Mouna Ragam

Mouna Ragam (1986) : Brief Review -

A Sensibile and Classic Romantic saga by Mani Ratnam which tells the difference between infatuated Boyfriend and Responsible Husband. Mouna Ragam has remained underrated for years, especially for pan India audience. Tamil audience is very much familiar with this film but outside South industry, only few film lovers knows about Mouna Ragam's existence. The same happened to me as well. Even I watched his other Mani Ratnam classics first and then came to know about this super Classic. I strongly believe, this film deserves equal popularity as Nayakan, Roja, Bombay or other popular classic of Mani Ratnam. I consider Romance as a dumb genre cause there are hardly some classics which makes sense otherwise it's all just typically melodrama or reconciliation or immatured love stories. With Mouna Ragam, i can say that it is a very matured film for the audience who have matures taste in films. Someone who likes dumb romance like Arjun Reddy or Kabir Singh or some other blockbuster romances (commercially i meant) should stay away from it. It might cause a humiliation to your immatured and childish tatse and then you'll start disliking the same dumb love stories which you have been loving for a long time. Mouna Ragam tells a story of a forced arrange marriage turning into sensible realisation of true love and life-long commitments. It has every scene set in right zone with right conviction and all of it is highly sensible and intellegent. That's important, being intelligence is very important believe me, especially in this Dumb Genre. Revathi and Mohan both gets the roles to remember, something which will always stay with audience and especially married couples. Mani Ratnam has made many classics in other genres, and some of those films are actually overhyped by fans, i would be happy to see this film getting the same hype as those, deservingly.

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest.

maniratnam is hailed universally as a great film-maker with a unique style. although i am not a great fan of his, this movie i think was his best - even ahead of roja.

mouna ragam is a tender movie that pulls at the heartstrings, revathi - in one of her best ever roles - absoluitely steals the show. maniratnam handles the complex relationship between the husband and wife beautifully. kartik as the wife's ex-lover scintillates in his cameo.

the capacity of the human heart to love, its wont to love more than one person is tenderly shown, revathi's reluctance to love her husband and how she slowly changes heart but refuses to acknowledge it are what makes the movie a delight to watch. a movie that can and should ne seen many times over.

this is a tru classic that deserves a full 10.

This was my first Mani Ratnam movie and it left a lasting impression on me. Though this is an out-and-out Karthik movie, we cannot discount Murli's performance. Murli had to underplay the role. Karthik came as a tsunami and left leaving a wreck of emotions behind. Revathi bearing the most.

There is one scene in the movie that I can never forget. Revathi tell her husband not to touch her because it feels like caterpillar walking on her skin.

This movie is one of the best movies i had seen.brilliant acting from kartik who steals the show and revathi has done amazing job too. manirathnam did not go with the cliché by suddenly bringing revathi and mohan together. he takes his time and works on their relationship. how mohan uses all the hurtful things revathi said is just heart melting .there are some parts of the movie where you will actually feel what the characters are going through. and illayaraja does amazing job the songs are just amazing and fits right in every scenes and lyrics are just so damn accurate to the movie sequence.one of the best music albums in tamil cinema history with out any argument.i felt that kartik should have given more screen time as he was brilliant. if you look deeply you will see two kinds of love one is very raw,passionate and immense from kartik and the other one is just pure mature love from mohan. how revathy moves on from one to other is the plot and maniratnam has done amazing job on that. there are few logical flaws which are totally fine you will only notice after watching 3 or 4 times . brilliant movie must watch......

Mani Ratnam has made so many great films(Nayakan, Agni Natchathiram, Roja, Bombay, etc.,.) over the years. But this masterpiece is what put him in the limelight. Mouna Raagam is a perfect example on how a Indian movie should be made. Along with Roja, I believe that Mouna Raagam is Ratnam's best movie. Mohan and Revathi give brilliant heartfelt performances. Some of their scenes will really make you feel what they're feeling. As great as Mohan and Revathi were, Karthik was the real star of Mouna Raagam. He's on-screen for about 25 minutes and what you see is simply a revelation. His defiant ways, his playful antics towards Revathi will make one wonder why he wasn't in the movie longer. Illyaraja's music is absolutely brilliant, but special mention must go to his BGM. The BGM used in several scenes(especially the Karthik-Revathi scenes)is one of Raja's all-time best.

P.C. Sriram's photography is just the icing on the cake. Mouna Raagam won several national awards, including best film, in 1986. I believe it deserved all the awards it got. A real tamil classic.