Metti Oli (Tamil: மெட்டி ஒலி) is a Tamil soap opera that aired Monday through Friday on Sun TV. It is a Prime time serial from 5 June 2002 to 17 June 2005 at 6:00PM IST for 810 episodes. It had been receiving the highest ratings of Tamil serials and It was credited as the Best Serial and received high praising from viewers.
The show starred Delhi Kumar, Kaveri, Gayathri, Vanaja, Uma, Chetan and Thirumurugan among others. It was produced by Cine Times Entertainment S. Siddique, writer and director by Thirumurugan.
It was shot in several locations such as Alagankulam Village, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Singapore and Malaysia. It was also aired in Sri Lanka Tamil Channel on Shakthi TV. It was also is being re-aired on Same Channel and aired Monday through Friday at 11:00AM IST .
Main characters
Delhi Kumar as Chidambaram
The story revolves around the lives and pains of his five daughters and eventually his. He is very patient and does not get easily provoked. A land broker by profession, he is greatly respected by all. His wife died when his children were young so he brought them up to be very disciplined girls. At the end of the serial, Chidambaram died in an accident when he carelessly crosses the road in a depressed state of mind.
Kaveri as Dhanam, Chidambaram's eldest daughter
who is married to her uncle, Bose: A woman who is full of love for her younger sisters but doesn't know how to show it. She is always in an argumentative mood and doesn't hesitate to make rude comments. She is blessed with an understanding uncle-cum-husband and who tolerates her and they have a daughter.
Gayathri as Saroja, Chidambaram's second daughter
who is married to Manikam The couple has a son, Natarajan. Saroja resembles her father a lot in always having patience. She is an easy target for victimization and bears domestic violence after her wedding to Manikkam. Saroja symbolizes the majority of middle-class woman in Indian society. Chidambaram's main worry in this world is Saro and her life. She has a cruel mother-in-law, a violent husband, who uses violence to end any argument that he loses, and a jealous sister-in-law, Nirmala, who cannot bear to see Saro happy. Saro's brother-in-law, Selvam, is the only one who understands her.
Vanaja as Leela, Chidambaram's third daughter
who is married to Ravi: They have twin girls. Leela is a brave and smart woman. Even though her husband (who hid his first marriage and got married with her. Even his first wife Gayathri Priya died because of his doubting character) suspects her constantly, she tolerates it. Her life is Chidambaram's second worry. She loved Selvam but did not marry him because of Selvam's mother Rajam, who tortured Saro. Her parents-in-law were a great support to her.
Uma Maheshwari as Viji, Chidambaram's fourth daughter
who is married to Gopi: She had registered marriage with a photographer, but he cheated her after their nuptial so she started disliking guys. She used to work as a nurse in a clinic. Viji gets married to Gopi, an ideal man. He is very loving, but whenever he tries to come close to her, she avoids him because she is reminded of her boyfriend. But when he realises the truth and still consoles her she changes her attitude towards him and they have a son. Viji's mood always changes and Gopi hates that attitude.
Revathi Priya as Bhavani, Chidambaram's youngest daughter
A very smart girl. She is the only one who is highly educated in their family. She becomes a professor in Singapore towards the end of the serial. The show ends with Bhavani's wedding.
Bose Venkat as Bose brother of Chidambaram's wife and husband of Dhanam.
He used to own a soda company but went bankrupt. He is a very hardworking man. Whatever business he tries to start, there is a huge loss. At the end, Bose succeeds after many problems when he takes up his father-in-law's land broker profession.
Chetan as Manikam, husband of Saroja
He is neither well-educated, nor exposed to a civilized family environment, having been brought up by a single parent. He sees his wife Saro as an outsider-insider and expects her to reflect his temper and mood all the times. Manikam is involved in the vegetable business. He had a relationship with a businessman's wife, Sarala, which continued for a while even after the wedding with Saro. Manikkam respects his father-in-law but is strongly bent by his love for his mother.
