Mouna Raagam Movie Reviews

Mani Ratnam's Mouna Ragam(1986) deals with arrange marriage issues. Mouna Ragam is what India's arrange marriage institution is all about and prime example of why Indian marriages last forever despite husband-wife's differences. It's story of troubled marriage of free-spirited girl and well-behaved guy against her wishes and how they overcome their marital problems with love, mutual understanding, and importance of marital life.

*Story*

Divya(Revathi) is young college girl lives with her family(parents, two young sister, brother, and sister-in-law) in Madras. While she still wants to do study, her family wants her to marry and settles down. After knowing groom prospect will be visiting her house at evening, Divya decides to hang out with friends up until late night so she doesn't have to face groom. When she gets home at night, on her horror, she is surprised to see prospect Chandrakumar(Mohan). After initial conversations, Chandrakumar gets agreed to marry Divya. After prospect left, she refuses to marry him but later seeing her dad having heart attack because of her refusal of marriage, she agrees for wedding.

After being forced into arranged marriage, Divya shifts to Delhi with her husband. She opposes husband's advances and during heated conversations, she asks for the divorce. Chandrakumar purchases two gifts for Divya - one silver anklets and another divorce paper. One of the reason for divorce was she already loved once a guy named Manohar(Karthik) in college and even though he is dead, her heart is no longer with her. After listening Divya's confession, Chandrakumar asks Divya to choose one of them and whatever she chooses, he will accept. Divya, who doesn't have heart on her forced marriage, chooses divorce paper.

Next day, when Chandrakumar and Divya meets tamil lawyer, she tells couple that they can't get divorce according to Indian law. Since they married only for 7 days, they have to wait for 1 year before divorce gets processed. Same lawyer advices Divya to reconsider her position and describe the importance of the successful married life. After filing for divorce, they decide to stay in separate rooms under same roof without any marital relationships.

After self-introspection and deeply thought about what lawyer said, initially Divya ease out her anger on forced marriage and slowly and slowly tries to understand marital relationships. One incident after another throughout the year changes her thoughts about Chandrakumar. She starts understanding values of the marriage, and starts respecting and changes her heart for Chandrakumar.

Will Divya and Chandrakumar decide to go ahead with divorce or stay together? Will Divya acknowledge her change of heart for her husband? Will Chandrakumar refuse to accept Divya's advances after her initial refusal?

*Analysis*

Mouna Ragam is subtle, tender, and poetic magic talking about gentle husband-wife relationships in arrange marriages. The way film handles the complex relationships between the husband and wife in simplistic way leaves everlasting effect on viewer's psyche.

Mouna Ragam is indeed Mani's classic poem on post marital relationships. The way things unfolded during pre-marriage chat and post-marriage scenes, first Revathi opposing Mohan's advances before singing up for divorce and Revathi's makes up scenes after divorce is highlights of this film. Even though overall screenplay is poetic, it does have its share of flaws. Some of the scenes like the way Mohan behaves when Revathi's parents visits them in Delhi, Mani is successful sending his points to the viewers that why he was behaving like that but some of the scenes when Mohan repeats what Revathi has done to him in post-divorce scenes(making his own coffee) and pre-climax scenes(bugs are crawling) mars overall effects of the screenplay.

Mouna Ragam is full of memorable scenes - be it Revathi and Mohan's first meeting and Revathi's outburst on arranged marriage system or Revathi's insults of her husband's advances or Revathi's demand for divorce or Mohan's two gifts - anklets and divorce paper or Revathi's parents visit to her Delhi house, or of course climax sequences of their acknowledgement of feeling for each other.

Mani Ratnam movies are known for its share of cliches. Just like Rajkapoor, he is notorious for making movies for both masses and critics and that pushes him to weave some unusual scenes in his films be it Geetanjali, Anjali, Bombay, or Dil se. Mouna Ragam is also one of them - Just take a look at the scene when Karthik parking his bike in front of public transportation bus creating traffic jam. Another scene when Karthik gets killed, truck hitting police car and accidental shooting seems uneven and poorly edited. Although comedic episodes of Mohan's Sardarji friend and his Tamil boss seems funny at times, Mouna Ragam could have been more effective without them.

