Nala Damayanthi (2003)

This soulful romantic drama follows the twists and turns in the life of Ramji Narayanaswami Iyer (Madhavan), a naive and docile Tamilian from the Brahmin caste (Palakkad Iyer), who is employed as a professional cook. His main priority in life is to marry off his sister Bhagyam (Divyadarshini) to a good family, as they are orphans and it becomes his sole responsibility.

As per convention he has shell out dowry for the marriage and somehow falls short of the agreed sum. Incidentally the groom's family happens to admire the food cooked by Ramji and plan him to send to Melbourne, Australia as a cook for a multi millionaire Australian based Indian family. In return he has to send part of his salary as a compensation for the dowry he owes.

Unfortunately, the millionaire dies of indigestion the day Ramji arrives, leaving him jobless and without his passport and visa, which had been stolen. Desperate to stay and earn, he starts working illegally as a cook in an Indian hotel owned by an NRI Badri (Sriman), but to stay on, he needs to get a legal work permit as the immigration police are on his heels. Ivan (Bruno Xavier), Badri's cunning lawyer friends explains him that the only way out is marriage with an Australian citizen.

Ramji reluctantly agrees for a fake marriage with Ivan's fiancee Damayanthi (Geetu Mohandas), a free-spirited motorbiker of Sri Lankan Tamil Christian background and they get married over the weekend. For all these gimmicks Ivan charges heavy fees from Badri and deposit's in the joint account of his with Damayanthi. Ramji converts to Christianity, becoming Robert, and then moves into Damayanthi's house.

The police believes this is a fake marriage and decides to refer the matter to the consulate. Constant stalking by the police forces the couple to stay together to avoid detection by authority. Damayanthi is deeply troubled with the rural mannerisms of Ramji. To break the ice, Ramji cooks delicacies for Damayanthi and wins her heart. Over a period of time Damayanthi realises that Ivan is fooling around with her and doesn't love her.

Meanwhile Ramji is not able to send the dowry installments as promised and his sister's in-laws throw her out. Damayanthi handles this situation smartly, sends all the money received for the fake marriage in their joint account to her, and makes sure her long-time friend takes care of her.

In their confrontation with the consulate, Ramji answers more than he is asked at the immigration office then is forced to return to India. Damayanthi eventually comes along to Palakkad and the movie ends with a happy note where couple starts off a restaurant. Actors Kamal Haasan and Jayaram comes to inaugurate their restaurant and wish the couple luck.