Metti Oli

Main characters

• Delhi Kumar as Chidambaram

The story revolves around the lives and pains of his five daughters and eventually his. He is very patient and does not get easily provoked. A land broker by profession, he is greatly respected by all. His wife died when his children were young so he brought them up to be very disciplined girls. At the end of the serial, Chidambaram died in an accident when he carelessly crosses the road in a depressed state of mind.

• Kaveri as Dhanam, Chidambaram's eldest daughter

She is married to her uncle, Bose: A woman who is full of love for her younger sisters but doesn't know how to show it. She is always in an argumentative mood and doesn't hesitate to make rude comments. She is blessed with an understanding uncle-cum-husband and who tolerates her and they have a daughter.

• 'Gayathri as Saroja, Chidambaram's second daughter

She is married to Manikam. The couple has a son, Natarajan. Saroja resembles her father in always having patience. She is an easy target for victimization and bears domestic violence after her wedding to Manikkam. Saroja symbolizes the majority of middle-class woman in Indian society. Chidambaram's main worry in this world is Saro and her life. She has a cruel mother-in-law, a violent husband, who uses violence to end any argument that he loses, and a jealous sister-in-law, Nirmala, who cannot bear to see Saro happy. Saro's brother-in-law, Selvam, is the only one who understands her.

• Vanaja as Leela, Chidambaram's third daughter

She is married to Ravi: They have twin girls. Leela is a brave and smart woman. Even though her husband (who hid his first marriage and married with her; his first wife Gayathri Priya died because of his doubting character) suspects her constantly, she tolerates it. Her life is Chidambaram's second worry. She loved Selvam but did not marry him because of Selvam's mother Rajam, who tortured Saro. Her parents-in-law were a great support to her.

• Uma Maheshwari as Viji, Chidambaram's fourth daughter

who is married to Gopi: She had registered marriage with a photographer, but he cheated her after their nuptial so she started disliking guys. She used to work as a nurse in a clinic. Viji gets married to Gopi, an ideal man. He is very loving, but whenever he tries to come close to her, she avoids him because she is reminded of her boyfriend. But when he realises the truth and still consoles her she changes her attitude towards him and they have a son. Viji's mood always changes and Gopi hates that attitude.

• Revathi Priya as Bhavani, Chidambaram's youngest daughter

She is very smart girl. She is the only one who is highly educated in their family. She becomes a professor in Singapore towards the end of the serial. The show ends with Bhavani's wedding

• Bose Venkat as Bose, brother of Chidambaram's wife and husband of Dhanam

He used to own a soda company but went bankrupt. He is a very hardworking man. Whatever business he tries to start, there is a huge loss. At the end, Bose succeeds after many problems when he takes up his father-in-law's land broker profession.

• Chetan as Manikam, husband of Saroja

He is neither well-educated nor exposed to a civilized family environment, having been brought up by a single parent. He sees his wife Saro as an outsider-insider and expects her to reflect his temper and mood all the time. Manikam is involved in the vegetable business. He had a relationship with a businessman's wife, Sarala, which continued for a while even after the wedding with Saro. Manikkam respects his father-in-law but is strongly bent by his love for his mother.

• Rajkanth as Ravi, husband of Leela

The couple has twin girls. He is not happy with the babies because they are girls. He suspects his wife even though she is very loyal to him. Ravi was married to Sumathy before he married Leela. He does not seem to think of Sumathy any more, but he is unnecessarily doubting that Leela always thinks of her lover Selvam. Ravi's parents support Leela. Ravi sells electrical appliances.

• Thirumurugan as Gopi

He is the ideal husband. He was supposed marry Nirmala but mistakenly thought Viji was his bride and started loving her. He is very devoted to Viji; she avoids him at times. Gopi works in a sewing company. He helps Bose to get start a business of garments factory like him after training him in his own company. Bose's company catches fire due to crackers burst outside. Gopi's father is very supportive. Gopi's siblings expect everything from him.

Supporting characters

• Shanti Williams as Rajam, mother of Manikam, Selvam and Nirmala

A young widow burdened with the task of rearing three children, she faced the world with resoluteness and a determination to succeed. But this' causes her to be too possessive over Manikkam and fears he would abandon her after marriage and tortures Saro.

