# Muthal Mariyathai (முதல் மரியாதை)
**Muthal Mariyathai** (முதல் மரியாதை, translated as "First Honour" or "Honor of the First Order") is a 1985 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed and produced by [Bharathiraja](https://www.edgepedia.org/bharathiraja), starring [Sivaji Ganesan](https://www.edgepedia.org/sivaji-ganesan) as an aging village headman and Radha as a young boatwoman whose friendship transforms his last years.[1](https://www.tamilmdb.com/movie/2494/1985-muthal-mariyathai) • [2](https://www.asapconnect.in/post/1053/singlestories/bharathiraja) The film was released on 15 August 1985 and won the [National Film Award for Best Feature Film](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-film-award-for-best-feature-film) in Tamil, along with Filmfare Awards South for its two lead performers.[3](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/movie/muthal-mariyathai) • [1](https://www.tamilmdb.com/movie/2494/1985-muthal-mariyathai) • [18](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/why-1985-sivaji-radha-film-muthal-mariyathai-remains-enduring-romance-144226)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 15 August 1985, as an Independence Day release across Tamil Nadu[3](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/movie/muthal-mariyathai) • [4](https://www.dinamani.com/valentines-day/2021/Feb/14/lovers-day-special-movie-muthal-mariyathai-3561933.html) |
| Director / producer | Bharathiraja, under his banner Manoj Creations; story by R. Selvaraj[1](https://www.tamilmdb.com/movie/2494/1985-muthal-mariyathai) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/muthal_mariyathai) |
| Lead cast | Sivaji Ganesan as Malaichami, Radha as Kuyil, Vadivukarasi as Ponnatha, Sathyaraj as Ponnatha's former lover[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089646/) |
| Music | Ilaiyaraaja; lyrics by Vairamuthu, who won the National Film Award for Best Lyricist[1](https://www.tamilmdb.com/movie/2494/1985-muthal-mariyathai) |
| Runtime | Reported as 2h 43m by IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, 2h 40m by JustWatch and Plex, and 160 minutes by the Tamil digital library[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089646/) • [7](https://www.justwatch.com/in/movie/mudhal-mariyathai) • [8](https://wiki1.tamilar.wiki/w/%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%88) |
| Major awards | National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil; Filmfare Awards South for Best Actor (Sivaji Ganesan) and Best Actress (Radha); Cinema Express Award for Best Film[1](https://www.tamilmdb.com/movie/2494/1985-muthal-mariyathai) • [18](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/why-1985-sivaji-radha-film-muthal-mariyathai-remains-enduring-romance-144226) |
| IMDb rating | 7.8/10 from about 594 users[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089646/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The film opens at the deathbed of Malaichami (Sivaji Ganesan), the respected village headman, and unfolds in flashback through the significant episodes of his life.[3](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/movie/muthal-mariyathai) • [1](https://www.tamilmdb.com/movie/2494/1985-muthal-mariyathai) Malaichami is unhappily married to his cousin Ponnatha ([Vadivukkarasi](https://www.edgepedia.org/vadivukkarasi)), who treats him with contempt, and the household also includes her daughter Rasamma and Malaichami's orphaned nephew Chellakannu, who helps on his farm.[1](https://www.tamilmdb.com/movie/2494/1985-muthal-mariyathai)
Kuyil (Radha), a young woman, arrives in the village with her father to seek employment; the two erect a hut on the river bank, and she earns a living ferrying people in a coracle. Despite the wide gap in their age and socioeconomic status, Malaichami and Kuyil become close friends, and he, receiving no affection at home, enjoys her company.[1](https://www.tamilmdb.com/movie/2494/1985-muthal-mariyathai) A parallel tragic thread involves Chellakannu's love for Sevuli, the cobbler's daughter: after Kuyil convinces Malaichami to let them marry, Sevuli is murdered by Rasamma's husband, whom Malaichami identifies and hands to the police, and Chellakannu later takes his own life.[1](https://www.tamilmdb.com/movie/2494/1985-muthal-mariyathai) When villagers begin to whisper about the relationship between Malaichami and Kuyil, Ponnatha takes the matter to the village panchayat (Indian village council that adjudicates local disputes).[1](https://www.tamilmdb.com/movie/2494/1985-muthal-mariyathai)
The relationship at the center of the film is deliberately left undefined. Villagers speculate whether it is love, fondness, respect, or an extramarital affair, while the director and writer present it as a platonic bond that the audience understands without explanation.[9](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/35-years-muthal-mariyathai-why-sivaji-film-bharathiraja-classic-130796) The flashback structure itself carries meaning: by opening at Malaichami's deathbed, the film places the whole narrative under the sign of mortality, so that every glance between the headman and the boatwoman reads as an elegy.[10](https://scroll.in/reel/1093483/bharathiraja-1941-2026-the-earth-remembers-its-own)
