaos, Kavin stands firm in his love for Venba and stops her from moving to another city and arranges a home where they live together until Shanmugam is bailed out.

The situation worsens after a suitor is arranged for Venba, the truth about Kavin and her being married breaks out and creates rifts between the family and Venba. Kavin smartly puts Venba in a tough situation where Venba willingly chooses her family over him showing Saradha on how much Venba's loyalty, love and respect for her family. After Saradha realizes this, she gets Kavin and Venba register their marriage officially thereby uniting them. Saradha, Shanmugam, Kalai, Deepa and their child move to Singapore since they get good jobs there.

Later Venba moves to Kavin's house much to the hatred of Mallika, Yazhini and Gowri. The three try their best to separate Kavin and Venba and get Yazhini married to Kavin again. Dharma, who after the accident is paralyzed tries his best to let Venba know that she is his biological daughter but fails. Meanwhile, Venba saves Gowri from drinking a poisoned milk despite the latter hating her. This leads to Gowri having a change of heart and genuinely accepting that Venba is not at fault. She grows closer to Venba and feels a deep connection with her. Gowri helps Venba to correct Yazhini and help her move on in her life, while Yazhini solely focuses on separating Kavin and Venba.

Yazhini manipulates Venba to not unite with Kavin for six months, and during that time she will separate Kavin and Venba, and marry Kavin herself. Venba gets carried away with her manipulation but also asks if Yazhini loses, she would get her married to someone else. Kavin finds out about this promise and feels betrayed that Venba was willing to not be intimate with him for six months. He goes to a beach and attempts to commit suicide, but meets his long-lost twin brother Naveen here, much to Kavin's surprise.

Naveen is in search of his mother Mallika, and Kavin brings him home. No one in the home knows about Naveen except Venba. Yazhini treats Naveen as Kavin because of his strikingly similar appearance. But, Venba strictly warns Naveen that if he get in deeper contact with Yazhini, Then he will be made to stay in a hotel or a lodge. Naveen helps Kavin and Venba reunite by solving their differences. As they reunite, Kavin calls Venba for a Tender Meeting as she was the project head for the Tender. Kavin wins the tender after which they have a lunch together. Unexpectedly, Mohanraj discovers Kavin and Naveen knowing each other and warns Naveen to leave with him to any foreign country as he does not want to lose his other son to Mallika. A shocked Naveen says these to Kavin and Venba which is overheard by Yazhini, who badmouths all the three which leaves Naveen heartbroken. He begs Yazhini to not disclose the truth to Mallika at the cost of him leaving the family forever. He bids a heartfelt goodbye to Kavin and Venba promising them that he would always stay close to them through their hearts. This breaks Kavin but later gathers himself and focuses on changing his mother's attitude towards Venba. Mallika plans to implement false accusations against Venda but Kavin stands by her at all costs much to her displeasure. A raging Malliga asks Kavin to send Venba out of the house so that he himself can stay with her and continue to enjoy the pleasures of life or go out with the so-called love of his life. Kavin chooses the latter which adds fuel to Mallika's raging anger. She lays a condition that if Kavin wants to go out with Venba, he must pay her a sum of one crore as a token of gratitude for all the hardships she had undergone to raise him to which he agrees. Kavin and Venba go to Venba's brother's (Anbu) house where they are insulted by his wife Nandini after their stay for a few days. During their stay, all their ventures in their attempt to earn one crore are foiled by Mallika and Nandini. Disgusted, they leave the house to save their self-respect. After wandering for a few hours they find a house for rent. Venba learns the locker number from Saravanan, Kavin's college mate and decides to share it with Gowri to get to know about her birth secret and Saradha's biological daughter. Yazhini hears the number, opens the locker, and discovers a diary. She reads it, and learns that she is Saradha's daughter and Venba is Dharma's daughter.

Cast[]

Main Lead[]

• Preethi Sharma as Venba Kavin / Subbulakshmi (fake name for job): Kavin's wife, Saradha and Shanmugapriyan's adopted daughter, Dharma and Gowri's biological daughter,Kavin’s cousin (2020–Present)
• Nandan Loganathan as Kavin / Natarajan (fake name for job): Venba's husband, Mallika Devi's son,Venba’s cousin (2020–Present)
• Radhika Sarathkumar as Saradha: Shanmugapriyan's second wife, Venba's adoptive mother; Yazhini's biological mother; Kalai and Anbu's aunt, Nandini and Deepa's mother-in-law, Title role (2020–February 2021)

Recurring Cast[]

• Dharshna Sripal Golecha as Yazhini: Saradha and Shanmugam's biological daughter, Dharma and Gowri's adoptive daughter (Protagonist turned Antagonist)
• Meera Vasudevan (episodes 1–43) → Sirisha Sougandh (episodes 44–58) → Meera Krishna (episodes 60–present) as Mallika Devi: Mohanraj's former wife, Kavin's mother, Venba's mother-in-law and paternal aunt, Sharadha and Subbulakshmi's enemy (Main Antagonist)
• Nikhila Rao (episodes 3–58) → Gayathri Yuvraaj (episodes 59–present) as Nandini Anbuselvan (Antagonist)
• Veena Venkatesh (episodes 356–389) → Usha Elizabeth Suraj (episodes 394–present) as Advocate Subbulakshmi Natarajan
• Sivaji Manohar as Natarajan
• Uma Padmanaban as Gowri Dharmaraj: Dharma's wife, Venba's biological mother, Yazhini's adoptive mother
• Manish Raja as Singaram: Subbulakshmi's nephew
• Murali Krishnan as Ticket Ravi: Kavin's side kick
• Bombay Sridhar as Dharmaraj: Mallika's elder brother, Venba's biological father (Antagonist/Protagonist)
• Ashwin Kumar as Anbuselvan Shanmugapriyan
• Manishika Vijay as Shivani
• Bharath Kalyan as Mohanraj: Mallika Devi's former husband; Kavin,Navin and Kavitha's father, Venba's father-in-law and uncle, a businessman