As far as acting, even though it’s starred by two of Tamil cinema's stars, Mohan and Karthik, its out and out Revathi's show. Revathi as free-spirited, rebellious, and tradition-defiance Divya is power player of this film. Some of the scenes like when she rejects her husband's advances and links it to the feelings of an insects crawl or her playing with bangles when family deciding fate of her marriage are showcase of her acting prowess. Her agony for passionate lost love and unwanted marital life is brilliantly done throughout the movie. As far as male performances, Mohan as Revathi's soft-spoken husband is most heartfelt character in the film. Karthik as Revathi's revolutionist boyfriend is defiant, energetic and leaves great impact in half an hour screen appearance.

If Mani's subtle touch and treatment on Mouna Ragam's story and Revathi's powerhouse performance are main pillars of the movie, Illyaraja's evergreen background score and brilliant soundtracks are main soul of this classic. Haunting background score gets played whenever Revathi and Mohan on the screen bring out many nuances of couple's emotions throughout the development of the story. Even though I don't understand Tamil, all soundtracks, Nilavae Vaa by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Mandram Vandaa by SPB, Chinna Chinna by S. Janaki, Oho Megam by S. Janak, and Panivizhum Iravu by S. Janaki and SPB are haunting. They say music and melody sees no boundary and barrier of language and Mouna Ragam's soundtracks proves that saying. If Chinna Chinna is rare example of beautiful combination of melody, vocal, and musical instruments then Nilaave Vaa is memorable for its brilliant cinematography with multiple mirrors reflecting Mohan and watery Revathi.

*Conclusion*

Mani Ratnam heralded as one of the greatest filmmaker of India and Mouna Ragam considered as one of his greatest masterpiece. As I said earlier throughout my review, I wouldn't consider Mouna Ragam as his best of the bests because of certain flaws, its still one of the rare masterpieces of India talks about arrange marriages. If you ignore typical Mani Ratnam cliches then its great movie otherwise it’s an average affair. Overall, if you put together story, acting, screenplay, music, background score, and cinematography, its one of the most subtle movie India ever produced. It’s a must see for Mani Ratnam's die-hard fan.

“Mouna Raagam”, roughly meaning a “Silent Song” or “Silent Melody” is a perfect blend of youthful romance, comedy, a bit of action and dedicated love. The story gradually progresses with the strong struggles of a wife’s heart which had been lost long ago to another person.

MOUNA RAAGAM – THE STORY

MANIRATHNAM / DIRECTOR ****

Strictly falling under the guidelines of a typical Manirathnam movie, Mouna Raagam no doubt still remains evergreen in all our minds until date. The striking youthfulness of Karthik, his juvenile romance with Revathy, Revathy’s tough struggles about her past affair with Karthik after her marriage with Mohan etc…. could have never been picturized so brilliantly by anyone but for Manirathnam. With such a simple theme, Mani is the only architect who could make such a great film !

ACTORS ****

Manirathnam obviously has the potential to make even a rock dance as per his craving, why not he could make Revathy, Karthik and Mohan who were already practiced artists. Especially Mohan has lived as a typical traditional husband deeply in love with his wife and tries to do his best to satisfy her with her desired divorce. Every artist in the movie has done his / her character exceptionally well which ultimately gives a very extraordinary finish to the film.

ILLAYARAAJA / MUSIC ****

Music no doubt plays a very vital role in the success of this wonderful love film. Every song viz., Mandram Vanda Thendraluku….., Nilaave Vaa….. etc. etc…. is melodious and remain in our frequently-requested list until date. “Vaan Megam ……” is an exceptionally youthful rain song and the dance movements of Revathy … wow… wonderful performance ! Hats Off to Maestro Illayaraaja !!

