Mahanadi (1994) User Reviews (20)

The BEST movie I have ever seen

[gs-magesh · 10/10 · 23 August 2006]

This is the first movie (and only movie so far) that I was impressed very much. Tears came out of my eyes twice while watching this movie, such a movie is this with a natural story. Every actor in this movie performed their best to make the movie an outstanding.

Ilayaraja - the King of music, performed an excellent work in this movie, may it be songs or background music, he is the only competitor for him in this planet.

To say about Kamalhaasan's acting you might watch this scene from the movie. "His daughter and son with his mother-in-law will come to jail and talk with him, he will notice (unexpectedly) his daughter as a matured girl. His mother-in-law asks her to get blessings from him". At this moment his face will be changed and he will be in tears. He tries to control it and simply listen to his mother-in-law and he wont be able to speak at that time. NONE OF THE ACTORS IN THIS WORLD CAN DO IT.

Rest of the things is left to you to watch the movie. Director Sandhana Barathi has done a good job. A MUST SEE MOVIE.

great

[goldbergvariations · 10/10 · 25 August 2004]

One of the best movies to have come out of India in the last ten years. Traces the story of a well-respected man in a small village who is conned into coming to the city and starting a business.

He goes to jail for false charges of swindling money. He struggles to come to terms with life in jail. On the outside terrible things happen to his young son and daughter. The people who cheat him screw around with his kids further.

To find out what happens next watch the movie. Watch out for Kamal Hasan's acting. He is a legend in his own right in India. Can't believe this movie bombed in the box office.

well enacted movie by Kamalahassan

[life2dlees · 8/10 · 18 January 2006]

this is one of the Tamil movies which will appeal to international audience! Krishna(Kamalahassan) a widower,living happily with his two kids and his mother in a village near Srirangam! in a thrush of greed,brainwashed by an urban con man (v.M.C.Haneefa)he starts a financial company with his partnership, in the city Chennai. then the story shockingly reveals,how the city and its materialism ruins him and his family before his innocence comprehend its deceptive ways! Kamalahassan could challenge any actor in the world on any role! the scene when he finds his long lost daughter in a brothel in Calcutta, his emotional outburst, and the subsequent scene he trying to runaway carrying her in his arms through the mob of pimps,would substantiate that the statement made by me above is not an exaggeration! it may be a bit cinematic when he sets out for a revenge... and Yamuna(Suganya) may irritate you with a faulty Brahmin's dialect... apart from that its an excellent film utilizing fully the acting potentials of one of the world's best actor KAMALAHASSAN!

Under-rated classic

[aparna · 14 September 2001]

Kamal Hassan has delivered a knockout performance in this under-rated classic. Its the story of the father of two, played by Kamal Hassan who falls for deceit and ends up in Jail. Kamal Hassan is a wealthy villager who makes acquaintance with a crooked guy from the city. Kamal Hassan trusts this man implicitly and invests all his money. By the time, he realises his folly, its too late and he ends up in a jail. In the meanwhile, his daughter is forced into prostitution and his son lands up in a touring circus troupe. On returning from jail, he goes searching for his daughter who is found in a brothel in Calcutta. This scene will make anyone cry. Kamal Hassan also finds his son and he is so mad that his whole life was shattered by the guy whom he trusted. This movie has Kamal Hassan at its best with excellent music from Ilayaraja and is exceedingly well directed. This movie shows that, no khan from bollywood can match the talent of kamal hassan, the greatest actor, india has ever produced.

A Tamizh movie classic (10/10)

[darbar · 10/10 · 23 August 2002]

This movie is a typical Kamal, Santhana Barathi, Ilayaraaja classic and one of the movies Kamal has done his best without overdoing (which IMO he frequently does).

It's the story of an innocent village widower businessman who leads a simple life along with his children and Mother-in-law. He yields to temptation of moving to the city to make big money. Then starts all the trouble and pain that he has to face. The movie is really intense,dark and tragic.I will say no more for it will spoil the suspense.

Illayaraja has done his part by providing the movie with a great musical score.

Mahanadi is probably one of the few thamizh movie worth the time. 10/10 for the acting, direction and the music.

Not all movies can be this one

[seenpriyan · 10/10 · 1 June 2005]

As the summary suggests, not all movies can be like Mahandi. This is a movie of different caliber. I personally never had a chance to watch this movie to appreciate its content until the movie was played on TV. This movie is worth watching for its songs, Kamal Hassan's acting, entire crew who made a very serious movie happen. The movie begins with a respected small town man Krishna played by Kamal Hassan with his perfect family minus his wife. His two kids Cauvery(played by Mahanadi Shobana), Bharani(Notice all the character names are rivers in India). Having met his Childhood friend , he is allured into living in a bigger city. Decides to start a business in big city with wrong people. The wrong people really screw his life, he ends up in prison for the false charges of fraud. He has hard time in Prison with his honesty, having completed his term he if out of the prison to find out his kids are missing, act of Wrong people. Watch this movie to find out what really happens next , does he find his kids ? Music is worth listening, has got a touch of folk and classic. Worth watching. Alls well ends well... is it? Alls not well doesn't end well? Find out more than debating the correctness of previous statement.

