Yaaradi Nee Mohini (TV series)

Yaaradi Nee Mohini ( Who Are You, Ghost) is an Indian Tamil language thriller soap opera starring Shreekumar, Nachathira, and Chaitra Reddy. It aired from 24 April 2017 on Zee Tamil and ended on 22 August 2021 by crossing 1200 episodes. The show claimed to be the second-highest budgeted series on South Indian television. and it is the second longest ran serial of Zee Tamil after Sembaruthi.

Plot
Mutharasan is the grandson of a rich landlord. After his mother dies, his father Thanikachalam marries Neelambari. Mutharasan trusts and respects Neelambari not knowing that she is plotting to kill him. Meanwhile, his cousin Vennila loves him and wants to marry him. Neelambari secretly plots against him to acquire his father's property for her children; however, a clause in the will forbids her, as it says Mutharasan's wife must sign. Neelambari brings her niece Swetha to marry Muthu and supports her. Meanwhile, the ghost of Chitra (Mutharasan's dead wife) is out to spoil Neelambari's evil designs. After a few days, Neelambari and her gang find it is the spirit of Chitra who spoils their plan.

Swetha plans to marry Mutharasan by hook or by crook. She murders Vennila's mother and grandmother, after which she gets engaged to Mutharasan. Swetha's ex-husband Yuvaraj comes to stop the marriage. Swetha discovers this and plans to kill Mutharasan's father. Now Vennila, becomes too lonely as everyone who supported her is dead.

Here comes a clever character Kalai, wife of Maruthu (Neelambari's first son) who finds the power of Chitra and stands along with Vennila. Maruthu later causes an accident to kill Kalai but she slips into a coma. Chitra's mother appears to reveal the truth to Mutharasan but later gets killed by Neelambari. Later, Mutharasan takes a liking to Ruthra and adopts her. Mutharasan does not know that Ruthra is his daughter and mistakenly believes she is an orphan, though Ruthra knows it from her grandmother, Sumangali. Swetha plans to separate Ruthra and Vennila from Mutharasan. In a series of events, Mutharasan identifies the true caring nature of Vennila and how people in the house are taking advantage of her and stand beside her in all her problems.

A priest informs Mutharasan that he has a biological child born by Chitra before her death. In an attempt to know his child, he climbs the "Siddhar Malai" and gets to know that Ruthra is his daughter. When he returns, Ruthra is abducted by a family who claim that Ruthra is the daughter of Pasupathi and Chitra. Mutharasan doesn't believe this, but is attacked by them and hospitalised. In a series of events, the members who claimed Ruthra are killed by divine interventions and forces. Eventually, Vennila brings a herb from "Siddhar Malai" and cures Mutharasan's ailment. The story now moves ahead to unveil how Mutharasan finds out the true colors of his family. Neelambari fixed Mutharasan marriage with Swetha but Mutharasan married Vennila with all revenges and problems aired by Swetha and Swetha is admitted to the hospital for treatment. Now she is cured and returns to take revenge against Vennila again.

Main

 * Sanjeev Venkat / Shreekumar as Mutharasan aka Muthu: Thanikachalam's son; Neelambari's step-son; Marudhu, Poongodhai, Janani and Karthik's half-brother; Chitra's widower; Swetha's ex-fiancé; Vennila's husband; Ruthra's father. (2017–2018) / (2018–2021)
 * Nachathira as Vennila: Mutharasan's second wife; Ruthra's step-mother; Swetha's arch-rival. (2017–2021)
 * Chaitra Reddy as Swetha: Karunakaran's daughter; Mutharasan's ex-fiancée; Yuvraj's ex-wife; Vennila's arch-rival. (2017–2021)
 * Yamuna Chinnadurai as Chitra: Mutharasan's first wife; Ruthra's mother. (2017–2021)
 * Fathima Babu as Neelambari: Karunakaran, Veera and Rani's sister; Thanikachalam's widow; Marudhu, Poongodhai, Janani and Karthik's mother; Mutharasan's step-mother; Ruthra's step-grandmother. (2017–2021)

