Aval Paavam (transl. She is Poor) is a 2000 Tamil-language drama film directed by M. K. Arundhava Raja. The film stars Prabhukanth and Ritika, with Ishari K. Ganesh playing a supporting role. The film, produced by K. Rajan, was released on 22 December 2000.^[1]

• Prabhukanth as Sriram
• Ritika as Thulasi
• K. Rajan
• J. Lalita
• Mohan Vaidya
• Ishari K. Ganesh

The film marked the feature film debut of director M. K. Arundhava Raja, who had earlier worked on television series.^[2] K. Rajan, who had taken on the role of the president of Chennai Distributors Association during 2000, announced that he would produce Aval Paavam on a low budget.^[3] Rajan's son, Prabhukanth, acted in his first lead role. He had earlier featured as the antagonist in Doubles (2000), and later worked on Ninaikkatha Naalillai (2001).^[2] The lead actress, Lakshmi, took on the stage name of Ritika for the film. She head earlier appeared in a supporting role in Thalaimurai (1998) and shot for Aval Paavam alongside seven other film projects in early 2000.^[4] Rajan had also signed the actress on for another project during the period, Babu Ganesh's Kudumbam Oru Koiyil starring Ramki, although the project was later dropped.^[3] The film was briefly retitled as Chembaruthi Poove as the team wanted to avoid the title sounding Malayalam, but later reverted to the original title of Aval Paavam.^[3]

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by Pradeep Ravi. The soundtrack, released in 2000 by Star Music, features six tracks.^[5]

The film was released on 22 December 2000 across Tamil Nadu. A reviewer of the film from the entertainment portal ChennaiOnline compared the film's theme to K. Balachander's Arangetram (1973), where about a woman takes to prostitution to support her family, but noted that changing times meant that the topic was less of a taboo in Tamil Nadu.^[2] The critic praised the film, adding "it is a well-planned screenplay and there is no attempt to preach or make it a melodrama" and that "there is no sexual exploitation of the theme to distract the viewers, though there was enough room for it."^[2]