''Mouna Guru'' () is a 2011 Indian
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
-language
action thriller film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
directed by Santha Kumar and produced by M. K. Thamizharasu. The film stars
Arulnidhi
Arulnithi Tamilarasu (born 21 July 1987) is an Indian actor best known for playing the lead roles in ''Vamsam'', directed by Pandiraj, Mouna Guru, and Demonte Colony.
Personal life
Arulnithi's grandfather is M. Karunanidhi, former Chief Minist ...
and
Ineya
Shruti Sawant better known by her stage name Ineya, is an Indian actress and model from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala who predominantly appears in Malayalam and Tamil films. She won the Best Actress Award for her role in the Tamil film '' Vaagai S ...
, while
John Vijay
John Vijay (born 20 November 1976) is an Indian actor who plays supporting roles in Tamil films. He has also worked in a few Malayalam, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada films.
Career
John Vijay did his M.Sc. in Visual Communication from Loyola College ...
,
Madhusudhan Rao,
Uma Riyaz Khan
Uma Riyaz Khan is an Indian actress. She has appeared in Tamil television shows and in supporting roles in a few Tamil films.
Personal life
Uma was the only child of her artist parents. Her father, Kamesh, was a music director and her mother, ...
,
Krishnamoorthy, and Balakrishnan play supporting roles. ''Mouna Guru'' illustrates a misunderstood college youth who becomes unwittingly involved in a crime plot that spirals his life out of order.
The film's soundtrack has been composed by
S. Thaman
Ghantasala Sai Srinivas Thaman (born 16 November 1983), known professionally as Thaman S, earlier as S S Thaman, is an Indian music composer, professional drummer, and playback singer who predominantly works in Telugu films and Tamil films. Th ...
. It was released on 16 December 2011 and received highly positive reviews, subsequently becoming a
sleeper hit
In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit is a film, television series, music release, video game, or some other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release but became a success later on. A sleeper hit may have little promo ...
. The film was remade in Kannada as ''
Guru
Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...
'', in Telugu as ''
Shankara'' and in Hindi as ''
Akira''.
Plot
Karunakaran finds it difficult to adjust with the society that he lives. As a result, he is unable to control his anger and ends up with trouble due to his unpredictable behavior, which becomes a constant worry for his mother and brother. A series of incidents force him to leave
Madurai
Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...
and end up in
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
. Despite scoring high marks in school, he joins a local arts college in the city and stays in a hostel, where trouble begins. Aarthi, a medical student and the younger sister of Karuna's sister in-law, develops a soft corner for Karuna.
Meanwhile,
ACP Marimuthu,
Inspector
Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it.
Australia
In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...
Rajendran,
SI Selvam, and
HC Perumalsamy witness a car accident in the outskirts of Chennai. When they are about to take the victim to a nearby hospital, they come across a huge stash of cash. The policemen kill the half-dead victim and flee to Chennai with the money. However, Maya, a prostitute, learns the truth by overhearing Marimuthu's telephone conversation and records it. When Maya plans to threaten Marimuthu, she accidentally loses her camera which had the
video footage
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...
. The next day, Marimuthu gets a threatening call from a guy and finds out that it was Maya who recorded his conversation. An enraged Marimuthu beats up Maya and eventually kills her.
A sincere cop named Palaniammal takes up this case. In the college where Karuna studies, there is a series of thefts happening in the hostel. Marimuthu finds out that one of the college students had actually stolen Maya's camera. One day, a bag containing all the stolen items is kept in Karuna's hostel room, making him as the prime suspect of all the threats, which leads him to get arrested. Marimuthu, along with his friends, kidnaps Karuna and Maya's friends with plans of killing them in a forest. They kill Maya's friends, but Karuna escapes from there and reaches Chennai. Meanwhile, Marimuthu finds that it was not Karuna who had blackmailed him. Karuna is falsely accused of
mental instability
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
by Marimuthu and his team of policemen and is institutionalised.
