Mugavaree

Sridhar (Ajith Kumar) is from a middle-class family headed by his father (K. Vishwanath). Shiva (Raghuvaran) is Sridhar's elder brother and the breadwinner for the family, consisting of his wife Shantha (Sithara) and sister (Preitha Raghav). Sridhar, upon completion of his graduation, aspires to become a music director and tries hard to secure a chance in movies, but all his efforts go in vain. Sridhar's search for a chance continues for eight years. Despite that, his family members support him very well and encourage him whenever he feels dejected.

Sridhar meets and befriends Viji Chandrasekhar (Jyothika). Viji also likes Sridhar and his aspiration. Slowly, love blossoms between them. Viji gets introduced to Sridhar's family, and they too like her. However, Sridhar has plans of marrying her only after getting his first break in music. Viji also understands Sridhar and supports him. A CD shop owner (Manivannan) is Sridhar's neighbor, and he also encourages him. Sridhar gets an opportunity to compose music for a film. He feels extremely happy and goes for recording. Unfortunately on the same day, the producer meets with an accident, and as he feels it as an inauspicious sign, the movie is dropped.

Viji's younger sister Sudha (Soumya) gets a good marriage alliance, but the groom's family finds it odd upon seeing Viji being unmarried. Viji's father (Jaiganesh) requests Sridhar and Viji to get married so that it does not stop his younger daughter's wedding proposal. Viji's father asks Sridhar to leave away his dream of becoming a music director as he has been already trying hard for years. He also offers him a job so that he can marry Viji.

However, Sridhar refuses to let go his dream. He is ready to sacrifice his love for the sake of his ambition. He requests Viji to marry someone else as he cannot give up his passion for music. One day, Shiva has a heart attack and is admitted to the hospital. The doctors say that Shiva has heart problems and needs rest. Sridhar is shocked to see his brother's condition. As Shiva was the only income earner in the family, now Shantha and Preitha decide to take up some jobs to help earn money for the family.

Sridhar worries seeing that, though he also feels proud about the love and affection shown by his family members towards him, as no one asked him to forego his ambition and take up some job despite this condition. However, Sridhar decides to go for a job so he could ease his family's financial burden. He informs this and leaves for an interview.

The film 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.[3]

Prior to the release of the film, Ajith Kumar, 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.

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, the actor, and P. C. Sriram, the cinematographer". The critic claimed that Ajith Kumar "brilliantly portrays the vulnerable and sad Sridhar".[5] A third reviewer also praised the film claiming that Ajith Kumar "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]

Post-release, the film's climax was changed following demand from audiences. The initial climax showed the character of Sridhar facing another roadblock on his journey towards becoming a music composer. The changed ending showed a more favourable situation for him.[7][8]

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. The film was later dubbed and released in Telugu as Chirunama.

The film's score and chart-topping soundtrack was composed by Deva, with lyrics written by Vairamuthu. "Oh... Nenje" is based on "Get Down (You're the One for Me)" by the Backstreet Boys,[9] "Poo Virinjachu" is based on "That Thing You Do" from the film of the same name, and "Keechu Kiliye" is based on "Enemies" by Dr. Alban.[10]

• Mugavaree at IMDb