Rajkanth as Ravi, husband of Leela
The couple has twin girls. He is not happy with the babies because they are girls. He suspects his wife even though she is very loyal to him. Ravi was married to Sumathy before he married Leela. He does not seem to think of Sumathy any more, but he is unnecessarily doubting that Leela always thinks of her lover Selvam. Ravi's parents support Leela. Ravi makes a living by selling electrical appliances.
Thirumurugan as Gopi
He is the ideal husband any woman would want. He was supposed to get married with Nirmala but mistakenly thought Viji was his bride and started loving her. He is very devoted to Viji; she avoids him at times. Gopi works in a sewing company. He helps Bose to get start a business of garments factory like him after training him in his own company but later Bose's company catches fire due to crackers burst outside. Gopi's father is very supportive. Gopi's siblings expect everything from him.
Shanti Williams as Rajam, mother of Manikam, Selvam and Nirmala
A young widow burdened with the task of rearing three children, she faced the world with resoluteness and a determination to succeed. But this itself causes her to be too possessive over Manikkam and fears he would abandon her after marriage and tortures Saro.
Vishwa as Selvam, second son of Rajam, brother of Manikam and Nirmala
A very sweet and understanding person. He loved Leela but did not get married with her because of his mother's character. He married Arundhati, but she left him and ran away with her boyfriend. At the end he agrees to marry Shakthi a far off relative and a staff in his lorry company who is madly in love with him for six years in spite of knowing his past love and marriage.
Rindhiya(old) Rithika(new)/Nirmala
She is the only daughter of Rajam. She is educated. She is married to Santosh and they have a daughter. She was in love with Ramesh and was snubbed by him, with the public humiliation that came with it. Nirmala was supposed to get married with Gopi, but he loved Viji. Santosh also cheats her and she changes her attitude towards supportive Saro and later decides to live independently and becomes a caretaker and therapist at a rehabilitation centre.
Thiruselvam as Santosh, husband of Nirmala
He is an educated guy. He keeps venturing into failing business ventures and uses his brothers-in-law as his financiers. He left his pregnant wife and went away.
Ramesh son of former boss of Manikam.
Nirmala loved Ramesh, he did not reciprocate. Ramesh loves Bhavani until he flies to Singapore to meet her. Bhavani is not interested, and he becomes a drug-addict. At the end, Nirmala will help to bring back the old Ramesh and hence he decides to marry Nirmala who also agrees after some initial hesitation.
Kirthika as Arundhati
wife of Selvam. She was forced by her parents to marry Selvam after they beat up her boyfriend and make her believe he ran away when they gave him money. She is a from a rich family. She ran away with her boyfriend after her marriage who cheats her and she goes back to her father. At the end she adopts a daughter.
Sanjeev as Ilango
photographer who cheated Viji who did not know that he already was married and had a child.
Neelima Rani as Shakthi who loves Selvam.
Sindhu as Sarala.
Ramachandran as Sarala's husband.
Jayamani as Ravi's father.
Auditor Sundaram as Sundaram Mama Saro's uncle.
Rajam's old house owner lady who very affectionate to Saro (her son and daughter in law throw her out of their house).
Manickam's boss Sivasami, his wife, daughter(Nirmala's friend) and son-in-law.
Ravi's parents
Gopi's two sisters and their husbands, and a brother with an dominating wife, his niece and nephew.
Shakthi's parents and a brother.
Arundhati's boyfriend's parents.
Santhosh's father and step-mother.
A neighbour of Chidambaram who the girls consider their aunt (athai).
Chidambaram's friend Kasiraj, his wife and son who gets his son married to Bhavani at the end.
Harsha one who wanted to marry Bhavani but he was a bad guy, his thief mother and a father who was married to someone else.
Leela's office staff, Gopi's old office staff and few more characters.
The series has been remade into in Kannada language as Mangalya on Udaya, Malayalam language as Minnukettu on Surya, Hindi language as Shubh Vivah on Sony tv and Telugu language as Akshantalu on Gemini TV. but the story lines change in all four language into different stories and all had a different climax.
In Sri Lanka Tamil Channel on Shakthi TV and aired Monday through Friday at 7:30PM.
It aired in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on Gemini TV Dubbed in Telugu language as Mettala Savvadi.