Not for emotionally weak

[harineem-209-525488 · 9/10 · 25 July 2020]

I would not recommend this movie if you are emotionally fragile and get disturbed easily. This movie will shatter you to pieces in some scenes. I am not a KamalHassan fan but this is a performance which even Gods would come down to watch. Playing a middle class father having his life ripped apart by greedy men this is his best performance ever and maybe his best movie. I will never watch this movie again because I cant handle the intensity of some scenes where you will just breakdown in tears. A fantastic movie which should have easily won the Oscars or any international award.

Best Ever in Tamil

[maheshraveendran · 10/10 · 13 October 2010]

MAHANADHI..., its one of the best movie ever came in Tamil and also in future no movie can defeat this.. the role Krishna, could never played by any other actor. None can control their tears, when they watch this movie at any number of times. Movie clearly shown how a normal man get attracted by money and how he lose his happiness. also how some rich people were greedy about money, gals,etc. the scenes took place inside prison were awesome. no other movie shown the actual scenes like that.

A great try by Kamalhasan (god of Tamil cinema). actually Oscar missed this movie... not this movie missed Oscar.

the villain role played by Hanifa is fantastic. whenever i used to see him in any other movies, i felt angry with him. we cannot see any blunder in this whole movie. Music by Maestro, is a strong backbone for this movie. we can feel the romance and sadness of krishna from the background score. feel proud to write review for mahanadhi..

Kamal:Born With Acting Skills

[kavi_like33 · 10/10 · 16 July 2006]

Mahanadhi is one of the movies that got many actors noticed, exp: Mahanadhi Shobana is an expert in devotional singing just because of that song she sang in Mahanadhi (Sri Rangaranganasvery) , Mahanadhi Shankar got noticed because he got tons of roles in tons of movies and so does Mahanadhi Dhanush. The story is how a man tries to reach the top (Kamal) but finds it is very, but only because of the indecent citizens of India, he also finds there are rare citizens that want to make India grow. In jail he has to suffer a whole lot (he only goes to jail because 2 people) BUT MEANWHILE Kamal's 2 children (who don't have a mother, mother died) need money because their grandma who has been beaten by one of the con men and who has been admitted to the hospital to have the operation needs money. The children go to the 2 con men (they do not know they are cons) and ask for and they get jobs but dirty ones. Kamal kill the 2 con men after his release from jail.

Message: If India will have to grow they do not grow of bad things especially of evil citizen becoming minsters.

Message 2: Money is not the important thing.

In all Must watch movie!

Must watch

[naveenvlfk · 10/10 · 10 October 2017]

A must watch by every Indian citizen to know the consequences of Money.The saddest Indian movie but with a moderate happy ending. One cannot imagine such a dreadful life but if we look at the reality lot of people have gone-going through several pathetic journey. Every Father should cry on that scene where Kamal rescues his daughter from that Redlight area of Calcutta. The movie also showcases the worst part of the Jail and how prisoners are affected. Kamalhasan's performance would be at Top notch and the portrayal of a caring Father would be astounding. Maestro Illayaraja would have given a haunting BGM. There are few stunt scenes and the one between Kamal and the Jailer before Interval is a Mass scene of Hero's career. This should be the first movie where the audience really starts hating the villains. Of course it ran over 200 Days and remember 150 days in several theaters.

Mahanadhi is a painful and emotional classic which explorers the right potential of Crime-Action Genre and also breaks the stereotype methods.

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 8/10 · 5 June 2021]

Mahanadhi (1994) : Brief Review -

Mahanadhi is a painful and emotional classic which explorers the right potential of Crime-Action Genre and also breaks the stereotype methods. Usually, action flicks are made for entertainment but there are some great classics in this genre too. This action films craze probably begun in 70s when Bollywood and South both cinema industries went completely Massy over it. After a decade or so it all became typical. So obviously we needed a change which was somehow fulfilled by Crime/Gangster films after mid 80s but still a typical family man's story of Revenge into action zone was missing then. If i am not going wrong then i think Mahanadhi came to rescue us audience and i haven't considered gangster or baddie protagonist films. An innocent man is framed in a financial scam and imprisoned. His life is completely shattered and how. Totally destroyed by pimps and scoundrels. Even his jail experience isn't anything different, he has to deal the same corruption there too. After his release, he learns that his daughter was sold into prostitution and he struggles to free her. At last, a long torment comes to end when he decided to do a right thing and what he does is all about the climax. Kamal Haasan is an actor par excellence and during 80s and 90s he was the best actor available for any genre in Tamil cinema. He does it again, and he does exactly how it should have been done. I literally broke down seeing his screaming cry and expressions at couple of occasions. Not just him but even the rest of the supporting cast has done so well, including child artists. Santhana Bharathi's storytelling drives you mad with multiple layers coming one after another and then emotional portions test your control over sentiments. Overall, a Classic Revenge Drama with required cinematic Knowledge.