VAALLEE / LYRICS ****

Hey Guys ….. even Vaallee has written greatly romantic lyrics like “Boopaalame Koodaathenum Vaanam Vundoe Sol……” and every piece of lyric in the songs in this movie is undeniably a masterpiece !

FANTASTIC SCENES

Youthful

•Karthik after having been beaten up by the police, when Revathy goes running to the police station to apologize to him for her misstep of making a complaint, Karthik coolly winks at the crying Revathy

•“Mr. Chandramouli”…… “Mr. Chandramouli” …… “Mr. Chandramouli” at the restaurant – I need not have to explain …… that’s Manirathnam’s touch !

Humorous

•Revathi teaching Tamil to a Sardaarjee in Delhi, teaching him all the bad phrases in Tamil which he uses to V.K. Ramasamy very respectfully leave the entire set of audience giggling

Emotive

•Karthik struggling to avoid joining his criminal-mates after falling in love with Revathy

•Karthik being shot to death by the police right outside the Marriage Registrar office when Revathy waits there for him to get married

•Mohan offering a pair of anklets and divorce papers to Revathy and requesting her to choose her choice of gift

•Last but not the least, the CLIMAX

Overall, Mouna Raagam is a very touching sweet melody of love ……. You would irrefutably love it !!

Manirathnam is known for his versatility. He is one director who can make love stories(Alaipayuthe) and at the same time action movies(Ayutha Ezhuthu) and can even direct kids in a movie (Anjali). All that he offers is a commendable storyline and extracts riveting performances from the lead cast. He might not have obtained commercial success in many of his directorial ventures(E.g Kannathil Mutham Ittal,a masterpiece) but his way of film-making is indeed mind-blowing and he is one of the blessed directors in Tamil film industry.

His yesteryear classic ''Mouna Raagam'' starring Mohan, Revathy and Karthik(in a special appearance) was one of the decent hits of its genre. The movie had a taut screenplay and an engaging story and of course fantastic performances by the lead cast.

I saw this movie yesterday after a long time and was totally absorbed in it. After seeing Mouna Raagam, I realized the faults in some of the recent films in Tamil. Mouna Raagam had life and soul in its story, screenplay and even in the music which is lacking in the movies that are being made today. Careful analysis will show that there were no unnecessary dappanguthu or meaningless songs which pops out to satisfy the masses in those days. Does it mean that these movies were made only for the intelligentsia in those days? No, Mouna Raagam was a decent hit in all centers. The only problem is that directors of today are running out of ideas and hence the need for entertainment paves way for unnecessary songs and lackworthy humors. To be honest, Mouna Raagam had a waferthin plot. But it was the screenplay which made the movie a classic of its own. Bhansali also opted for a somewhat similar theme with Ash,Ajay and Salman in ''Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'' and there again, his treatment to the story through his engaging screenplay made the difference. I don't say that today's directors don't make good movies. But they can still get inspired by the yesteryear classics and etch out a decent fare like ''Mouna Raagam''. Without further offense, I go into the story of this movie.

The Story

Divya (Revathy) is elder daughter of a middle class family. She has two younger sisters and an elder brother. Her dad fixes her alliance with ChandraKumar(Mohan), who lives in Delhi. She tries to avoid this relationship but is entangled in a situation where the guy says yes and she is forced to marry the guy and settle in Delhi. Initially she avoids her husband CK and this creates agony in the heart of CK and the way she expresses her irritation when CK touches her is heart-tearing. She asks for divorce and CK is left in a lurch. It is at this point, CK comes to know about the tragic past of his wife. In the past, she encounters a rowdy Mano(Karthik) and after a series of incidents falls for him. But the rowdy is killed in front of her eyes in an accident and she is shooked with the incident and her lost-love. Now back to the present, both husband and wife apply for divorce but are forced to stay together for one year because the court of law doesn't allow divorce within 7 days of marriage. In this one year of stay, she slowly gets to know about the good heart of her husband. Whether they unite together or not is told in an interesting series of incidents.

