Poove Unakkaga is a 1996 Tamil romantic comedy-drama film directed by Vikraman. It stars Vijay with Sangita. Music by S. A. Rajkumar. It was released on 15 February 1996.
Two neighbouring families, the Hindu Sadhasivams and the Christian Stephens, have been estranged for 25 years since Sadhasivam's daughter Janaki eloped with Stephen's son Robert. Raja arrives in their town with his friend Gopi, claiming to be the couple's son, but neither family will take him in. To win them over he invents a wife, 'Nirmala Mary', and the young woman who turns up in that role complicates his plans. Raja's real aim is to reconcile the feuding households so that another inter-faith couple, Nandhini and Lawrence, can marry.
Vijay plays Raja, a soft-spoken young man who sacrifices his own feelings to reunite two feuding families. The family-friendly romantic role is described as the first major breakthrough of his career, moving him beyond his father's films.
Figures are trade estimates reported at the time and may vary.
Described as the first major breakthrough in Vijay's career.
Written and directed by Vikraman, produced by R. B. Choudary's Super Good Films.
S. A. Rajkumar's 50th film as a composer.
Ran for over 270 days in theatres across Tamil Nadu.
Remade in three languages: Kannada, Telugu and Hindi.
Actors Murali and Viji make guest appearances in the song 'Machinichi'.
The theme 'Anantham Anantham' appears in three versions: female (K. S. Chithra), male (P. Unnikrishnan) and a short bit (P. Jayachandran).
Veteran actors M. N. Nambiar and Nagesh play the heads of the two estranged families.
Ananda Vikatan rated the film 43 out of 100.
The title translates as 'For You, Flower'.
The film was well received by critics. Kalki praised Vikraman's fresh treatment of an old inter-community love theme, the humour and climax dialogues, though it found the music a weak spot; The Hindu praised the intensity of the situations and Vikraman's writing, and Ananda Vikatan rated it 43/100.
Poove Unakkaga turned Vijay into a family-audience star and was remade in Kannada, Telugu and Hindi; its title was later reused for a 2020 Tamil TV serial.