Ethirneechal () is a best Indian-Tamil language drama television series from 2022, starring Madhumitha H, Kaniha, Priyadarshini Neelakandan and Haripriya Isai. The show is produced by Sun Entertainment and Thiruselvam Theatres and written and directed by V. Thiruselvam, which premiered on 7 February 2022 in Sun TV and digitally streams on Sun NXT. May 2023 onwards, the series has remained the 2nd most-watched Tamil series internationally.

Synopsis 
The story involves Janani, a high achiever and her three co-sisters - Eshwari, Renuka and Nandhini, who are well educated graduates, while all of their husbands aren't educated at all. The husbands of three co-sisters didn't allow them to get a job; they forcefully kept their wives as housekeepers.

Janani marries Shakthivel, the youngest brother of Aadhi family; he is honest and submissive in nature. Janani started to raise voice against the male chauvinism in Gunasekaran's house. Shakthi assured his support to Janani in all situations.

Suddenly, Shakthi started to turn against Janani (because of the emotional blackmail of his eldest brother Gunasekaran) and also doubted her character (based on her genuine friendship with Gowtham). Finally, Janani broke up her relationship with Shakthi and left Gunasekaran's house to start a new independent life. But after listening the advice of Pattammal (Gunasekaran's grandmother), Janani comes back to Gunasekaran's house to help her co-sisters to be independent. Shakthi started to realise his mistakes .

Plot
Nachiappan married Parvathi against his parents' wish. In a few years, their daughter, Janani, was born. They live as a joint family with Parvathi's brother Thiruvengadam and his wife, Padmavathy, who have two children of their own.

Nachiappan rears Janani to focus on studies above all else, and dreams of a successful future for her. While inherently good natured, he can be stubborn and domineering. His controlling nature extends how long Janani spends to eat, who she befriends & what she watches.

Aadhimuthu Gunasekaran, a business tycoon from Madurai, approaches the family with a wedding proposal to Janani for his brother Shakthivel. What Janani's family don't know is that the other daughters-in-law of the household are treated badly. They are not allowed to work, even though they are well-educated. They are regularly put down by Gunasekaran's family due to their humble backgrounds and not consulted on decisions, even regarding their children.

Nachiappan is entranced by their wealth and believes the lie Gunasekaran has told him-namely, that he will appoint Janani as an MD in one of his companies. Despite warnings from her cousin, Vasu, and other red flags, Janani marries Shakthivel. While Sakthi is good natured, he lacks the courage to face up to his family's ill-treatment of women because of his childhood trauma which caused mild psychological problems to him. 

As time goes by, Janani and her family come to know the truth. How Janani faces her domineering in-laws , how she cures Shakthi and leads change forms the crux of the story with the help of Pattammal, Gunasekaran’s grandmother (who holds a 40% share in the assets of Gunasekaran).

Cast

Main 
Madhumitha H as Janani Shakthivel: Shakthi's  wife. 
 Baby Ahana as Young Janani.
Kaniha as Eshwari Gunasekaran: Gunasekaran's wife ; Dharshan & Dharshini's mother. 
 Bhavana as Young Eshwari: Jeevanandham's ex-lover.
Priyadarshini Neelakandan as Renuka Gnanasekaran: Gnanasekaran's wife ; Aishwarya's mother. 
Haripriya Isai as Nandhini Kathirvel: Kathir's wife ; Thara's mother.