Performances

Mohan as the kind hearted husband took a giant leap as an actor in this movie. As a person stuck with the agony of divorcing his wife, Mohan brings out the natural action effortlessly. Probably his career best performance, I would say. But the film completely belongs to Revathy who is natural and at her best. She displays various shades in her character be it mischievious girl or a grief-stricken lover,and comes out with a realistic portrayal of the character. Her display of histrionics is also natural and makes you yearn for her. Karthik, in a special appearance, also portrays his character ably and gives a fantastic performance. Especially the ''Mr.chandramouli'' scene and his voice modulation shows his flair for comedy. The others in the cast lend able support.

Music by Illayaraja is a major plus. The songs Oho Megam Vanthatho, Mandram vantha, Chinna chinna, Pani vizhum Iravu, Nilavae Vaa... The Album rocks and you would never want to skip the songs while watching the movie. The background music is also engrossing and the best I have ever heard from the maestro. The direction is taut because of the midas touch by the prolific director Manirathnam. The cinematography and song picturizations are also commendable.

Overall,this movie is a Silent Scintillating symphony.

Mouna Raagam is the first of several movies in which the fab combo of Illayaraja and Mani Ratnam worked their magic. But truth to tell, the twosome never quite gelled as superlatively as they did in this one. The theme of love before and after marriage is handled in a rereshingly different manner. Beneath the sequence of scenes aptly described as silent for being shorn of typical over-the-top melodrama lies a subtle artistic touch coming from Mani's expert brush. The real world of Revathi and Mohan drags, things happen slowly, you will Mohan's character to throw his inertia into the trash can and be a man. In sharp contrast, Revathi and Karthik's dream world is exactly that - dreamy, too fast, too breezy to be true. And reality comes knocking hard at their doorstep as Karthik's activities in a revolutionary outfit returns to haunt him at a fateful moment. The dream comes crashing down and leaves Revathi feeling miserable and bitter. But despite her best efforts to break the marriage thrust on her against her will, a different script unfolds and this is where maestro Illayaraja comes into the picture with one of his best soundtracks and background scores. The songs 'Nilaave Vaa', 'Mandram Vandha' and 'Pani Vizhum Iravu' are virtually crafted in the white marble of the Taj Mahal and together they capture the gradual change in Ravathi and Mohan's feelings for each other. An incredibly mature, soothing and tender background score ( strictly by Tamil film standards) brilliantly complements the narrative. Finally, things start to happen only when Mohan shakes off his middle-class, middle-aged staidness and inertia and gets a little filmi in his demeanour. A brief fight scene with a bunch of baddies and a dash after the departing train at the eleventh hour culminate in the typically filmi ending. But Mani's subtlely satirical take on the concluding scenes is unmistakable as he departs from the real world and dreams for a bit. Absolutely recommended, but do not expect the typical elements of a Tamil potboiler to be present in the normal proportion; make no mistake, you need a little patience to watch the very human characters play out their lives in Mouna Raagam, but the experience is richly rewarding. I give it 5 stars for lack of a better option.

Mouna Raagam is a classic, a poem from Maniratnam

The film lead actors include Mohan, Revathi and Karthik.

The film has enjoyable moments and sad moments as well.

You can separate it into 2 parts where Revathi stays with Mohan. & where revathi's love with Karthik.

The film itself is poetic and so neatly written into the characters. The actors linger into our minds as the characters till today.

I bet you can watch this movie 100 times and still you wont get bored.

The exciting, loving, fun filled moments where revathi has with Karthik is neatly essayed.

The fun filled life of karthik where revathi and himself meet accidentally and as usual the gal hates him first thinking him as a rowdy and finally comes to know tht he is a revolutionist and loves him for his character.

