Tanish and Madhurima starrer ‘Mouna Ragam’ is a confused film which tries too hard to prove a point. It tries to address too many questions like should love be a consequence of circumstances? Or should it be a consequence of chance? Directed by Vijay Balaji, the film narrates the story of a young lad whose love for his childhood sweetheart becomes his own nemesis.

What is it about : Tanish stars as Chandu, who struggles a lot so that his childhood sweetheart, Kaveri (Suhasini) can lead a comfortable life. He dreams of marrying her one day and initially his feelings are reciprocated. One day, by chance he bumps into Sandhya (Madhurima) and both of them end up living under the same roof. Chandu dreams of becoming a singer one day, however, his life is turned upside down when his dreams come crashing down. How does Chandu face these problems? Will he choose his childhood sweetheart or the new ray of hope in his life? That forms the rest of the story.

What is Good: Of the star cast, it’s Madhurima who dazzles and almost holds the entire film together with her performance. She plays the role of a confident young girl (Sandhya) who has her own dark past. Yet, she’s determined to fight back. Her dialogues are to the point and she gets most of her expressions right, although it’s difficult to find love in her eyes. Tanish tries really hard to get into the shoes of Chandu, who’s a young version of all those countless roles which Venkatesh has played to perfection in films like Raja, Suryavamsham, Yes, there’s sincerity in his performance but his role falls short of making a strong impression due to poor characterization. Suhasini is good in terms of performance but her characterization is the most bizarre in the film.

What is bad: The first half of the film breezes through without any glitch; however, the director, Vijay Balaji takes too much time in establishing the conflict point in the film. The second half of the film loses steam and drags without sticking to the main storyline. There’s hardly any chemistry between Tanish and Madhurima. It’s not clear if they are in love and the fact that both of them are hell bent in help each other restricts their relationship to only being good friends. Suhasini’s role as Kaveri is amateurishly written. The sudden turn around in her characterization isn’t justified properly and it only serves as a catalyst to sympathize with Chandu. The film gives a sense of déjà vu of films like ‘Raja’ and those ‘loser’ stories which have a happy ending! The climax of the film is a big let down and it’s too melodramatic to digest.

Technical Departments: S.A.Rajkumar’s music is good in parts, although there’s hardly any song which is memorable. Shaman Mithru’s cinematography is good. Gowtham Raju’s editing could have been better especially in second half. Chintapalli Ramana’s dialogues are uninspiring. Vijay Balaji who directed the film has also handled the screenplay. He could have worked a lot more on establishing the relationship between Tanish and Madhurima instead of resorting to bland comedy in second half. The climax of the film lacks originality and it is forced upon to literally add more drama in the end.

Bottomline: The title of the film itself is misleading and there’s hardly anything which would justify the title. Since every film maker desperately tries to convey a message, Vijay Balaji chooses to talk about ‘Status’. The film concludes that ‘Status’ is misleading and it’s not worth it. Although I wouldn’t disagree with this message entirely, it’s a painful exercise to wait for almost 140 minutes to understand this message and feel guilty about it. The film lacks both mounam (silence) and ragam (symphony). Quite contrary to what it sets out to achieve, the film ends up being uninspiring and emotionally hollow.

P.S: Is it an unwritten rule that every hot chick has to fall in love with a jerk?! O Paramahamsa…emiti maa ki ee Himsa! Pun intended!