Moondru Mudichu

Balaji and Prasath are roommates in a city. Balaji falls in love with 18-year-old Selvi who lives in the same apartment complex. Prasath, who has his eyes on Selvi, pretends to back Balaji's love while secretly hoping to create a divide between them. Selvi realises Prasath's evil intentions when she finds out that he has seduced an innocent girl living in the same apartment complex. However, she is unable to convince Balaji, who hero-worships Prasath.

Things come to a head when Balaji and Selvi go for a picnic by the lake and Balaji decides to invite Prasath along. As the three of them head to the middle of the lake on a boat, Balaji topples over by mistake. Prasath refuses to jump in and save Balaji, on the pretext that he does not know swimming. A devastated Selvi returns home to another shock – her sister, who plays small roles in movies, has been in a fire accident which has left her face permanently scarred. Overnight, Selvi's life undergoes a change .

Selvi comes across a advertisement in paper for a second marriage to a wealthy man with 4 kids and applies for the same. However the elderly person refuses for marriage with a young girl and asks her to take care of the kids. Impressed by her Service, he decides to marry her to his eldest son, whom unknown to her was Prasath.

Seeing Selvi in his house seems like a deer in lion's den for Prasath who visits his father during the weekend. Prasath tries his best to convince his father for his marriage with Selvi and fixes the date. In meantime chasing Selvi, Prasath goes to Selvi house and spots the burnt face of her sister. Unable to see the face, he returns immediately. The sister humiliated by Prasaths act commits suicide , leaving Selvi with no one in the World

In an attempt to salvage her life, Selvi decides to marry Prasath's father in the absence of Prasath, before he returns the next weekend. After her marriage to Prasath's father, she decides to use her 'mother' status to exact revenge on Prasath and gives him a shock when he returns.

The movie ends with lines in Tamil, roughly translating to: "When it is time for a seed to sprout, if the conscience cannot empathise; and only after the incident, is the conscience present! When conscience grapples with oneself for selfish ends; in the evildoer's eyes, his madness will be his conscience!"

• Kamal Haasan as Balaji[2]
• Sridevi as Selvi[2]
• Rajinikanth as Prasath[3]
• Y. Vijaya as Subhadra[2]
• N. Viswanath as the unnamed widower[4]
• K. Natraj as Prasath's consciousness[5]

Moondru Mudichu is a remake of the 1973 Telugu film O Seeta Katha.[2] Jayabharathi was offered to play a negative role but did not accept, resulting in Rajinikanth being cast.[6] It was Rajinikanth's first major role in Tamil.[7] Kamal Haasan, who portrayed a negative role in O Seeta Katha's Malayalam remake Mattoru Seetha (1975), played a different role this time.[5] This was the first film where Sridevi played an adult character, despite being 13 years old.[8] She was paid ₹5000, Haasan was paid ₹30,000 and Rajinikanth was paid ₹2000.[9] The budget of the film was ₹10 lakh (equivalent to ₹3.0 crore or US$380,000 in 2023).[1]

The soundtrack was composed by M. S. Viswanathan and lyrics were by Kannadasan.[10]

Moondru Mudichu was released on 22 October 1976, Diwali day.[11][12] Kanthan of Kalki called the pre-interval portions better than the post-interval ones.[13] The film became a success, and many of Prasath's traits became signature moves of Rajinikanth in his future films such as his tendency to flip cigarettes into his mouth; critic Naman Ramachandran felt that with Prasath's recurring catchphrase "Theek Hai?" (Okay?), "the seed for future Rajini catchphrases had been sown."[12]

• Ramachandran, Naman (2014) [2012]. Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography. New Delhi: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-342111-5.

• Moondru Mudichu at IMDb