Pandian Stores

Pandian Stores is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language Soap opera airing on Star Vijay. The series has two seasons.

The first season of the series named Pandian Stores Chapter 1 - Annan Thambikalin Kadhai, premiered on 1 October 2018 and ended on 28 October 2023. It starred with an ensemble cast including Sujitha, Stalin Muthu, V. J. Chitra, Hema Rajkumar, Kumaran Thangarajan, Venkat Renganathan, Saravana Vickram and VJ Deepika in the prominent roles.

As of October 2023, the series completion of 5+ years, a spin-off was introduced with the same title named Pandian Stores 2 / Pandian Stores Chapter 2 - Thandhai Sollmikka Manthiramilai (. The series premiered on 30 October 2023 starring Stalin Muthu, Hema Rajkumar and Venkat Renganathan from the previous season playing different roles in addition Nirosha, Raj Kumar Manoharan, VJ Kathirvel Kandasamy, Vasanth Vasi, Akash Premkumar, Shalini and Sharanya Turadi Sundarraj in other prominent roles.

Plot
Season 1

Pandian's four sons (Sathyamoorthy, Jeevanandham, Kathiravan and Jayakannan) run Pandian Stores, a famous grocery store in their hometown Kundrakudi.

Dhanalakshmi, a well-educated courageous girl, enters the life of Sathyamoorthy against her family's wishes and leads the Pandian stores family to get well settled. She raises her brothers-in-law as her sons.

Many years later, Jeeva gets engaged to Malli's younger sister, Mullai, who loved Jeeva since they were children. However, Jeeva was in love with his collegemate Meenakshi. So, Mullai marries Kathir, whilst Meena marries Jeeva. Kannan, the last son of the family, elopes with Dhanam's sister-in-law's adopted daughter Aishwarya. The rest of the story concentrates on the incidents that happen within a joint family.

The plot centres on Dhanam and how she reunites the joint family after the arrival of the new in-laws, Meena, Mullai, and Aishwarya.

Season 1

 * Main
 * Stalin Muthu as Sathyamoorthy aka Moorthy – Lakshmi and Pandian's eldest son; Jeeva, Kathir and Kannan's brother; Dhanam's husband; Lakshmana Pandian and Lakshmi Pandian's father, Gopi's cousin
 * Sujitha as Dhanalakshmi aka Dhanam – Varadarajan and Kamakshi's daughter; Jaga's sister; Moorthy's wife; Lakshmana Pandian and Lakshmi Pandian's mother
 * Venkat Renganathan as Jeevanandham aka Jeeva – Lakshmi and Pandian's second son; Moorthy, Kathir and Kannan's brother; Meena's husband; Kayal's father
 * Hema Rajkumar (2018-2023) as Meenatchi aka Meena – Janarthanan's elder daughter; Jeeva's wife; Kayal's mother
 * Kavitha Gowda (2018 - Cameo) as Meena
 * Kumaran Thangarajan as Kathiravan aka Kathir – Lakshmi and Pandian's third son; Moorthy, Jeeva and Kannan's brother; Mullai's husband; Sakthi's father
 * Late V. J. Chitra (2018-Dec.2020) as Mullai - Muruganandham and Parvathy's younger daughter; Malli's sister; Aishu's cousin; Kathir's wife; Sakthi's mother
 * Kaavya Arivumani (2021-2022) as Mullai
 * Laavanya (2023) as Mullai
 * Saravana Vickram as Jayakannan aka Kannan – Lakshmi and Pandian's youngest son; Moorthy, Jeeva and Kathir's brother; Aishu's husband' Karthick's father
 * VJ Deepika Lakshmana Pandian (2021;2023) as Aishwarya aka Aishu – Kasthuri's sister's daughter; Mullai's cousin; Kannan's wife; Karthick's mother
 * Saai Gayatri Bhuvanesh (2022) as Aishwarya
 * Vaishali Thaniga (2020) as Aishwarya