• 'Vishwa as Selvam, second son of Rajam, brother of Manikam and Nirmala

A very sweet and understanding person. He loved Leela but did not get married with her because of his mother's character. He married Arundhati, but she left him and ran away with her boyfriend. At the end he agrees to marry Shakthi a far off relative and a staff in his lorry company who is madly in love with him for six years in spite of knowing his past love and marriage.

• Rindhiya(old) Rithika(new)/Nirmala

She is the only daughter of Rajam. She is educated. She is married to Santosh and they have a daughter. She was in love with Ramesh and was snubbed by him, with the public humiliation that came with it. Nirmala was supposed to get married with Gopi, but he loved Viji. Santosh cheats on her and she changes her attitude towards supportive Saro and later decides to live independently and becomes a caretaker and therapist at a rehabilitation centre.

• Rekha Varadaraja as Nirmala's sister, Chitradevi aka Chitra.
• Thiruselvam as Santosh, husband of Nirmala

He is an educated guy. He keeps venturing into failing business ventures and uses his brothers-in-law as his financiers. He left his pregnant wife and went away.

• Ramesh, son of former boss of Manikam.

Nirmala loved Ramesh, but he did not reciprocate. Ramesh loves Bhavani until he flies to Singapore to meet her. Bhavani is not interested, and he becomes a drug-addict. At the end, Nirmala will help to bring back the old Ramesh and hence he decides to marry Nirmala who agrees after some initial hesitation.

• Kirthika as Arundhati, wife of Selvam. She was forced by her parents to marry Selvam after they beat up her boyfriend and make her believe he ran away when they gave him money. She is a from a rich family. She ran away with her boyfriend after her marriage who cheats her and she goes back to her father. At the end she adopts a daughter.

• Srithika as Arundhathi's elder sister, Kargapalakshmi aka Karpagam.
• Deepa Venkat as Arundhati's friend, Seethalakshmi aka Seetha who tries to elope with Ilango, but meets in tragedy after she has a road accident and did not see Ilango for 6 months. She gets a brain hemorrhage and gets into coma, but eventually recovers. This made Seetha's parents in grief. Police investigated and realized that Rajathi set some goons to hit her. She finally recognises Ilango in Arundhati's wedding. In the last episode, she marries Ilango and gives birth to a baby girl; they stay in Bangalore. She is a middle class girl born from Rameshwaram, born to a Gounder family. Her aunt is a Malayali from Thiruvananthapuram. She works in a chemical company as an assistant worker.
• Shari as Seetha's aunt Muthumamani. She has a son (name not stated) who is a NRI.
• Taruni Sachdev as Seetha's daughter, Sumini Kutty.
  • Sanjeev as Ilango
  • SN Lakshmi as Ravi's grandmother, Kulathambaal Paati.
• Neelima Rani as Shakthi who loves Selvam. She also hates Seetha for her vengeance and beauty.
• Suzane George as Shakthi's sister, who hates Arundhati. She was a close friend of Seetha, for which her sister disliked her.
• Nalini as Shakthi's mother, Rajathi, who is always jealous of Arundhati for their beauty and privileges. She loves taking dowry.
• Sindhu as Sarala
• Ramachandran as Sarala's husband
• Crazy Mohan as Ravi's father
• Auditor Sundaram as Sundaram Mama Saro's uncle
• Vietnam Veedu Sundaram as Owner Mama.

Other cast

• Rajam's old landlady who very affectionate to Saro (her son and daughter-in-law throw her out of their house).
• Manickam's boss Sivasami, his wife, daughter (Nirmala's friend) and son-in-law.
• Ravi's parents
• Gopi's two sisters and their husbands, and a brother with an dominating wife, his niece and nephew.
• Shakthi's parents and a brother
• Seetha's office boss
• Seetha's uncle
• Seetha's parents
• Seetha's nephew
• Arundhati's boyfriend's parents
• Santhosh's father and step-mother
• A neighbour of Chidambaram who the girls consider their aunt (Athai) (also Deepa Venkat and Vanaja).
• Chidambaram's friend Kasiraj, his wife and son who gets his son married to Bhavani at the end.
• Harsha one who wanted to marry Bhavani but he was a bad guy, his thief mother and a father who was married to someone else.
• Leela's office staff, Gopi's old office staff and few more characters.