Hello shakthi..
I feel we all have forgotten the place whre the story is moving and in which community.
Generally in srirangam, a guy cann't hold a girl's hand and that to in front of all. this is the first point.
If he is a relative/close family friend then that is different. even in such case also a friend cann't touch/hold a girl's hand.
Secondly, as a friend what is wrong in advising ur friend the same way shree advised her friend.
It seems that shree knows about Aswath already, even though Aswath character is not elaborated... will be done in coming episodes i believe.
Aswath is not at all a hero, In such case what is wrong is advising sharmi... she is saving her friends life.
About smoking...and this dialog avaala oru nimisham ninachu paathiyaa, idha avaalaala thaangikka mudiyumaa?
Oru aacharamaana iyyengar family-la how can you expect a girl would fall in love with a boy who smokes, here also the place Srirangam is very much important here
In sriramgam the first 2 streets(uttra veedhi & Chitra veedhi) is full of brahmins and they follow mostly all routines that a brahmin need to follow.
So Sharmi is also belong to that catagory and thts why shree is shocked to come to know about her friend.
All these points we need to look along with the story and the place where it is happening i feel.