Edhir Neechal (1968)

Maathu (Nagesh) lives under the staircase in a building complex and does odd jobs for residents in return for food and living space. He is treated poorly and exploited by most residents except a bodybuilder Nair (Muthuraman) and a retiree (Major Sunderrajan). By working hard in school, Maathu dreams of moving on in life and develops a liking for a girl (Jayanthi) who moves into the building, but he must first get past being treated as a servant by the residents.