Muthal Mariyathai

I just finished viewing this movie and Iam all praises for this one. A great actor and a great director get together and the rest is history.

The movie is all about a middle aged man and a young beautiful girl, set in a village, and the romance that blossoms between them. This leads to trouble as the elderly man, played by Sivaji, is a big wig in the village and he is already married though unhappily. He carries a dark secret in his bosom which is revealed at the end of the movie.

The songs are great, set to folk tunes, the direction is excellent sensitive and portrays human emotions beautifully. The natural locales are very pleasing to the eyes. Kudos to the Raja duo - Bharathiraja and Ilayaraja. Now coming to the acting part and that is the essence of this movie. Sivaji carries this movie solely on his able shoulders. His acting makes up at least seven stars of the total ten. As to the criticism leveled against him that he "overacts", this movie is a smashing rebuttal. The adage that you are capable of 'overacting' only if you are capable of acting, is proved by his movie. Sivaji's histrionics are controlled and measured. Every scene explodes with his brilliance. No words to describe his talent. He arguably is India's greatest actor . This movie is a proof of the fact that how a great actor like Sivaji in the hands of a great director like Barathiraja can make movie-magic. The storyline is quite unique for its times, though there are some distracting sub plots. This is inevitable especially in those days where the director is forced to keep an eye on the box office jingle.

To summarize a great movie worth watching at least thrice !

I was born in 94.... I watched mudhal mariyadhai 2 times..... First time i thought this movie is average without music... Really I tell second time I loved this movie..... The main content is director BR portrayed well.... janagaraj show the poto of Radha and the legend actor to everyone in the village ...it passes from one hand to another in a single shot .. probably all villagers know their relationship.. but Sathya Raj and vadivukkarasi relationship doesn't known to villagers... What I am taken in this movie is virginity and dignity is much more important to female than male..... BR Portrayed well really that legendery actor protected the dignity of his family (what he promised to his uncle and i think it is the main content of this film ).... Actor even did not wore slippers after his uncle fall down to his leg..BR🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏👌👌👌👌👌😃😃

This, in my opinion, is definitely of of the classics of Indian Cinema. I had watched this movie couple of decades back, and I still remember how I was blown away by the content and presentation of the movie. The performances by Sivaji Ganeshan and Radha were terrific, and Radha was so close to winning the national award for this (which in that year went to Suhasini for her performance in Swati I think). Bharatiraaja, in his inimitable style extracted terrific performances from everyone to present the human emotions so well.

As I reminisce, I express my appreciation to the artists specially Radha and Bharatiraaja, who brought this movie to the world.

Ravi

How can one even begin to describe this gem of a movie? For those who don't know Chevalier Shivaji Ganesan, he is the greatest Tamil actor and one of the greatest actors ever born. He, of course, didn't belong to the school of method acting and comes from a stage background and hence often his performances have been termed over the top (in many cases it is true as well). However, he is an actor who is possibly one of the very best to learn from. I have heard that his films are used in teaching acting in schools.

By the time this movie was made, Shivaji was past 50 at least and had grown considerably in the lateral dimension ;) So it was a challenge to write roles for him that would do justice to his talents. After a long time, Muthal Mariyathai offered him a meaty role and boy did he deliver! He turned in such a restrained performance that this in itself deserves a lifetime achievement Oscar! To everyone's surprise, Radha, a young actress then, and Vadivukkarasi matched him frame to frame in their roles. The movie is about the life of a middle-age leader of a village where farming is life. Shivaji, unhappily married to Vadivukkarasi, rediscovers his life when he meets Radha. What follows is one of the most poignant, beautiful and restrained love story that is bound to move any viewer. There are a few subplots that are not always needed. But the movie is a testimony to some of the best performances of some of the best performers in Tamil film industry, including the best of all, Shivaji. Check it out if you can! It is a TOTAL MUST-SEE! 10 out of 10!

Muthal Mariyathai is easily one of Bharathiraja's best films. It portrays a relationship of a middle aged married man with an young girl. A tricky proposition, but delicately handled.

The film tends to drag at places, but is a must watch. The music by Ilayaraja is the soul of the movie. As for the rerecording, one needs to watch this film to know what a genius Ilayaraja is.

Coming to the performances, Sivaji & Radha are terrific. In fact, radha has matched sivaji which cannot be said of any other actress,save savithri. Seems she acted only for 11 days for this film.

She missed out on the national award to suhasini (Sindhu Bhairavi), maybe because her voice was dubbed.

As for Sivaji, this is one of those very very few films where he does not overact. Seems the director told him before the shoot "Sir, please come & stand before the camera, that is enough".

Bharathiraja has kept a very tight leash on sivaji, something which his earlier directors, save bheemsingh (to some extent) did/could not do.

It is a pity that sivaji, in his later stages did not do similar movies & instead chose to do run of the mill stuff.

The one actress in this film, who did not get credit was Vadivukarasi. As the paan chewing venomous wife of sivaji, she is fantastic. Janakaraj too has done a good job.

There is a nice cameo by sathyaraj nearing the climax which is the turning point of the film. Debutants deepan & rajani are adequate.

One of the best tamil films of all times.