The life where revathy spends her initial days with Mohan, where he tries to get her to normalcy and fails makes u feel sympathetic for him.

The scene where Mohan asks for her first wedding present, revathi replies with a request for a divorce is simply heartbreaking.

Mohan plays the role of the husband with finesse.

Later when revathy understands the love of her husband and tries to get his attention, which she fails is done excellently. I too felt the same feelings of Mohan.

The movie ends with both the husband and wife living together.

The excellent part of the movie is background music which Ilayaraja Steals the show as usual. The songs are awesome.

Particularly I like the song Mandram vandha, Nilavae vaa

Alltogether an Awesome movie from the great director

regards

robert

Before coming to films,Manirathnam was a management graduate..But I am just wondering whether he has a degree in psychology too.Films like mouna raagam and alai payuthey have a very simple theme- a one line story and 2 or 3 main characters.. He introduces his main characters in the first half,describes their characteristics,their nature, and the rest of the film after the introduction deals with how these characters interact and how they adjust ,the conflicts that happen and how they resolve their conflicts..

In the case of Mouna Raagam, it is about a newly wed couple who comes to term with their past lives and expectations about each other.The first few scenes introduces Revathi and through the scenes, the director conveys her character..she is young,mischevous,straightforward and a bit stubborn. In comes the character of Mohan who comes to her house to see her for marriage.Revathi tries her best to make Mohan hate her -she comes late, she says that she is very stubborn and might not make a good wife.Mohan,who came just to please his brother gets bowled over by her frankness and her straightforward nature and says yes to the marriage.. Revathi is forced to marry him because of her family which compells her.The first few scenes sets the stage for this 2 main characters : Revathi hates this marriage and is forced into it. Mohan who till now was against marraige says yes to it .Both seems to be misfits to each other.

One wonders how they can really adjust with each other. Also, the viewer also comes to doubt that there should be something in revathi's life which makes her behave like this. Mohan is introduced as someone who is an expert in management and psychology .He has a Ph.D in behavioural sciences.Till the marriage, we have no clue about the character of Mohan.He might be impatient or rude or he might just be acting nice ..who knows..but then Mani clears our doubts when Mohan tries his best to make her comfortable in his house in New Delhi as soon as they shift to New Delhi. He talks about his passion with music and books.He seems to like Beethoven,Mozart and books,he says is his first wife.

So we come to understand that this guy must be an introvert.He must be very patient ..That is what Mani shows in these scenes..But then every person has a limit to his patience. The beauty of this character is shown when Revathi talks about her past life.He says he is not bothered about her past life and wants to start afresh.Revathi must have wondered why he is so nice when she is so rude to him..But then that is the highlight of this character.

The contrast between the character of Karthik (from her past life) and Mohan is very well shown.Karthik is very impatient, very passionate and he has this charm to attract anybody.He is an extrovert. The very fact that Revathi falls for this shows that she likes those who are extroverts and who are straightforward like her..But here,she gets married to Mohan who is more of an introvert exactly opposite to Kartik and she wonders why she agreed to this at all.That explain why she is rude to Mohan in the beginning...She needed time to realise the good characteristics of Mohan..But when she realises this,it is too late..They have already applied for divorce. Mohan had been patient till now because they were tied by marriage.But now they have decided to divorce,why does he need to be patient ?Not necessary,he must have thought..So he loses his patience quite a few times with Revathi. But then the scene where he explains to revathi about why he was rude to her parents really shows that he was not just nice just because she was his wife but he really cared for her.This is when she completely realises that she is making a mistake by asking for divorce...All along,she had been dreaming about a Mills and Boons romance but it was shortlived .Since it was shortlived,she couldnt come to terms with the reality till now..After this,she realises her mistake.The ending is cliched though but then there is no other way u could end this movie.

The music really adds to the flavour of the movie and is very apt for the moods in the scene.Cinematography by PCSriram was really good.

A great film.Dont miss it if you have not seen it already!

