Kadhalukku Mariyadhai

Jeevanantham "Jeeva" is a rich youth who has just completed his B.Com. Although his parents want him to marry a girl and settle down, Jeeva prefers to pursue MBA studies instead and is not interested in marriage. But his attitude changes when he meets Mini, a Christian girl who is a final year B.Com student, at a book store. He instantly falls in love with her. After a few incidents, he succeeds in winning Mini's heart.

However, Mini's elder brothers, a doctor named James, a police officer named Stephen, and a local goon named Thomas, who are all overprotective of her, eventually find out about their sister's relationship with Jeeva, and are furious. They thrash Jeeva, as well as his friends Kesavan and Raghavan, and warn Jeeva never to come near Mini. Undaunted, Jeeva takes Mini to his house, where Jeeva's father Rajshekhar too disapproves of their relationship, and throws them out of the house. Kesavan and Raghavan take the couple to their slum near Pondicherry, where Kesavan explains their situation to his father, who is a fisherman. Kesavan's father agrees to let the couple stay in his house, and also defends them from Mini's brothers, when they come to the slum to kill Jeeva. Later, Kesavan's father decides to get Jeeva and Mini married, but by now Jeeva and Mini have developed second thoughts about their relationship as their families are against it. They decide to break up and return to their families, which is accepted by Kesavan, his father and Raghavan. But despite breaking up, Jeeva and Mini cannot forget each other.

Meanwhile, Mini's marriage is fixed with someone else. Jeeva's mother decides to meet Mini before she gets married, so that she can get a better wife for Jeeva. Jeeva, his parents, as well as Kesavan and Raghavan, go to Mini's house, where both families apologise to each other for what had happened. But when Jeeva and his family are about to leave, Jeeva's mother breaks down and requests Mini's family to get Mini married to Jeeva. Mini's family, including her brothers, agree to this. Jeeva and Mini are happily reunited.

• Vijay as Jeevanantham (Jeeva) – A rich young MBA student who falls in love with Mini yet is initially misunderstood and disliked by her brothers.
• Shalini as Mini – A young woman raised with Christian beliefs who falls in love with Jeeva. She is devoted to her family even after all the misunderstandings that went on with her and Jeeva.
• Srividya as Jeeva's mother – Jeeva's caring and protective mother who loves her son unconditionally.
• Sivakumar as Rajshekhar, Jeeva's strict dad who initially wants him to settle down with a girl of his parents' choosing.
• Charle as Kesavan – One of Jeeva's friends who attends the same MBA program as him.
• Dhamu as Raghavan – Another one of Jeeva's friends who attends the same program as him.
• Radha Ravi as James, Mini's brother – A doctor and one of Mini's three brothers who dislikes Jeeva.
• Thalaivasal Vijay as Stephen, Mini's brother – A police officer and another one of Mini's brothers who roughly beats up the trio.
• Shaji Khan as Thomas, as Mini's brother – The youngest of Mini's brothers who also beats up the trio.
• Manivannan as Kesavan's father – The leader of a fisherman hamlet who takes in Jeeva, Mini, and their friends and tries to get them married.
• KPAC Lalitha as Mini's mother
• Poornima as Latha, Mini's friend
• Kaka Radhakrishnan as Major Thangaraj, a mad and retired army officer with whom Jeeva, Kesavan and Raghavan stay during their MBA
• Saranya Mohan (child artist)
• Maghima Devi as Mrs. James

Kadhalukku Mariyadhai is a Tamil remake of Fazil's own Malayalam film Aniyathipraavu.[1] Initially, he was keen on casting a debutant in the lead female role, but Shalini insisted that she should also star in the Tamil version.[2] Fazil initially approached Abbas for the lead role, but due to mismanagement created by Abbas' manager with call sheets, Vijay was selected instead. Filming took place in and around Chennai, Coimbatore, Pollachi, Rajakkad, Pondicherry, Palakkad, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram.

The soundtrack has been scored by Ilaiyaraaja.[9] The lead actor, Vijay, sung the song "Oh Baby" for this movie. Lyrics written by Palani Bharathi.

In Aasaiyil Oru Kaditham (1999), Vivek sings "Ennai Thalatta Varuvala" and imitates Vijay's dance steps.[10] The song inspired a 2003 film of the same name which featured Ajith Kumar in a cameo appearance.[11]

Entertainment portal Behindwoods placed the film in first place in "Top 20 Best Films of Vijay" and also placed in "Top 20 Best Love Stories In Tamil".[12][13] Scenes from the film was spoofed in Thamizh Padam (2010). Shiva and a girl will be taking the same book "Love and Love Only" in a same way similar to the pair in the film, but shock awaits as the girl turns out to be married. In Romeo Juliet (2015) the director will portray all the old cult classic love movies initially, and this movie will also be included in that list.

• Kadhalukku Mariyadhai at IMDb