Supporting

 * Jenithra as
 * Ruthra: Chitra and Mutharasan's daughter; Vennila's step-daughter. (2020–2021)
 * Lisha as Child Ruthra (2018–2020)
 * Uthra: Ruthra's lookalike and former enemy. (2021)
 * Ravi Varma as Thanikachalam: Neelambari's husband; Mutharasan, Marudhu, Poongodhai, Janani and Karthik's father; Ruthra's grandfather. (2017–2018)
 * Barath as Marudhu: Neelambari and Thanikachalam's elder son; Poongodhai, Janani and Karthik's brother; Mutharasan's half-brother; Kalai's husband. (2017–2021)
 * Gayathri / Vinitha as Kalai: Vennila's friend; Marudhu's wife. (2017–2018) / (2018–2021)
 * Minnal Deepa as Poongodhai: Neelambari and Thanikachalam's elder daughter; Marudhu, Janani and Karthik's sister; Mutharasan's half-sister; Azhagappan's wife. (2017–2021)
 * Aravind Khathare as Dr. Azhagappan: Poongodhai's husband. (2017–2021)
 * Nivisha Kingkon / Pooja / Sreenidhi Sudarshan / Shalini Rajan as Janani: Neelambari and Thanikachalam's younger daughter; Marudhu, Poongodhai and Karthik's sister; Mutharasan's half-sister; Gowtham's wife. (2017–2018) / (2018–2019) / (2019–2020) / (2020–2021)
 * Surjith Ansary as Gowtham: Nandhini's brother; Janani's husband. (2019–2021)
 * Haris Athitya / Jeeva Rajendran / Bavithran as Karthik: Neelambari and Thanikachalam's younger son; Marudhu, Poongodhai and Janani's brother; Mutharasan's half-brother; Simran's husband. (2017–2018) / (2018–2019) / (2019–2021)
 * Dhanalakshmi as Simran: Pooja's sister; Karthik's wife. (2020–2021)
 * Sivakumar as Karunakaran: Veera, Neelambari and Rani's brother; Swetha's father. (2017–2018)
 * Murali Krish as Annamalai: Mutharasan's childhood friend. (2019–2021)
 * Magima Devi as Rani: Karunakaran, Veera and Neelambari's sister. (2017–2019)
 * Manikandaraj Major as Veera: Karunakaran, Neelambari and Rani's brother. (2019–2021)
 * Vijay Lokesh as Gokula Krishnan: Azhagappan's fake cousin; Vennila's cousin. (2020–2021)
 * Tejas Gowda / Shyam as Yuvaraj: Swetha's ex-husband. (2018)
 * VJ Mounika as Varsha: Swetha's cousin. (2019)
 * VJ Sasikala Nagarajan as Nandhini: Gowtham's sister. (2019)
 * Egavalli as Mohini: A ghost. (2020)
 * Akshaya Kimmy as Akshaya: Swetha's friend. (2019–2020)
 * Kiruthika as Pooja: Simran's sister; Ashok's wife. (2019–2020)
 * Ranjith Babu as Ashok: Pooja's husband. (2019–2020)
 * Sree as Nikhila: Swetha's friend. (2019–2020)
 * Sairatheya as Karunakaran's wife; Swetha's mother. (2017–2019)
 * Akila Krishnan as Roshini: A beautician who helps Vennila from Swetha. (2020)
 * Ravishankar as Mutharasan's family doctor. (2019)
 * P. R. Varalakshmi as Kulangini (2019)
 * VJ Sharanya as Swetha's friend. (2017–2018)
 * Hensha Deepan as Deepa: Swetha's friend. (2018–2020)
 * Sivanya Priyanka as Swetha's friend. (2018–2019)
 * Tharani as Swetha's friend. (2018–2020)
 * Raj Mithran as Powerful exorcist. (2017–2018)
 * Munish Rajan as Shanmugam: Mutharasan's friend. (2017–2018)
 * Vincent Roy as Thennarasu's father. (2017–2018)
 * Varun Udhay as Thennarasu: Mutharasan's cousin. (2017–2020)
 * Sujatha as Thennarasu's mother. (2017–2020)
 * Duraimani as Gowtham's cousin. (2019–2020)
 * Ravivarman as Natrajan: Thennarasu's brother. (2017–2018)
 * Sudha as Vennila's mother. (2017–2018)
 * Sumangali as Chitra's mother; Ruthra's grandmother. (2017–2018)
 * Meenakshi as Vennila's grandmother. (2017–2018)

Special appearances

 * Madhan Pandian
 * Subalakshmi Rangan
 * Siddharth Kumaran
 * Ashwin Karthick
 * VJ Kathir
 * Archana Chandhoke
 * Zaara Vineeth
 * Kousalya Senthamarai
 * "Saregamapa" Ramani Ammal

Launching
A first look for the series was officially released on 4 February 2017, together with the first look for Poove Poochudava. Cast members from both shows were interviewed on Puthandu 14 April 2017 on the Chithirai Puthandu special programs hosted by Deepak Dinkar and Archana Chandhoke.

This horror-based love story was initially produced by V. Shankar Raman for K Studios. S. Sabreesh Kumar under Monk Studios took over the series in 2017 and continued producing the show till the series' end in 2021.

Casting
Popular Tamil TV actor Sanjeev was selected to portray the lead role as Mutharasan. In May he left the show because of an inconvenience of his role. Shreekumar replaced him in the role of Mutharasan from episode 271. Malayalam actress Nachathira made her TV acting debut with the series by playing Vennila. Chaitra was selected to portray the second leading role and main antagonist as Swetha. Fathima Babu joined the series as the main antagonist Neelambari and Yamuna Chinnadurai was selected to play Mutharasan's first wife who becomes a ghost. Besides Minnal Deepa, Barath, Aravindh Khathare, Vinitha and Surjith Ansary were added to the cast. The series features many new cast entries.

Broadcast history
In Zee Tamil series history, Yaaradi Nee Mohini is the first series to contain over a thousand episodes. Programming head Siju Prabhakaran, creator Tamil Daasan, producer Sabareesh Kumar, director Priyan and the entire team celebrated the special occasion.

Ratings
It became the fifth-most watched Tamil television programme in the years 2017 and 2018 with 9.220 million impressions.

Special and crossover episodes

 * On 17 November 2019, Yaaradi Nee Mohini held a marriage function called Yaaradi Nee Mohini Kalyanam for one hour.
 * Yaaradi Nee Mohini's cast and crew joined Maha Sangamam with the series "Gokulathil Seethai" from 3 August 2020 to 16 August 2020.
 * On 22 January 2021, Yaaradi Nee Mohini held a three-hour Mega Episode focusing on Swetha's pregnancy.