## Production and casting
**Sivaji Ganesan's casting.** The film was Bharathiraja's first with Ganesan, and it opens with a documentary homage to the star.[11](https://indiancine.ma/AABD) Ganesan was not the first choice: the director's team initially considered the actor Rajesh, fresh from a middle-aged village role in Balachandar's *Achamillai Achamillai*, and later toyed with casting the singer [S. P. Balasubrahmanyam](https://www.edgepedia.org/s-p-balasubrahmanyam), who was then doing occasional cameos in Telugu films. Bharathiraja eventually decided it was time to accord his "first honour" to Ganesan by casting him as the hero for the first time in the director's career.[9](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/35-years-muthal-mariyathai-why-sivaji-film-bharathiraja-classic-130796) An earlier project in which Bharathiraja had booked Ganesan's dates, an adaptation of a foreign film's story titled *Pasumpon*, was abandoned when the screenplay did not take shape in story discussions; writer R. Selvaraj's one-line idea, a love for the village's great man felt by a woman struggling to survive famine, became *Muthal Mariyathai* instead.[12](https://tamil.indianexpress.com/entertainment/tamil-cinema-classic-history-about-muthal-mariyathai-bharathi-raja-sivaji-2026627)
Anecdotes from the shoot have entered Tamil film lore. Bharathiraja was unhappy with the first day of filming, telling Ganesan that the wig he wore was the problem and asking him to come without one from the next day; Ganesan complained that a day's shooting had been wasted, but followed the director's instructions, and the film has been received warmly ever since.[12](https://tamil.indianexpress.com/entertainment/tamil-cinema-classic-history-about-muthal-mariyathai-bharathi-raja-sivaji-2026627) The singer S. P. Balasubrahmanyam later recounted that shooting in Okkanakkal areas ran for 40 days and that he missed the role after asking to split his schedule, leaving the character to Ganesan.[13](https://tamil.indianexpress.com/entertainment/singer-spb-talk-about-sivaji-ganeshan-mega-hit-movie-10909408)
**Dubbing.** [Radhika Sarathkumar](https://www.edgepedia.org/radhika-sarathkumar) dubbed for Radha in the role of Kuyil, and the retrospective account in *The News Minute* credits half of Radha's award-winning performance to this dubbing.[7](https://www.justwatch.com/in/movie/mudhal-mariyathai) • [9](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/35-years-muthal-mariyathai-why-sivaji-film-bharathiraja-classic-130796)
## Music
Ilaiyaraaja composed the score and [Vairamuthu](https://www.edgepedia.org/vairamuthu) wrote the lyrics.[1](https://www.tamilmdb.com/movie/2494/1985-muthal-mariyathai) According to *The News Minute*, Ilaiyaraaja disliked the edited film when it was shown to him, yet produced one of the noted background scores in [Tamil cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/tamil-cinema) for it; the songs, rooted in rustic sound, include "Poongaatru Thirumbumaa", "Antha nilava thaan kayila pudichen", "Raasaave Unna nambi", and "Vettiveru Vaasam".[9](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/35-years-muthal-mariyathai-why-sivaji-film-bharathiraja-classic-130796) The National Film Award for Best Music Director that year went to [Ilaiyaraaja](https://www.edgepedia.org/ilaiyaraaja) for *Sindhu Bhairavi*, another 1985 release.[9](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/35-years-muthal-mariyathai-why-sivaji-film-bharathiraja-classic-130796)
## Themes and critical standing
The film is read as part of Bharathiraja's 1980s village cinema, which moved from studio sets to real villages and interrogated caste, love, and rural social structures; *Muthal Mariyathai* ("First Honour", 1985) sits alongside *Alaigal Oivathillai* (1981), *Mann Vasanai* (1983), *Kadalora Kavithaigal* (1986), and *Vedham Pudhithu* (1987) in that body of work.[2](https://www.asapconnect.in/post/1053/singlestories/bharathiraja) A 2020 journal article on subaltern roles in Tamil cinema counts it, with *Vedham Pudhithu*, among the few 1980s films that dealt explicitly with caste, depicting growing affection between a middle-aged high-caste man and a young lower-caste woman, a relationship that never becomes a physical union but is presented more favorably than the man's marriage.[14](https://files01.core.ac.uk/download/pdf/328007935.pdf) The film's climax, like several of Bharathiraja's rural films, results in separation.[15](https://www.iimc.gov.in/files/inline-documents/Communicator_April_June_2017.pdf)
