Chithi 2

Chithi 2 is an Indian Tamil-language soap opera which premiered on 27 January 2020 on Sun TV.[5] It is a reboot of the 1999 series Chithi.[6] Produced by Radaan Mediaworks, it stars Raadhika Sarathkumar,Nazriya Nazim Nizhagal Ravi, Nandan Loganathan Preethi Sharma and VJ Dharshana.

Chithi 2
Genre	Soap opera
Written by	Sekizhaar (Story) Vasubharathi (dialogue)
Screenplay by	Sekizhaar
Directed by	Sundar K Vijayan (Episodes 1-36)[1] K.Sulaiman Babu (Episodes-37 Present)[2]
Creative director(s)	R.Radhikaa Sarathkumar
Starring	Raadhika Sarathkumar Nizhalgal Ravi Nandan Loganathan VJ Dharshana Preethi Sharma
Opening theme	"Kanninmani" Nithyasree Mahadevan (vocal) Vairamuthu (lyrics)
Composer(s)	Dhina[3]
Country of origin	India
Original language(s)	Tamil
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	60
Production
Producer(s)	Raadhika Sarathkumar
Cinematography	D. Srinivasan
Editor(s)	D.S Vasan
Running time	Approx. 22 minutes
Production company(s)	Radaan Mediaworks
Release
Original network	Radaan Mediaworks
Picture format	576i 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	27 January 2020 (2020-01-27)[4] – present
Chronology
Related shows	Chithi (1999 TV series)

Plot

Padma elopes with her lover, leaving behind her husband Shanmugam and two children. Mallika 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, Sharadha meets with an accident after returning from her delivery during which Murugavel exchanges her daughter with Saradha's thinking his daughter dead which Shanmugapriyan notices but fails to arrest him.

Twenty-two years later, it is seen that Kalai is married to Deepa with a child who fails to get a job while Deepa is working 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 has a vengeance again Sharadha and Venba for their act by messing her name. Sevanthi wanted to marry Anbu, but Saradha and Shanmuga disagreed as Anbu and Nandini were in deep relationship. Owing to this, Lakshmi and her husband Gomathinayagam have vengeance against them. Nandini gets a friend with Lakshmi to destroy Sharadha's family. Sharadha faces every havoc created by then and handles the family in a comfortable couch. Soon, despite Venba knowing about her adoption, she respects Sharadha and Shanmugam as her parents.

Venba works in a company with Kavin. Kavin had a relationship with Diana, who was killed by Mallika as she planned his marriage with Yazhini. But, Venba and Kavin's bond is getting more closely as they work in the same company. Yazhini loves Kavin and Kavin has not interested on Yazhini. Next, the triangle love between Kavin, Venba and Yaazhini and finally who will get marry kavin is the rest of story.

Cast

Main

• Raadhika Sarathkumar as Saradha Shanmugapriyan: Shanmugapriyan's second wife, Venba's foster mother and Yazhini's biological mother
• Preethi Sharma as Venba Shanmugapriyan: Murugavel's biological daughter / Shanmugam and Saradha's adoptive daughter. Kavin's love interest
• VJ Dharshana as Yazhini Murugavel: Saradha's biological daughter and Murugavel's adoptive daughter
• Nandan Loganathan as Kavin: Mallika's son, Yazhini's cousin and Venba's MD
• Ponvannan (Episode 1–58) and Nizhalgal Ravi (Episode 59–present) as Shanmugapriyan (Shanmugam): Saradha's husband, Padma's ex-husband and Venba's foster father / Yazhini's biological father

Recurring

• Meera Vasudevan (Episode 1–43) and Sirisha Sougandh (Episode 44–58) and Meera Krishna (Episode 60–present) as Mallika: Kavin's mother
• "Bombay" Sridhar as Murugavel: Mallika's brother and Venba's biological father
• Uma Padmanabhan as Gowri Murugavel: Venba's biological mother
• Shilpa Mary Teresa (Episode 1–58) and B.Jayalakshmi (Episode 59–present) as Lakshmi Gomathinayagam: Shanmugapriyan's sister
• Arulmani as Gomathinayagam Saathappan: Lakshmi's husband
• Sakthi Saravanan as Kalaiselvan Shanmugapriyan: Padma and Shanmugapriyan's elder son.
• Mahalakshmi as Deepa Kalaiselvan: Kalaiselvan's wife
• Ashwin Kumar as Anbuselvan Shanmugapriyan: Padma and Shanmugapriyan's younger son.
• Nikhila Rao (Episode 3–58) and Gayathri Yuvraj (Episode 59–present) as Nandhini Anbuselvan: Anbuselvan's wife
• Neha Menon as Sevandhi Gomathinayagam: Lakshmi's daughter
• "Saathappan" Nandakumar as Saathappan: Gomathinayagam's father
• Prathiksha Sankar as Ammulu Kalaiselvan: Kalaiselvan and Deepa's daughter
• Vijayalakshmi as Deivanayagi: Shanmugapriyan and Lakshmi's mother
• Vinitha Jaganathan as Vinitha aka Vini: Mallika's assistant
• Jairam as Praveen: Nandhini's brother
• Jeganathan and Ravi Chandran as Nandhini and Praveen's father
• Bharatha Naidu as Sandhya: Kalaiselvan's friend
• Venkat Subha as Sandhya's grandfather
• Rupini as Padma: Shanmugapriyan's first wife, Saradha's sister.
• Jeeva Ravi as Padma's fiancée.
• Vincent Roy as Padma and Saradha's father
• S. N. Parvathy as Padma and Saradha's mother
• Gemini as Deepa's father
• Smrithi as Deepa's mother
• Sasikala Shree as Principal of Kavin Institute

