Mugavaree

Mugavaree
Directed by	V. Z. Durai
Produced by	S. S. Chakravarthy S. N. Raja
Written by	Balakumaran
Starring	Ajith Kumar Jyothika Raghuvaran K. Vishwanath Vivek Manivannan
Music by	Deva
Cinematography	P. C. Sriram
Editing by	Suresh Urs
Studio	NIC Arts
Release date(s)	February 19, 2000 (2000-02-19)
Running time	156 mins
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Mugavaree (Tamil: முகவரி) (English: Address) is a 2000 Tamil drama film directed by V. Z. Durai and produced by S. S. Chakravarthy. The film features Ajith Kumar in the lead role as a struggling musician with Jyothika, Raghuvaran, Vivek and K.Vishwanath playing supporting roles. The music is composed by Deva, whilst the film featured award-winning cinematrography by P. C. Sriram.^[1]

The story revolves around the conflicting emotions of ambition, love and responsibility that the protagonist, Sridhar played by Ajith Kumar, goes through in his quest to become a successful music composer. The film opned in February 2000 to critical acclaim and commercial success.^[2]

Plot

Sridhar (Ajith Kumar) has been trying to become a music director for eight years. In spite of having earned an M.A., his only dream is to become a music director (he even calls the eight-year wait a "penance"). His family, consisting of his father (K. Vishwanath), his brother Shiva (Raghuvaran), his sister-in-law Shantha (Sitara) and his sister (Preitha Raghav), is fully supportive of him. He runs into Viji (Jyothika) and their friendship soon blossoms into love. She helps him get a foot in the door in the industry but bad luck spoils his chances.

When Viji's sister's marriage is finalised suddenly, Viji's father (Jaiganesh) asks her to get married too. But he is understandably worried when he learns that Sridhar is unemployed and following a dream that has not been realised for 8 years.Her father even offers a job to him also. But he refuses to do that since his primary goal is to become music director. The matters ends there when her father arranges marriage with some other. He fails in love. Back in Sridhar's home, Shiva suffers a heart attack. To support his family he takes up a job. But he continues with hope that in future his dream may come true.

The film initially ended with Sridhar's hope lost and his future looking bleak but the climax was changed after release to a short clip is shown of a few years later of Sridhar living his dream, implying that it finally came true.

Cast

• Ajith Kumar as Sridhar
• Jyothika as Viji
• Raghuvaran as Shiva
• K. Vishwanath
• Vivek as Ramesh
• Manivannan
• Sithara as Shantha
• Suchindra as Dhurai
• Cochin Hanifa

Production

The director, V. Z. Durai revealed that he had approached S. S. Chakravarthy to make the film with Ajith Kumar after failing to get noticed for a long period, getting rejected by four producers for the script. Chakravarthy was supportive and maintained a close link with the film from shoot til post-production, and also played apart in roping in Jyothika for the film.^[3]

Prior to the release of the film, Ajith who has happy with the final product gifted a car to the director. The success of the film led to the producer and the director signing another film together, Kadhal Sadugudu featuring Vikram and Priyanka Trivedi.

Release

The film opened to positive reviews from critics with a reviewer citing that "Durai's presentation and supporting characters lack the depth necessary to make this a commercially successful venture".^[4] Rediff.com also gave the film a positive review citing that the real "winners" are "Ajith Kumar, the actor, and P. C. Sriram, the cinematographer". The critic claimed that Ajith "brilliantly portrays the vulnerable and sad Sridhar".^[5] A third reviewer also praised the film claiming that Ajith "comes up with another good performance, conveying the hopes and frustrations of a struggling music director well", whilst Jyothika "looks cute and also proves her acting credentials" and Raghuvaran is "dignified as usual".^[6]

The film went on to win the second prize for Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Family Film, whilst Brindha won Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Choreographer for her work in the film's songs.

References

1. ^ http://movies.bizhat.com/review_mugavari.php
2. ^ http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2002/07/19/stories/2002071900930300.htm
3. ^ http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2002/09/06/stories/2002090601260300.htm
4. ^ http://www.indolink.com/tamil/cinema/Reviews/articles/Mugavari_111321.html
5. ^ http://www.rediff.com/movies/2000/mar/06muga.htm
6. ^ http://www.thiraipadam.com/cgi-bin/movie_review.pl?id=20&user_name=bbalaji&review_lang=english&lang=english

External links