Mouna Ragam -- Mani's Best ?
Vasantham Central (Singapore's local tamil channel) celebrates Maniratnam special this month. I happened to catch the movie "Mouna Ragam" by Mani on Saturday.
The movie, IMHO, is perhaps the best Maniratnam movie. The screenplay is nearly flawless (ignoring the cinematic ending), dialogues are sharp/witty , excellent characterisations of Mohan/Revathi/Karthik , wonderful performances, nice/decent humor,terrific direction and of course unforgetable music.
Maniratnam is at his best etching human complexities,relationships and bonding. This is what he does best and demonstrated it again in Alaipayuthe & Kannathil Muthamitaal. This is pure vintage mani -- no artifice,pretense ( I disliked his later movies such as Thiruda Thiruda,Aayudha Ezhuthu, Dil se -- they all lacked realism ).
The camerawork was excellent too capturing the best of Delhi & Agra, not to forget the great interiors of Mohan's aesthetic home.
Illayaraja's music score is a classic. All the songs were huge hits and the BGM (Background music) is a treat to movie fans and a lesson for other music directors who want to learn about background music.
What happened to that whiz kid maniratnam these days who is increasingly getting bogged down by the weight of his celebrity ?
Vasantham Central (Singapore's local tamil channel) celebrates Maniratnam special this month. I happened to catch the movie "Mouna Ragam" by Mani on Saturday.
The movie, IMHO, is perhaps the best Maniratnam movie. The screenplay is nearly flawless (ignoring the cinematic ending), dialogues are sharp/witty , excellent characterisations of Mohan/Revathi/Karthik , wonderful performances, nice/decent humor,terrific direction and of course unforgetable music.
Maniratnam is at his best etching human complexities,relationships and bonding. This is what he does best and demonstrated it again in Alaipayuthe & Kannathil Muthamitaal. This is pure vintage mani -- no artifice,pretense ( I disliked his later movies such as Thiruda Thiruda,Aayudha Ezhuthu, Dil se -- they all lacked realism ).
The camerawork was excellent too capturing the best of Delhi & Agra, not to forget the great interiors of Mohan's aesthetic home.
Illayaraja's music score is a classic. All the songs were huge hits and the BGM (Background music) is a treat to movie fans and a lesson for other music directors who want to learn about background music.
What happened to that whiz kid maniratnam these days who is increasingly getting bogged down by the weight of his celebrity ?
posted by Cogito at
Monday, September 05, 2005
7 Comments:
Ya true, what a masterpiece and such amazing music.
By
Vasant, at 3:34 PM
Saw bits and pieces of the movie on the telly...obviously didnt understand too much of it, but it is similar to Woh Saat Din? seemed like the 'girlmarriesboyofparentschoiceandhateshimbecauseofpreviousloverbutintheendreconciles' angle?
quite liked the BGM..
By
Abhishek Chatterjee, at 4:48 PM
I watched it too. Love the background score. Too good!
By
Dinesh, at 5:43 PM
Abhisek,
I think you would have watched the hindi version: Hum Dil de Chuke Sanam... ;-)
just that the original is more subtle but hard hitting...
By
Neodawn, at 4:18 PM
adula enna doubT??it is manis best
By
ada-paavi!!!!, at 7:00 PM
Vasant,Dinesh,vatsan -- Absolutely
Abhi -- The story of Mouna Ragam = HDDCS If salman had died in the movie ..
arun - thanks for clarifying
chennai chatter -- mani extracts the best music from his MD's
By
Cogito, at 11:09 AM
I too watched.. definitely it is one of his best.. since he has churned different types of movies like roja, anjali, naayagan, we cannot choose any one as his best... all are good in different aspect.
By
Ram C, at 12:49 PM
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