Muthal Mariyathai (1985)

Original title

முதல் மரியாதை

Directed by

Bharathiraja

Genre

drama

Country

India

Runtime

2h 40m

Rated

U

Rating

7.7 of 10 from 7 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

An unhappily married village chief starts a relationship with a young boatwoman. The film follows their connection despite the differences in their ages and social positions.

romanticmelancholicslow-burntenderearthybittersweetpoignantintimate

What happens

Muthal Mariyathai ( transl. Prime/First Honour) is a 1985 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film produced, directed and co-written by Bharathiraja. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan and Radha, with Vadivukkarasi, newcomers Deepan and Ranjini, Janagaraj, Sathyaraj, Aruna, Veerasamy and Ramanathan in supporting roles. It revolves around the relationship between an unhappily married village chief and a young boatwoman. The story of Muthal Mariyathai was developed from two sources: an English-language film about the relationship between a young girl and an ageing painter, and a story in Jayakanthan's novel Samoogam Enbadhu Naalu Paer about the relationship between a teacher and an administrator with a strained marriage. The film was co-written by R. Selvaraj, photographed by B. Kannan, and edited by V. Rajagopal and P. Mohan Raj. Filming was entirely held at Talakadu, a village near Mysore in Karnataka. Muthal Mariyathai was released on 15 August 1985. The film received positive reviews and ran for over 200 days in theatres, becoming a silver jubilee hit. It won the Best Lyricist Award and Best Feature Film in Tamil Award for Vairamuthu and Bharathiraja, respectively, in the 33rd National Film Awards, the Cinema Express Award for Best Film – Tamil, and Ganesan and Radha won Filmfare Awards South in the Best Tamil Actor and Best Tamil Actress categories, respectively. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Onnam Prathi Olivil (1985)
• Ivide Ee Theerathu (1985)
• Eeran Sandhya (1985)
• Ozhivukaalam (1985)
• Avan (1985)
• Marudhani (1985)
• Koodum Thedi (1985)
• Menicheppu Thurannappol (1985)