Supporting
 G. Marimuthu as Aadhimuthu Gunasekaran : Eshwari's husband ; Dharshan & Dharshini's father. 
 Sabari Prasanth as Aadhimuthu Shakthivel: Gunasekaran's youngest brother; Janani's husband.
 Kamalesh PK as Aadhimuthu Gnanasekaran: Gunasekaran's first younger brother; Renuka's husband ; Aishwarya's father.
 Vibhu Raman as Aadhimuthu Kathirvel: Gunasekaran's second younger brother; Nandhini's husband ; Thara's father. 
 Sathya Devarajan as Aadhimuthu Aadhiraiselvi Karikalan: Gunasekaran, Gnanasekaran, Kathirvel & Shakthivel's younger sister; Arun's ex-lover ; Karikalan's wife
Vimalkumar J as Karikalan Ramalingam: Jhansi Rani and Ramalingam's son; Aadhirai’s husband
Sathyapriya as Visalatchi: Aadhimuthu's wife ; Gunasekaran, Gnanasekaran, Kathirvel, Shakthivel & Aadhiraiselvi's mother
 V. Thiruselvam as Jeevanandham: Kayalvizhi's husband, Venba's father, a social activist. 
 Prashanth as Young Jeevanandham: Eshwari's ex-lover
 Monisha Vijay as Priyadharshini Gunasekaran: Gunasekaran & Eshwari's daughter
 Aishwarya Rathinam as Aishwarya Gnanasekaran: Gnanam & Renuka's daughter
 Farzana Ansari as Thara Kathirvel: Kathir & Nandhini's daughter
Bombay Gnanam as R.Pattammal MA: Aadhimuthu's mother ; Gunasekaran, Gnanasekaran, Kathirvel, Shakthivel & Aadhiraiselvi's grandmother 
 Rithik Raghavendra as Priyadharshan Gunasekaran: Gunasekaran & Eshwari's son
 Gaayathri Krishnan as Jhansi Rani: Ramalingam's second wife & Karikalan's mother.
 Goudham Krishnan as Gowtham: Janani's best friend also her ex-lover
 'Kolangal' Thilla as Killivalavan alias Valavan : an ex-police officer who befriend with Gunasekaran and against Jeevanandham
 Vasudevan Venugopal as Rajavarman Subramaniam Krishnamoorthy (SKR): Gunasekaran’s business-rival. 
 Radhika Vairavelavan as Charubala Rajavarman: SKR’s wife & Gunasekaran’s ex-love interest
 Chaanakyaa as Arunkumar Subramaniam Krishnamoorthy (SKR): SKR's second younger brother & Aadhirai’s ex-lover
 Giri Dwarakish as Arasu Subramaniam Krishnamoorthy: SKR's first younger brother
 Vaishnavi Nayak as Vasuki "Vasu" : Janani's cousin
 Ziba Shirin as Farhana: Jeevanandham's sidekick
 Som Soumyan as Nachiyappan: Janani & Anjana's father
 Keerthana as Parvathi Nachiyappan: Janani & Anjana's mother
 VJ Thara as Anjana Nachiyappan: Janani's younger sister
 Balaji as Thiruvengadam : Parvathi's brother ; Sriram & Vasu's father
 Vasavi as Padmavathi Thiruvengadam: Thiruvengadam's wife ; Sriram and Vasu's mother
 Subramanian Gopalakrishnan as Sriram Thiruvengadam: Janani's cousin 
 Bharathi Kannan as Kovai Subaiah: Visalatchi's younger brother
 Vishnu Vasudev as Sethuraman: Eshwari's father
 Subhashini as Valliammal Ramachandran: Nandhini’s Mother
 Apollo Ravi as Kadambavanam: Gunasekaran's sidekick 
 Abhinaya Palaniswamy as Kalaiarasi: Pattamal's take-carer nurse
 Sabarish Selvaraj as Kumar: Arasu's sidekick
 Anbarasi as Anbarasi: Janani's friend 
 Jillu Vikram as Vikram: Janani's friend
 Abinaya as Kathija: Janani's friend
 Merwen Balaji as Kedhar: Janani's friend
 Archana as Rani: a maid in Gunasekaran's house
 Madhu Karthik as Karthikeyan: SKR's youngest brother

Special appearances 
 Hemadayal as Kundavai Duraisaami: Sakthivel's ex-fiance
 Jayashree as Jayashree Chandrasekhar: Chairman of Dharshan's college
 Sudha Pushpa as Savithri Sethuraman: Eshwari's mother (deceased)

Production

Development 
On September end 2021, Sun Network confirmed through a press release that it would distribute new Tamil serial, to be produced by Sun Entertainment and Thiruselvam theatres and written and directed by Thiruselvam is a daily soap after a long pause. Dialogues by Sri Vidhya.

Casting 
Kannada and Telugu actress Madhumitha was selected as the female lead. Tamil film actress Kaniha was cast as the main role, who making her come back after 14 years in Tamil television series. Priyadarshini and Haripriya were cast as the parallel leads. Bombay Gnanam, was cast as supporting role, who making her comeback after 10 years.

Film director and actor G. Marimuthu was selected as the Negative lead . Sabari Prasanth was selected as the male lead. While Keerthana, Kamalesh, Merwen, Goutham K S, Vibhu Raman and Sathyapriya were also selected for supporting roles.

Soundtrack 
It was written by Balachandran.DD, composed by Srinivas. It was sung by Sharanya Srinivas and Srinidhi. The first opening song was unveiled on 1 February 2022 on Sun TV YouTube.

Soundtrack

Reception

Ratings
It became one of the most watched Tamil television program garnering from 2022. In June 2023, the series was the first most watched Tamil-language television series with 11.27 TVR.

Awards and honours

Adaptations

Notes

References

External links 
 

Sun TV original programming
Tamil-language melodrama television series
2022 Tamil-language television series debuts
Television shows set in Tamil Nadu
Tamil-language television shows
Tamil-language television soap operas