Bharathi is a famous singer who lives with his extremely possessive wife Gowri. Tricked into marriage by his convincing mother-in-law, what really irks Bharathi is his wife's inability to deal with his rabid female fans. Tensions escalate until Bharathi flees from home and ends up encountering someone else named Jyothi who's also escaping from her life as a dancer because her husband made her dance forcefully and tried forcing her to be a prostitute. Then, he makes a living in Goa with Jyothi. Then Bharathi get a prank call from his PA that Gowri is ill. So he comes back with Jyothi from Goa, which makes Gowri angry and she doesn't let Jyothi in without knowing who she is. Bharathi gets angry and they stay in another one of his houses. Bharathi gets so angry that he claims that he loves Jyothi and that she cannot go because of her problems. So Gowri files for a divorce and informs news reporters about Jyothi. Jyothi's husband appears later in the story. Gowri plans to marry a cricket player Guru. Guru had proposed to her in the past. He accepts the proposal and abandons one of his fans, Yamuna, who is obsessed with him. Later, Yamuna commits suicide in the marriage hall readied for Gowri's marriage. Gowri's mother and her PA feel that she is mentally unstable. Her mother begs Bharathi to go and see her in the hospital and he goes with Jyothi to see her. Jyothi then sees that Bharathi and Gowri belong to each other. Jyothi later finds her husband, who was indeed in love with her. After that, Bharathi goes to recording with him being happy and visits his wife in the hospital.
Sithara from Kerala was introduced as an actress through this film. It also marked the acting debut of Chi. Guru Dutt. Balachander chose Kala as the lead dance choreographer after being impressed with her work in his previous directorial venture Punnagai Mannan. The dubbing voice for Rahman was provided by Nizhalgal Ravi.
Soundtrack
The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja and the lyrics were written by Vaali. This was the last collaboration between Ilaiyaraaja and Balachander. According to journalist Kamini Mathai, the split may have been due to the fact that Ilaiyaraaja could not commit to re-recording as there was a strike; an impatient Balachander decided to use background scores from his older films to fill the unfinished portions, angering Ilaiyaraaja to the point of ending his alliance with Balachander. The song "Kalyana Maalai" is set in the Carnatic raga known as Sindhu Bhairavi, "Eduthu Naan Vidava" is set in Bageshri, and "Guruvayurappa" is set in Abheri, "Keladi Kanmani" was later adapted into "Chandni Raat Hai", composed by Anand–Milind for Baaghi.
Impact
Rahman considered Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal to be "the biggest milestone in career" in Tamil, saying, "It helped me set my two legs permanently in ".