Special appearances

• K. Bhagyaraj as himself
• Samuthirakani as himself

Development

Release

The 1999 series Chithi having a reboot was first announced in June 2019.[7] It was first reported to premiere in September 2019.[8] Then, it was reported again as October 2019.[9] However, in December 2019, Raadhika announced the making of the reboot version during Sun Kudumbam Viruthugal and it premiered on 27 January 2020.[10][6] The first promo was released on 15 January 2020.[11]

Speaking about the series, Raadhika 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."[12]

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.[13] 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.[14][15] The 1999 series Chithi took its slot since then until its production and airing resume.[16]

Casting

Raadhika reprises her lead role of Saradha from the original series Chithi.[12] Preethi Sharma was cast as main female lead Venba due to which she had quit the series Thirumanam.[17] Nandan Loganathan was cast as the male lead Kavin. Later, VJ Dharshana was cast as another female lead role for Saaradha's daughter. 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]

National and international broadcast

Chithi 2 is being telecast on the following channels. The details are listed below:

Country	TV channel	Language	Days	Air date	Notes
India	Gemini TV	Telugu	Monday – Friday	29 June 2020–present	Dubbed version

Reception

Critical reception

The Indian Express quoted, "The song of Chithi itself makes everyone move back 22 years, creating a feel of nostalgia."[24]

Ratings

It became the fifth most watched Tamil television programme in its opening week with 8.220 million impressions.[25][26]

References

1. "Famous director joins Radhika's Chithi 2". The Times of India - Samayam.
2. "Chithi director changed within a month". The Indian Express.
3. "Music director Dhina shares nostalgic memories about Chithi serial title song". Vikatan.
4. "Chithi 2 வந்துட்டாங்கன்னு சொல்லு சித்தி திரும்பி வந்துட்டாங்கன்னு சொல்லு". The Times of India.
5. "Chithi after 22 years; Radhika fans are happy". The Times of India - Samayam.
6. "Radhika Sarathkumar's Chithi season 2 to premiere on January 27". The Times of India.
7. "Chithi fame Radhika Sarathkumar bags her next project; a second season of the show in the offing?". The Times of India.
8. "Chiti's sequel to be soon". Dinamalar.
9. "Radhika Sarathkumar's Chithi 2 to premiere soon". The Times of India.
10. "Radikaa announces Chithi 2". The Indian Express.
11. "Watch Chithi 2 promo: Retains theme of its original". The News Minute.
12. "Return of Chithi". The Hindu.
13. "Covid-19 impact: Film, serial shootings halted till March 31". The Economic Times.
14. "கொரோனா லாக்டவுன்: டிடி-யைப் பின்பற்றும் தனியார் தொலைக்காட்சிகள்?". The Indian Express Tamil.
15. "No TV shoots to resume from June-end, says FWICE a week after issuing guidelines". India Today.
16. "Radikaa Sarathkumar's hit show Chithi to entertain the audience once again". The Times of India.
17. "திருமணம் சீரியல் பழைய அனிதாவோட வயச கேட்டா நம்ப மாட்டீங்க!". The Indian Express.
18. "Daniel Balaji acting in Chithi 2". The Indian Express.
19. "Chithi 2 - Actress Shilpa and Actor Arulmani - Interview". YouTube. Radaan Mediaworks.
20. "Sun TV's Vani Rani to Chithi 2, Raadhika's pet girl Neha". The Indian Express.
21. "Fans unhappy with Chithi 2 serial cast". The Times of India.
22. "Bhagyaraj in Chithi 2". Dinamalar.
23. "K. Bhagyaraj and Samuthirakani to join in Chithi 2". Dinamalar.
24. "Chithi 2 serial first day review". The Indian Express.
25. "Chithi 2 got mass trp rating in the first month". Asianet News.
26. "Chithi serial holds top 5 position in trp of the opening week". Behind Talkies.

External links

• Chithi 2 on IMDb