Punnagai Desam

• 2002
• Drama, Music

Ganesh (Tharun) comes to chennai with the hope of meeting his maternal uncle Raja Shekar (Devan) following his mother's (Sabitha Anand) death. Ganesh's mother helped her brother during his struggling days. But Raja Shekar has transformed into a rich and arrogant guy and he ditches Ganesh. Ganesh also loves his uncle's daughter Bomma who was his childhood friend. But Raja Shekar does not allow Ganesh to meet his daughter and forces him out of his home. Ganesh meets his village friends Selvam (Hamsavardhan), Raja (Kunal) and Vijay (Dhamu) in chennai. Selvam aspires to become an IAS officer; Raja Naidu wants to become a singer while Vijay aspires to become a mimicry artist. But their parents don't support their children's ambitions and they want them to go for some work which will help earn some money. The friends get disappointed and they leave to chennai with hopes of achieving big. But despite trying hard, Raja and Vijay does not get any opportunity to prove their talent. Selvam studies in a college but finds difficult to pay his education fees. Ganesh understands the poor state of his friends and decides to help them. He sells his mother's chain which he was planning to give to Bomma and sets up a small roadside food business near marina beach. Ganesh cooks well and starts selling packaged lunch in roadside. With the money, he helps his friends. But Ganesh does not inform about his struggle to his friends, instead he lies to them that his uncle gives him money as and when required. All four stay in a small home and the house owner Shekar Malaysia Vasudevan advises them to go for some job instead of following their dream so that they can earn some money and improve their living condition. He also scolds Ganesh for spending all the hard earned money for the sake of his friends. But Ganesh remains positive about his friends' talent and believes that they will succeed one day in life. Nandhini (Preetha Vijayakumar) and Priya (Sneha) are Selvam's classmates. Nandhini loves Selvam but he does not reciprocate. Meanwhile, Priya is the daughter of Raja Shekar and she is none other than Bomma who is Ganesh's would be. One day, Raja and Vijay spot Ganesh in the beach selling tea. They get shocked after coming to know the struggle Ganesh has undergone to make his friends lead a decent life. They feel proud to have such a friend and they decide to help him. All four friends jointly set up a small hotel where Ganesh cooks while the others serve and do other works in their free time. One day Selvam scolds Nandhini asking her to stop following him. He also explains that he is not in a position to love and he wants to become an IAS office thereby fulfilling his friend's dream. Nandhini understands his position and both Nandhini and Priya go along with Selvam to meet Ganesh. Nandhini and Priya feel proud seeing Ganesh. All of them become close friends and they hang out frequently. Priya starts liking Ganesh and love blossoms in her heart. Ganesh tries hard by requesting a sabha manager to provide an opportunity for Vijay and Raja Naidu to perform. Ganesh sells his hotel and pays the deposit following which the manager agrees and Vijay and Raja Naidu perform on the stage. Raja sings while Vijay gives the background music through mimicry. The duo become more famous and fame follows them. Similarly Selvam clears IAS and gets posted as a collector. All the three friends get popularity and are well settled while Ganesh still works in a hotel. Priya comes to propose her love to Ganesh but gets shocked to know that Ganesh is already in love with his uncle's daughter and feels disappointed. Meanwhile, Priya's parents plan her wedding with their family friend for which Priya agrees although not interested. A function is organized in the city center of Chennai for felicitating Raja, Selvam and Vijay's talents. Now their parents come there and they ill-treat Ganesh as he is poor. During the function, Raja, Selva and Vijay praise their parents. Shekar gets furious seeing this and scolds Ganesh that this is how people behave when they have money. He says that Ganesh wasted all his earnings for the sake of his friends while his friends have forgotten him after attaining popularity. But in an eventual twist, Raja, Selva and Vijay inform on stage that they had praised their parents just for a formality and they helped them in no way during their struggling days. They also introduce Ganesh and ask him to come on stage. They thank him in front of everyone and say that it was him who was their support. Finally they reveal his childhood love towards Bomma. They display the childhood picture of Bomma on stage and requests Bomma to come over to Ganesh if she sees this program which is getting live telecasted. They also say that all the money earned by them belong only to Ganesh while his uncle ditched him for being poor. Priya on seeing the picture understands that it was herself and she runs to the function and informs Ganesh. Everyone is surprised including Ganesha and the movie happily ends with him and Priya uniting.