Muruga (film)

Muruga is a 2007 Indian Tamil language film written and directed by R. T. Neason, starring Ashok, Shruti Sharma and Vadivelu. The story, screenplay and dialogues are by Neason, who has worked as an assistant to Udayasankar and Vincent Selva. Ram Senthil Kumar's Cocktail Dream Productions distributed the movie. The camera operator was Padmesh and the music is by Kartik Raja.

Plot
Murugan (Ashok) falls in love with his schoolmate Amudha (Shruti Sharma), a rich girl who does not love him in return. When the news of Murugan's love reaches her family, Amudha's uncle Selvam (Riyaz Khan) tries to kill him, ultimately banishing Murugan and his mother from the village. Saddened, Murugan goes to Chennai and ends up with a job as a delivery boy. Having given up all hope of ever seeing Amutha again, he bumps into her when making a delivery at a medical college. Forgetting the past and her family's issues, the two become good friends, and this friendship develops into love. After completing her studies, Amutha returns to the village, only to discover that wedding preparations are underway as her parents had arranged for her to marry Selvam. Finally, Murugan and Amudha succeed in getting married with Amudha's father's blessings.

Production
The film saw the debut of Nesan as director, Padmesh as cinematographer and Ramji Senthil as producer. Chaya Singh was originally part of the cast but eventually did not feature.

Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack had its official launch in November 2006. Saraswathy Srinivas of Rediff.com wrote, "Overall, in this album Karthik Raja follows the beaten track, offering up routine stuff".

Lyrics written by Na. Muthukumar.


 * 1) "Kuthuna" by Shankar Mahadevan
 * 2) "En Kathali" by Karthik
 * 3) "Chinnanchiru Chitte" by Vineeth Srinivasan and Sangeetha Rajeshwaran
 * 4) "Melathe Kottu" by Tippu, Sujatha and Malgudi Subha
 * 5) "Pollatha Kirukku" by Udit Narayan and Shreya Ghosal

Reception
IndiaGlitz congratulated Neason for not creating a formulaic Tamil film. Ashok and Sruthi Sharma were praised for making the best advantage of their roles, but Vadivelu's character's humour was panned. Special note was taken of Mahadevan for the solidity he brought to his character, and to the musical score created by Karthik Raja. While noting that the film's length could have benefited from trimming, the reviewer wrote, "The director has made an honest and sincere attempt to give a film which has a good storyline and interesting screenplay." Oneindia review felt the film did not make an impact. The review concluded, "If the Director conceived more twistful and interesting sequences in the screenplay, the film could be more enjoyable." Malini Mannath of Chennai Online wrote "The film, by first-timer Nesan (apprenticed under directors like Vincent Selva), perks up at times but falls flat at others, slipping into predictable lines." Lajjavathi of Kalki wrote The film, which should have been powerful enough for the powerful title Muruga, missed somewhere.