Karuna is kept under constant
sedation
Sedation is the reduction of irritability or agitation by administration of sedative drugs, generally to facilitate a medical procedure or diagnostic procedure. Examples of drugs which can be used for sedation include isoflurane, diethyl ether, ...
with the help of a corrupt doctor. They forge a story that Karuna is suffering from a mental disorder which makes him think that he is being chased by a group of policemen for a fake
encounter
Encounter or Encounters may refer to:
Film
*''Encounter'', a 1997 Indian film by Nimmala Shankar
* ''Encounter'' (2013 film), a Bengali film
* ''Encounter'' (2018 film), an American sci-fi film
* ''Encounter'' (2021 film), a British sci-fi film
* ...
. Karuna escapes from the mental asylum and reaches his hostel. Karuna kidnaps Rajendran and threatens him to disclose all the truth to the public. Meanwhile, Palaniammal collects vital info and cracks the case. It is revealed that the person who stole Maya's camera was Dinesh, who happens to be the son of the
college principal. Knowing this, the principal had tried to save Dinesh by keeping all the stolen items in Karuna's room during vacation, so that Karuna will return the things and all will be done.
When Palaniammal corners and is about to arrest the culprits in the college old
auditorium
An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...
, she gets a call from the
commissioner
A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something).
In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...
that the person, who was murdered by Marimuthu and his team was a leading politician in
Bangalore
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
which could lead to state problems and hence does not disclose the incident to the media. Palaniammal is helpless and leaves the place. However, Karuna gets enraged and kills Marimuthu, Rajendran, Selvam, and Perumalsamy, where he is sentenced to psychological treatment (as he is falsely believed to have a mental disorder). After getting released, Karuna and Aarthi get married, where he works as a teacher in a deaf-dumb school.
Cast
*
Arulnidhi
Arulnithi Tamilarasu (born 21 July 1987) is an Indian actor best known for playing the lead roles in ''Vamsam'', directed by Pandiraj, Mouna Guru, and Demonte Colony.
Personal life
Arulnithi's grandfather is M. Karunanidhi, former Chief Minist ...
as Karunakaran
*
Ineya
Shruti Sawant better known by her stage name Ineya, is an Indian actress and model from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala who predominantly appears in Malayalam and Tamil films. She won the Best Actress Award for her role in the Tamil film '' Vaagai S ...
as Aarthi
*
John Vijay
John Vijay (born 20 November 1976) is an Indian actor who plays supporting roles in Tamil films. He has also worked in a few Malayalam, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada films.
Career
John Vijay did his M.Sc. in Visual Communication from Loyola College ...
as Marimuthu
*
Madhusudhan Rao as Rajendran
*
Uma Riyaz Khan
Uma Riyaz Khan is an Indian actress. She has appeared in Tamil television shows and in supporting roles in a few Tamil films.
Personal life
Uma was the only child of her artist parents. Her father, Kamesh, was a music director and her mother, ...
as Palaniammal
*
Krishnamoorthy as Perumalsamy
* Balakrishnan as Selvam
*
Dinesh Ravi
Dinesh Ravi, better known as Attakathi Dinesh, is an Indian actor who has acted in leading roles in Tamil cinema. He made his breakthrough playing the lead role in ''Attakathi'' (2012), portraying Dinakaran.
Career
Dinesh completed his high ...
as Principal's son
*
Sujatha Sivakumar
Sujatha Sivakumar is an Born: (27 September 1973) Indian actress who has appeared in Tamil films. Sujatha rose to fame with her performance in Ameer's ''Paruthiveeran'' (2007), before appearing in several supporting roles as a mother in Tamil ...
as Karunakaran's mother
*
Kaajal Pasupathi
Kaajal Pasupathi is an Indian actress of the Tamil film industry. She had roles in the films '' Ko'' (2011), ''Mouna Guru'' (2011) and ''Katham Katham'' (2015).
Career
She began her career in entertainment as a video jockey with the Sun Musi ...
as Marimuthu's girlfriend
*
Aadukalam Murugadoss
Aadukalam Murugadoss is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films. He made his breakthrough portraying Dhanush's friend in Vetrimaaran's critically acclaimed 2011 film. ''Aadukalam'', thus adding the name of the film as a prefix to ...
as Babu
*
Kaali Venkat
Kaali Venkat (born 5 May 1984) is an Indian actor who mainly appears in Tamil language films.