Former Cast[]

• Ponvannan (episodes 1–58) → Nizhalgal Ravi (episodes 59–231) as Shanmugapriyan (Shanmugam): Saradha's husband, Venba's adopted father
• Sakthi Saravanan as Kalaiselvan Shanmugapriyan
• Mahalakshmi as Deepa Kalaiselvan
• Shilpa Mary Teresa (episodes 1–58) → B. Jayalakshmi (episodes 59–187) as Lakshmi Gomathinayagam (Antagonist)
• Santhanu Arulmani as Gomathinayagam (Antagonist)
• Rupini (Episode 1) → Rajashree (episodes 71–93) as Padma Shanmugapriyan: Shanmugapriyan's first wife, Sharadha's elder sister, Kalai and Anbu mother
• Neha Menon as Sevandhi Gomathinayagam
• "Saathappan" Nandakumar as Saathappan
• Prathiksha Sankar as Ammulu Kalaiselvan
• Vijayalakshmi as Deivanayagi
• Vinitha Jaganathan as Vinitha aka Vini (Antagonist)
• Jairam as Praveen
• Jeganathan (episodes 6–48) → Ravi Chandran (episodes 63–83) as Nandhini's and Praveen's father
• Mithun Raj as Jeeva
• Gemini as Deepa's father (Antagonist)
• Smrithi as Deepa's mother
• Sasikala Shree as Thamaraiselvi
• Meesai Rajendran as Education Minister

Special appearances[]

• Jeeva Ravi as Padma's second husband
• Vincent Roy as Padma and Saradha's father
• S. N. Parvathy as Padma and Saradha's mother
• K. Bhagyaraj as himself
• Samuthirakani as himself
• Bharatha Naidu as Sandhya
• Venkat Subha as Sandhya's grandfather
• Ambika as Sargunam
• Papri Ghosh as Kayal Kuttisundaram: Kavin's friend
• Naresh Eswar as Kuttisundaram Pandavar: Kayal's husband
• Guhan Shanmugam as Anbusundaram Pandavar: Kayal's brother-in-law
• Aarthi Subash as Malliga Anbusundaram: Kayal's co-sister
• Surendran as Azhagusundaram Pandavar: Kayal's co-brother
• Madhan Bob as himself
• Vinodhini as herself
• Anuradha Krishnamoorthi as herself: Sharadha's close friend
• Sanjeev as Thirunavukarasu aka Thiru
• Suja Varunee as herself
• Navya Swamy as Kamali: who loved kavin.
• Nancy Jennifer as Jeni: Kavin's Childhood friend
• Daniel Annie Pope as Saravanan (Saro): Kavin's friend

Development[]

Release[]

The 1999 series Chithi having a reboot was first announced in June 2019.^[3] It was first reported to premiere in September 2019.^[4] Then, it was reported again as October 2019.^[5] However, in December 2019, Radikaa announced the making of the reboot version during Sun Kudumbam Viruthugal and it premiered on 27 January 2020.^[6][2] The first promo was released on 15 January 2020.^[7]

Speaking about the series, Radikaa said, "I'm playing the title role and the story gathers steam from the first episode. In this family drama, the heroine is neither rich nor poor. She is a middle-class woman, who takes a vital decision, which leads to many consequences. It'll be interesting to watch how she faces them."^[8]

Broadcast[]

Owing COVID-19 outbreak, the production and filming of all the Indian television series and films were halted on 19 March 2020 and was to resume from 1 April 2020.^[9] But it could not resume due to the imposed nationwide lockdown which was extended on increasing cases and the series aired its last new episode on 3 April 2020.^[10][11] The 1999 series Chithi took its slot since then until its production and airing resumed.^[12] The production resumed in July 2020 and the new episodes began airing on 10 August 2020.^[13][14] Initially scheduled to resume on 3 August 2020, it was postponed a week to 10 August 2020.^[15]

Casting[]

Raadhika reprises her lead role of Saradha from the original series Chithi.^[8] Preethi Sharma was cast as female lead Venba due to which she had quit the series Thirumanam.^[16] Nandan Loganathan was cast as the male lead Kavin.^[17] Shilpa and Vincet Roy who played Daniel, Brindha and Vishwanathan also reprise from the former series.^[18][19] Besides Ponvannan, Rupini, Meera Vasudevan Neha Menon,^[20] Mahalakshmi,^[21] Sakthi Saravanan, Ashwin Kumar, Arulmani,^[19] Nandhakumar, and Jeeva Ravi were cast then.

K. Bhagyaraj and Samuthirakani were cast for guest roles in a few episodes.^[22][23]

Post COVID-19 break when the production resumed in July 2020 after three months, Ponvannan was replaced by Nizhalgal Ravi, Shilpa was replaced by Jayalakshmi, Nikhila was replaced by Gayathri and Sirisha Sougandh, who replaced Meera Vasudevan weeks after premiere, was replaced by Meera Krishnan owing the pandemic.^[24][25] In February 2021, lead Raadhika quit the series.^[26][27]

Adaptation[]

• The series was dubbed in Telugu and was released as Pinni 2 on Gemini TV^[28] from 29 June 2020 to 20 February 2021.

Reception[]

Critical reception[]

The Indian Express quoted, "The song of Chithi itself makes everyone move back 22 years, creating a feel of nostalgia."^[29]

Viewership[]

It became the fifth most watched Tamil television programme in its debut week with 8.220 million impressions.^[30][31]

References[]

External links[]

• Chithi 2 at IMDb