Tirupathi(Mammootty) is the eldest of four brothers and the head of a respected family in the village. He has struggled to bring his family out of poverty and put his other two brothers, Kannan(Abbas) and Surya(Shyam Ganesh), through college. His younger brother Madhavan(Murali) has provided able support. Tirupathi marries Bharathi(Devayani) who fits into the family admirably. But the arrival of Renuka(Rambha) as Madhavan's wife signals the start of problems as she doesn't like her husband's obeisance to Tirupati. Kannan falls in love with the village rich man's daughter Viji(Sneha) but is willing to give her up to save his family from the man's ire.

Director Lingusamy has frequently mentioned in interviews that he drew inspiration for the events in the movie from his own life. That might be the reason for the naturalness pervading the movie. Inspite of the emotional relationships at its core, the movie doesn't overdo the sentiments most of the time. Short dialogs and silent looks convey emotions more effectively than loud cries and long dialogs and the director has understood this well. The short dialogs are the main reason Mammootty's frequent advices do not seem like moralising. His talks with the rice mill owner and the final advice to Sneha that is overheard by Vijayakumar sound sensible without being preachy.

Inspite of taking the well-trodden path of four brothers who would do anything for each other, the movie manages to inject freshness into its scenes. Initial scenes are suitably light with Srividya's sadness over Mammootty's bachelorhood and the way Mammootty conveys his liking for Devayani is dignified and nice. There is no premarital romance between either Mammootty-Devayani or Murali-Rambha and this ensures that things move at a fast pace (except for the numerous songs). Rambha's antics are not overdone. The suspense behind Mammootty's cash holding is maintained well and also provides a strong reason for Rambha's change of heart. The song illustrating the uses of the 1-rupee coin that Abbas gives to Sneha is cute and imaginative.

But the good-heartedness of all members in the family also drains all the suspense out of the movie. As a result, some sequences like Murali's activities to set up a new shop and Mammootty's consequent confusion seem unnecessary. We know very well what Murali is like and this makes the segment seem needlessly long. Vijayakumar's character too is introduced with a lot of brouhaha but he never delivers on that.

While Mammootty's character holds the family together, its his performance that holds the movie together. He is someone who acts without seeming to act and his controlled performance is superb. At no point does he act an iota more than what is exactly necessary to convey his feelings. Murali earns our sympathy as the faithful younger brother, his sad eyes conveying his hurt and anguish well on hearing Mammootty's harsh words. Abbas is adequate. Srividya shines during the initial portions when looking achingly at every woman as a potential daughter-in-law and 'Delhi' Ganesh provides good support as the head of the family known for saying the wrong things at the wrong time. Devayani plays her usual role as the perfect wife and daughter-in-law while a visibly aged Rambha is the shrew. Sneha, who was quite impressive in Ennavale has nothing much to do. S.A.Rajkumar's tunes suit the mood and atmosphere of a joint family but aren't particularly memorable.