Personal life
Venkat hails from Kudaiyadevanpatti a village near Kovilpatti. Venkat used to act in dramas during his school days. With an ambition to ...
as Hospital compounder
*
Ravi Ravi may refer to:
People
* Ravi (name), including a list of people and characters with the name
* Ravi (composer) (1926–2012), Indian music director
* Ravi (Ivar Johansen) (born 1976), Norwegian musical artist
* Ravi (music director) (1926–201 ...
* Ravi Venkatraman
Production
Uma Riyaz Khan
Uma Riyaz Khan is an Indian actress. She has appeared in Tamil television shows and in supporting roles in a few Tamil films.
Personal life
Uma was the only child of her artist parents. Her father, Kamesh, was a music director and her mother, ...
's character Palaniammal, a sincere police officer who is pregnant in her third trimester, was a character closely resembling Marge Gunderson from
Fargo portrayed by
Frances McDormand
Frances Louise McDormand (born Cynthia Ann Smith; June 23, 1957) is an American actress and producer. Throughout her career spanning over four decades, McDormand has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Primetime Em ...
. Santhakumar revealed that it took five days just to shoot the scene that comes before the intermission although it appears for just 10 minutes in the film. Similarly the climax sequences were shot over a period of 15 days.
Soundtrack
The film score and soundtrack are composed by
S. Thaman
Ghantasala Sai Srinivas Thaman (born 16 November 1983), known professionally as Thaman S, earlier as S S Thaman, is an Indian music composer, professional drummer, and playback singer who predominantly works in Telugu films and Tamil films. Th ...
and the album was released on 15 November 2011 across Tamil Nadu.
Release
The film turned out to be a sleeper hit. Its shows were gradually increased and accounted for 54% of the takings in Chennai box office on its fourth weekend.
Reception
The film opened on 16 December 2011 across Tamil Nadu, alongside the
Prashanth
Prashanth Thiagarajan (born 6 April 1973), known professionally as Prashanth, is an Indian actor and businessman, known for his works predominantly in Tamil cinema. Besides Tamil films, he has also appeared in few Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam fi ...
-starrer ''
Mambattiyan
''Mambattiyan'' () is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language vigilante film co-written, produced and directed by Thiagarajan, starring his son Prashanth as the title character. The film, also starring Meera Jasmine, Prakash Raj, Vadivelu and Mumaith Khan ...
'', to positive reviews from critics. ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
'' gave the film a positive review citing that "Mouna Guru is one of the small gems of Tamil cinema this year" and that "it marks a promising debut for Shantakumar and advances Arulnidhi's career". Rohit Ramachandran from ''Nowrunning.com'' rated the movie 3/5 and wrote that "Mouna guru is a well-intentioned thriller that keeps you glued to your seat, which is more than I can say for most Tamil movies." ''
Sify
Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology company providing end-to-end ICT solutions including telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation in ...
.com'' described the film as "very good", claiming it "works as an intelligent, taut thriller that sustains dramatic tension throughout". The critic also went on to claim that Arulnithi "drives the film with the intensity in his eyes, body language and an underplayed performance", while describing John Vijay's performance as "riveting". Pavithra Srinivasan of ''
Rediff.com
Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City.
, it had more than 300 e ...
'' gave the film three and a half stars and described the film as a "must-watch", while mentioning that
Uma Riyaz Khan
Uma Riyaz Khan is an Indian actress. She has appeared in Tamil television shows and in supporting roles in a few Tamil films.
Personal life
Uma was the only child of her artist parents. Her father, Kamesh, was a music director and her mother, ...
"walks away with the honours". ''Behindwoods.com'' gave the film three stars out of five praising the director Shantakumar's execution, while also singling out John Vijay's act as "the performance of his career".
Awards and nominations
;
Vijay Awards
The Vijay Awards are presented by the Tamil television channel STAR Vijay to honour excellence in Tamil cinema. It has been given annually since 2006, with the latest—the 10th edition—of the award-giving ceremony having been held in ...
* 2011 -
Vijay Award for Best Supporting Actress
The Vijay for Best Supporting Actress is given by STAR Vijay as part of its annual Vijay Awards ceremony for Tamil (Kollywood) films.
The list
Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won.
Nominations
*2007 Sujatha Siv ...
-
Uma Riaz Khan
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, 2145803
2011 films
Tamil films remade in other languages
2010s Tamil-language films
Films scored by Thaman S