 * Supporting
 * Sheela as Lakshmi – Muruganandham's sister; Pandian's widow; Moorthy, Jeeva, Kathir and Kannan's mother; Lakshman and Kayal's grandmother (2018-2021) (Dead)
 * Shanthi Williams as "Pillaiyar Patti" Parvathy – Muruganandham's wife; Malli and Mullai's mother; Kasthuri's aunt
 * S.T.P. Rosary as Muruganandham aka Murugan – Lakshmi's brother; Parvathy's husband; Malli and Mullai's father
 * David Solomon Raja as Jaganathan aka Jaga – Varadarajan and Kamakshi's son; Dhanalakshmi's brother; Moorthy's best friend; Kasthuri's husband
 * Meena Sellamuthu as Kasthuri – Jaga's wife; Akash's mother
 * Sumangali as Kamakshi – Varadarajan's wife; Jaganathan and Dhanalakshmi's mother
 * Late Venkat Subha (2018-2020) / Ravi Chandran (2021-2023) as Janardhanan – Meena's father; Kalaivani's husband
 * Sri Vidhya Shankar as Kalaivani – Meena's mother; Janarthanan's wife
 * Harsha Nair as Mallika aka Malli – Muruganandham and Parvathy's elder daughter; Mullai's sister; Bhaskar's widow; Prashant's stepmother; Moorthy's ex-fiancée
 * Vasanth Vasi (2020-2022) / Mahesh Subramanian (2023) as Prashanth – Bhaskar's son; Malli's step-son; Aishu's ex-fiancé; Shwetha's husband
 * Vinuja Vijay (2018-2019) / Keerthi Vijay (2019-2022) / Bhavyashree (2023) as Shwetha – Meena's cousin; Kalaivani's niece; Prashanth's wife
 * Yogeshwaran as Senthilnathan: Kathir's best friend; Padma's husband
 * Myna Nandhini as Padma Senthilnathan: Senthilnathan's wife
 * Kowsalya Senthamarai as Naagalakshmi: Meena and Swetha's grandmother; Kalaivani's mother
 * Late Nellai Siva (2018-2020) / Theni Murugan (2022-2023) as Kumaresan: A friend and faithful employee of Pandian Stores
 * Sathya Sai Krishnan as Meherunissa: Kannan's ex-love interest is also his neighbour. She is Muslim (2020-2021)
 * Gokul Krishnan as Saravanan: A worker in Pandian Stores and Kathir's friend
 * Deepa as Selvi: Moorthy, Jeeva, Kathir and Kannan's cousin sister (2018–2020)
 * Madhan as Maheshwaran: Kathir and Senthil's best friend; Rathi's husband (2020)
 * Akshaya as Rathi Maheshwaran: Mahesh's wife (2020)
 * Baby Hema as Harshita: Selvi's daughter (2019–2020)
 * Master Nikhil as Aakash: Jaganathan and Kasthuri's son; Aishwarya's cousin brother; Kamakshi's grandson (2018)
 * Jayanthi Narayanan as Kasthuri's mother; Aishwarya and Akash's grandmother
 * Baby George as Vasuki: Kasthuri's elder sister; Aishwarya's mother (Dead) (2019)
 * Jeya Lakshmi as Begum: Meher's mother (2020)
 * Prakash Rajan as Sethupathi
 * Rajashekar as Pandian
 * Sulakshana as Raasathi - Janartanan's sister
 * R. Aravindraj as Varadarajan
 * Krishna Kumar as Baskar: Malli's husband; Prashanth's father (2018; 2021)
 * special appearance
 * Sathish Kumar as Gopinath "Gopi": Moorthy's cousin (2020-2023)
 * KS Suchitra Shetty as Baakyalakshmi: Gopinath's first wife (2020-2023)
 * Reshma Pasupuleti as Raadhika: Baakyalakshmi's friend; Gopinath's second wife (2020-2023)

Pandian Stores Season 2
It premiered on Star Vijay on 30 October 2023.

Season 1
The Indian Express quoted the series as "A simple serial with no violence, hostility, envy!".
 * Critics

The highest TRP in week 36 the special episode of the character Meena's baby shower aired on 11 September 2020, garnered 11.462 million impressions becoming the most watched Tamil GEC program of the week and the first Star Vijay program to enter the top five. The special three-hour episode of the naming ceremony of Meena's baby aired on 23 November 2020 in week 49 garnered 10.987 million impressions occupying third position.
 * Ratings

Season 1

 * Casting
 * Kavitha Gowda was signed to play the role Meenakshi (Meena), but left the serial after making only a promo appearance. She was then replaced by Hema Rajkumar.
 * Venkat Subha had played the role Jaganathan, but after his death, he was replaced by Ravichandran.
 * V. J. Chitra initially played the role of Mullai. She was replaced by Kaavya Arivumani, due to her sudden death. After that, in October 2022, Kavya announced her exit in the serial. Mullai is currently played by Lavanya.
 * Nellai Siva, a well known supporting actor, played the role Kumaresan, His character was written out of the serial after his death due to COVID-19.
 * Vaishali Taniga initially played the role of Aishwarya but she left in December 2020 and was replaced by VJ Deepika Lakshmanapandian until September 2021. After that the role was temporarily given to Sai Gayathri, but VJ Deepika came back in March 2023 as Aishwarya.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak in India, Pandian Stores, and all other Indian television series and films production were suspended from 27 March 2020. The show commenced telecasting new episodes from 27 July 2020.
 * Filming

Season 1

 * On 11 September 2020, Pandian Stores held a three-hour non-stop special episode titled Pandian Stores: Kudumba Valaikappu Vizha for Meena's baby shower.
 * On 23 November 2020, Pandian Stores Kulandaiyin Peyar Suttum Vizha held a three-hour non-stop special episode for Meena's Baby's name function.
 * On 29 and 30 April 2021, Pandian Stores held two-and-a-half-hour non-stop special episodes titled Pandian Stores: Sathyamoorthy Dhanam Thirumana Vaibogam for Moorthy and Dhanam Marriage.
 * From 22 to 27 July 2021, Pandian Stores celebrated Dhanalakshmi's baby shower.
 * On 2019, Pandian Stores had a week of crossover episodes with Bharathi Kannamma (episodes 327–331).
 * On 2021, Pandian Stores had crossover episodes with Baakiyalakshmi from February 5 to February 28.
 * It had a crossover with Thamizhum Saraswathiyum from November 15, 2021, to November 28, 2021.