Thillu Mullu
Chandran deceives a strict employer to secure a job, then lies about his mother's accident so he can attend a football match. When caught, he invents a fictional twin, recruits an actress to pose as his mother and juggles escalating comic deception while romancing the boss's...
Legal availability
Where to watch
Streaming availability can change. We only link to official platforms.
Credits and facts
Movie details
- Release date
- 01 May 1981
- Runtime
- 136 minutes
- Country
- India
- Languages
- Tamil
- Genres
- Comedy, Musical
- Director
- K. Balachander
- Writers
- K. Balachander
- Cast
- Rajinikanth, Madhavi, Thengai Srinivasan, Sowcar Janaki, Nagesh
- Producers
- P. R. Govindarajan
- Production company
- Kalakendra Films
Spoiler-free synopsis
Chandran deceives a strict employer to secure a job, then lies about his mother's accident so he can attend a football match. When caught, he invents a fictional twin, recruits an actress to pose as his mother and juggles escalating comic deception while romancing the boss's daughter.
For families
Editorial guidance
Context for discussing the story and deciding whether it fits your household.
Positive messages
Constructive themes or examples.The film can support constructive discussion about honesty, trust and taking responsibility. Parents can focus on how characters respond to pressure, whether harmful choices are challenged, and what accountability looks like. The guide treats these as discussion opportunities rather than claiming that every character or event is presented as a positive role model.
Negative behaviours
Conduct that may need context.Content requiring context includes deception or harmful mistrust. Some characters may make harmful, deceptive, coercive or reckless choices, and the consequences can be emotionally difficult even when the filmmaking is not graphic. Parents can distinguish between behaviour the story depicts and behaviour it endorses, particularly where power, trust, justice or family relationships are involved.
Topics to discuss
Conversation starters after viewing.Useful family discussion topics include honesty, trust and taking responsibility. Parents can ask which characters had safer or fairer alternatives, how the story treats people with less power, and whether consequences match the choices made. For an older film, it may also be useful to compare the social attitudes shown on screen with present-day expectations about respect and consent.
Final recommendation
Our family-viewing take
Suggested minimum age: 8+. This film is generally workable for family viewing with normal parental context. The main reasons are deception or harmful mistrust. For shared family viewing, use the category ratings as a guide and preview if a child is sensitive to these themes. Where research sources were sparse, the recommendation is deliberately cautious and does not assume that undocumented content is absent.
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