K.Bhagyaraj has certainly inched his way slowly but steadily up the rungs of tamil cinema. He first served as assistant director to Bharathiraja and appeared in bit roles in his movies like 16 Vayadhinile and Sigappu Rojaakkal. He was promoted to leading man, again by Bharathiraja, in Pudhiya Vaarppugal. Once he turned director, he struck his own path and after a couple of movies, figured out a formula for success. His movies were always sentimental movies, that appealed to the fairer sex, and had a light vein of humor flowing through them. His resume includes both movies like Mouna Geethangal (which dealt with extra-marital affairs) and all-out comedies like the hilarious Indru Poi Naalai Vaa. The success of these films firmly established him as a movie maker who had his hand on the pulse of the movie goers.

With Mundhaanai Mudichu, he added another ingredient to the mix of comedy and sentiments: sex. Its central theme of a wife trying to seduce her husband and the role of the sexy adult-education teacher made for enough raunchiness and double entendre dialogs. He struck box-office gold with the movie which has been his biggest success to date. Quite like Agathiyan - who tasted his biggest success with Kaadhal Koattai and then used the same theme in Kaadhal Kavidhai - Bhagyaraj too tried the same theme of a wife forced to seduce her own husband again in Idhu Namma Aalu (there it was Shobana who tried to get him into bed while he stuck to his vow of celibacy) but achieved only moderate success.

Parimala(Urvasi) is a notorious trouble-maker in the village and alongwith a trio of equally mischievous kids, whiles away her time doing nothing. When a new teacher(Bhagyaraj) arrives in town, kid in hand, he immediately becomes their target. But once Parimala learns that he is infact a widower, her attitude towards him changes and she falls in love with him. But her advances are stubbornly rejected by the teacher, who believes that a stepmother would do his baby more harm than good. Parimala finally takes the extreme step of publicly announcing that she had been having an affair with the teacher. When the teacher asks her to swear to that by stepping over the baby, she does that too. So he marries her but vows never to touch her.

The screenplay is sprinkled with a liberal dose of humour throughout. And Bhagyaraj's willingness to make himself the butt of jokes helps in large part. Evidence of this is scattered throughout the movie. For instance, in his first prayer meeting at the school, he forgets the prayer halfway through and one of the elders completes it and then slaps his forehead in exasperation. Urvasi's playfulness makes their initial meetings fun and the way she thanks god saying that "she is glad the child took after its mom to be beautiful and fair", is hilarious. The introduction of Deepa increases the laughs. The sight of the elders in her class (who were initially shy to reveal their ignorance) lining up to be taught the letters of the alphabet is a memorable one. As is their crying when she ties the raksha bandhan on their hands (one of them complains that "he even had a shave today!").

Having young kids tag along with Urvasi (instead of the usual group of girlfriends) is a clever move. Their antics and dialogs are very entertaining (though showing them cavorting sexily in the water - to illustrate to Urvasi what Bhagyaraj and Deepa may be doing - seems a little too much). Thavakkalai hogs the limelight among the three and generates the biggest laughs. They also provide a link to Bagyaraj's scenes in his classroom and these scenes increase the laughter quotient. But that alone might have made the portions seem unnecessary. Bhagyaraj cleverly uses the classroom to introduce the the character of a boy who is illtreated by his stepmother and this strengthens his conviction about a stepmother's attitude towards his child.

The scenes after their marriage are the best portions of the movie. With Bhagyaraj keeping away from Urvasi and Urvasi tempting him in various ways (like casually changing her saree in front of him), laughs are numerous. The fun peaks in the 'drumstick scene'. By introducing the simple drumstick as a libido-increaser in a single scene, Bhagyaraj made it famous. I still remember reports about women hesitating to buy drumsticks at the shop when this movie was released! Bhagyaraj's struggle to get up and put the baby to sleep is very funny and Urvasi's rendition of the usually harmless Aariraariro... lullaby is priceless.

Urvasi is a delight as Parimala and its hard to believe, after viewing her performance, that this is her first film. Be it the light scenes or the more emotional ones, I was hardpressed to find a single wrong step in her entire performance. And its not like the movie does not demand a lot of her. The role is a challenging one and she proves herself fully up to it. Her casual dialog delivery helps enormously during the playful, teasing scenes and she handles the heavier scenes capably too. Her sobbing talk with Bhagyaraj after she learns that he is a widower and her prayer to ensure that nothing happens to the child are skilfully performed without any hint of overaction. Bhagyaraj has practiced his role enough by this and balances the funny and serious portions well.

Ilaiyaraja's soundtrack was a well-deserved blockbuster with songs to suit both the naughty and the sentimental parts of the movie. Velakku Vecha... and Chinnanjiru Kiliye... are melodious while Vaa Vaa Vaadhiyaare... and Kanna Thorakkanum Saami... are raunchy. Urvasi's steps in the latter song would easily put 'Silk' Smitha or Jayamalini to shame. Naan Pudikkum... is also catchy with a memorable "Parimala, Nee Padummaa" bit by Thavakkalai enlivening the proceedings.

Bhagyaraj has never been able to repeat the success of this movie and seems to have pretty much retired from movie making since his last movie, Vaettiya Madichu Kattu was a disaster. But he will always hold a special place in the hearts of movigoers for his numerous movies that never failed to bring a smile to the lips. And Mundhaanai Mudichu is definitely the crown jewel of them all.