Critics reviewing the film decades later describe a "subdued, dignified and effective romance" between Malaichami and Kuyil (Ashutosh Mohan, Film Companion, 2024), and *The Hindu* wrote that watching it "feels like a kite fluttering in our hearts".[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/muthal_mariyathai) The film is also credited with helping reinstate Sivaji Ganesan, then past his prime and often cast in youthful roles, as an actor of restraint for a new generation of viewers.[9](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/35-years-muthal-mariyathai-why-sivaji-film-bharathiraja-classic-130796) Writer R. Selvaraj said the story's spark came from the life of the Russian writer [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://www.edgepedia.org/fyodor-dostoevsky), whose much younger assistant Anna developed a fond relationship with him while helping him write a book; the theme was transposed to a Tamil village.[9](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/35-years-muthal-mariyathai-why-sivaji-film-bharathiraja-classic-130796)
## Awards
The film's recorded awards include the National Film Award for the Best Feature Film in Tamil and, for Vairamuthu, the National Film Award for Best Lyricist; Filmfare Awards South for Best Actor (Sivaji Ganesan) and Best Actress (Radha); and the Cinema Express Award for Best Film.[1](https://www.tamilmdb.com/movie/2494/1985-muthal-mariyathai) • [18](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/why-1985-sivaji-radha-film-muthal-mariyathai-remains-enduring-romance-144226) [TV Guide](https://www.edgepedia.org/tv-guide)'s listing records the Filmfare wins under 1986 and the Cinema Express Best Film win under 1985.[16](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/muthal-mariyathai/2000360025/) A retrospective account notes that Sivaji Ganesan did not receive the National Award for Best Actor for this performance.[9](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/35-years-muthal-mariyathai-why-sivaji-film-bharathiraja-classic-130796)
## Availability
As of the most recent checks, the film streams on Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Prime Video with Ads in India, with no free streaming options listed; it is not available for streaming in the United States.[7](https://www.justwatch.com/in/movie/mudhal-mariyathai) • [17](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/mudhal-mariyathai)
## References
1. [Muthal Mariyathai (1985), TamilMDb](https://www.tamilmdb.com/movie/2494/1985-muthal-mariyathai)
2. [Bharathiraja: The Neo-Nativity Auteur in Tamil Cinema, ASAP Art](https://www.asapconnect.in/post/1053/singlestories/bharathiraja)
3. [Where to Watch Muthal Mariyathai (1985) Online, Plex](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/movie/muthal-mariyathai)
4. [முதல் மரியாதை: Director Bharathiraja movie Muthal Mariyathai, Dinamani](https://www.dinamani.com/valentines-day/2021/Feb/14/lovers-day-special-movie-muthal-mariyathai-3561933.html)
5. [Muthal Mariyathai, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/muthal_mariyathai)
6. [Muthal Mariyathai (1985), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089646/)
7. [Mudhal Mariyathai streaming: where to watch online?, JustWatch (India)](https://www.justwatch.com/in/movie/mudhal-mariyathai)
8. [முதல் மரியாதை, Tamilar Wiki](https://wiki1.tamilar.wiki/w/%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%88)
9. [35 years of 'Muthal Mariyathai': Why this Sivaji film by Bharathiraja is a classic, The News Minute](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/35-years-muthal-mariyathai-why-sivaji-film-bharathiraja-classic-130796)
10. [Bharathiraja (1941-2026): The Earth Remembers Its Own, Scroll.in](https://scroll.in/reel/1093483/bharathiraja-1941-2026-the-earth-remembers-its-own)
11. [Muthal Mariyathai (Bharathirajaa) 1985, Indiancine.ma](https://indiancine.ma/AABD)
12. [விக் வைத்து நடித்த சிவாஜி... வீணாய் போன முதல்நாள் ஷூட், Indian Express Tamil](https://tamil.indianexpress.com/entertainment/tamil-cinema-classic-history-about-muthal-mariyathai-bharathi-raja-sivaji-2026627)
13. [SPB on Sivaji Ganesan's mega hit movie, Indian Express Tamil](https://tamil.indianexpress.com/entertainment/singer-spb-talk-about-sivaji-ganeshan-mega-hit-movie-10909408)
14. [Antony Susairaj, Journal of the Nanzan Academic Society (2020)](https://files01.core.ac.uk/download/pdf/328007935.pdf)
15. [Communicator, Vol. III (2), April-June 2017, IIMC](https://www.iimc.gov.in/files/inline-documents/Communicator_April_June_2017.pdf)
16. [Muthal Mariyathai - Where to Watch and Stream, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/muthal-mariyathai/2000360025/)
17. [Mudhal Mariyathai streaming (US), JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/mudhal-mariyathai)
18. [Why 1985 Sivaji-Radha film 'Muthal Mariyathai' remains an enduring romance](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/why-1985-sivaji-radha-film-muthal-mariyathai-remains-enduring-romance-144226)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Tamil films before 2000 › Released 1952 to 1991*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license