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Realistic movie...!!!

[kamalbeeee · 9/10 · 11 July 2020]

This movie is the reason of become kamal hasaan fan myself...An innocent man got into trap by financial company cheaters...then his family shatters like anything... Once he came from jail he tries to rejoin qith their family...this movie makes me feel sad and gave chance to know about this bad world.. I was stunned by watching kamal hasaan acting..really he is the king in acting...

Beautiful cruel world

[vijaythepro · 7/10 · 29 July 2019]

An innocent and naive father with two motherless children living a happy content life in a village gets lured by a shady townsman who claims to be a businessman and promises to make him rich. The naive father then goes through a series of kafkaesque events. One thing leads to another driving the man's life into a downward spiral. The height of which would be his thirteen year old daughter being trafficked into prostitution. There are ways in which the film appears to be an echo, Patterns of similar action takes place at different point throughout the film which makes us more familiar with the characters and the overall theme of the film hits us stronger, really putting us in the shoes of the protagonist and what insanity of a world he's experiencing. The continuous background of railways. The growth of the family dog. The repetitive shady men. And most importantly the daughters habit of speaking during sleep. We see her innocent dreams to her most traumatic. All rivers start from somewhere, then gets separated and in the end reunites. So do the characters in the film. Mahanadi is a cautionary tale for those who didn't already know and a social commentary for those who see the obvious. For me Mahanadi was all about the side effects of being naive and irrational in a cruel cruel world.

This movie is beyond the value of oscar .

[jeganraj-36027 · 10/10 · 23 May 2020]

The characters in this film is still presents in our country. This film gives an excellent example of those people who were affected by the society. The value of oscar award is equal to the boot where it is not given to this excellent movie .kamal hassan proved himself as ulag anayagan.

Mahanadi

[santhosh-10290 · 8/10 · 15 July 2019]

Good Movie. Everybody acted good in the movie. Songs and BGm in the movie were good. The movie was so interesting. The movie had many scenes which shows the best acting by Kamal Haasan. The movie somewhat lagged at 1st half. The movie was good at 2nd half. Good Movie.

A heart wrenching crime drama

[vijaykarthickvk · 9/10 · 25 January 2024]

Mahanadhi is a highly disturbing dark crime drama that showcases a struggles of a man with 2 children after being scammed by a cheater. The movie starts building a pressure on the audience from 40th minute of the movie. The background score done by ilayaraaja makes the audience emote even better. Writing of Kamal Hassan is the biggest plus of the movie. Kamal Hassan's acting is the soul of the entire movie. This movie moved a bigger position during the scene that happens in a prostitution area. Writing was at its peak. On a whole, though I had some disagreements with the movie, I loved it for its close to reality presentation.

The Best Film ever Tamil Industry made forevere.

[harishmanimaran · 10/10 · 3 December 2020]

The best ever movie that I have watched. By watching this film my tears came out from eyes. Such an amazing, action nd best film 🎥🎥. Thanks to Director Sir Mr. Santhana Bharathi to give this awesome film.

One of the Greatest Indian Movies

[Indian_Movie_Tracker · 10/10 · 26 August 2021]

Anyone who wants to watch a good Indian movie must not miss MAHANADHI. It is serious cinema which will keep you glued to your seats till the very end. Kamal Haasan, undoubtedly India's most versatile superstar has lived the character of 'Krishnaswamy', an innocent villager with 2 lovely kids who get caught in the middle of some dirty business. You wont see the usual commercial elements like crass comedy, double entendre dialogues or unnecessary songs in MAHANADHI. Watch it and you will truly appreciate the lead man who, kind of ghost-directed the movie too.

CULT CLASSIC

[sairamhair · 10/10 · 15 April 2020]

U cannot ignore this cult movieee... As usual surprise ..this came during his peak of his career

The most cruel movie I have ever watched

[sahadev1988 · 7/10 · 17 August 2021]

This is one of the best movies made which shows the worst fate that can befall on a family. This movie will definitely affect your mind for at least a week. That is how intense this movie is. I would not recommend anyone to watch this movie even though it is very well directed and has amazing acting because this movie can really mess with your mind and can make you depressed. The most heart breaking scen of this movie is when kamal hassan finds his daughter to be a prostitute and learns her fate. That scene can literally crush anyone.