Title: Mouna Raagam – Silent Symphony (Tamil, 1986)

Director: Mani Ratnam

Music: Ilayaraja

Lyrics: Vaalee

Starring: Revathy, Mohan, Karthik

Length: Approx. 170 minutes

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How many times do you come across a movie that is so simple in its theme, so predictable in its story that you can almost predict the next dialogue; filled with all the right scenes you did already know would be there; and still absolutely LOVE the movie? That’s the magic of Mani Rathnam and his most talked about movie – Mouna Raagam, meaning Silent Melodies. Yes, you know what is going to happen in the movie from the very first scene, and yet you are interested in every scene of the movie. Simple, beautiful movie on love, I now know fully why this movie is hailed as one of Mani’s ever best.

Mouna Raagam

At the very outset, let me tell you that I don’t understand Tamil one word. I would have never understood the movie if not for the sub-titles! Even given that, I am in love with this movie.

Revathi plays the girl next door who is nearing her graduation. As all normal middle class families, her marriage is of the utmost importance to the family. Being the eldest of three daughters only makes her case worse. On the day the groom is supposed to come, she deliberately decides not to come home and instead wanders all around the town. However to her shock, the groom and his family are still awaiting her even in the night. After a confession to the groom that she is not interested in the marriage, much to her horror, the groom simply says – I like you in a typical groom style and walks away.

After a cliché heart attack to her dad, she agrees to marry. However again, she is not happy. She makes it known to the hero that she is not really interested in the marriage. The loving husband makes all amends to adjust with her, but she doesn’t budge. Once when he suggests she ask him for a gift, she demands a divorce. The day he brings her the gift is also the day when she tells him about her previous love and why she is not happy with this marriage. To her, he was the one she was going to marry; however he dies right in front of her. After a sobbing wife tries to walk away, the husband still tries to hand her the gift he got – the divorce papers and pair of payals. The husband meekly asks her to choose between the gift he gave and the gift she wants.

She chooses the divorce papers; however according to Indian Penal Code, a married couple has to stay together for 1 year before a mutual divorce. Mouna Raagam is the story of that one year.

Direction

Mani Rathnam is the best director of Indian Cinema for me(Ram Gopal Verma, Shekar Kapur, Bhansali and Yash Chopra follow next). Mani’s magic is scene (pun intended) in every scene of the movie! The first casual glance between the hero and the heroine to the smallest of nuances has been captured superbly on screen. Add to it, Mani chooses to stay Indian in the movie. No Swiss locales, but you have Rajasthan. No Queen Victoria’s Mahal anywhere, but instead he chooses to direct a beautiful song on the bank of Taj Mahal.

Music

Music has always been Mani’s strength. This is no different – rather this must be one of the best melodies I have heard in my life. Again, I don’t understand the songs, but I do feel them. Each song except a bubbly song in beginning is a gem by itself. As the name suggests of the movie, every song is silent melody. There are just 5 songs in the movie, and 4 of them are absolutely mind blowing.

Performances

Show me a Mani Rathnam movie where the lead performers don’t act well? If he could make Madhu act in Roja, he may very well make a donkey act like Hrithik Roshan (err..thats not a very big improvement is it?) . Anyways, clearly without saying, this movie belongs to Revathi for her inspired and sincere performance as the troubled wife coming to terms with her husband. Both lead actors perform their roles superbly, and specially the first love who puts in a small but spirited performance. [please excuse…my lack of Tamil knowledge leaves me no idea of who those actors were!]

So Says Supremus

Finally, in the end, to sum it up – well – Don’t Miss this movie. If you are looking for one of Mani’s ever best, then this is the perfect movie for you. Just take care that either you have a vcd/dvd with subtitles, or drag your Madrasi friend to sit with you throughout the movie. By the way for trivia, this is the original movie which since then has inspired countless number of movies on the same theme – from Woh Saath Din to HDDCS – every script resembles the silent melody cast upon us by Mani!

Happy viewing!