Film

Murari

Name: Murari
Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller, Family
Released: 2001
Cast: Mahesh Babu, Sonali Bendre, Lakshmi, Sukumari, Kaikala Satyanarayana

Mythological fantasy

A Telugu family drama built around a supernatural curse that claims male lives every 48 years. Mahesh Babu anchors a sprawling story that blends Gothic mystery with romance and family obligation, reaching toward something both intimate and mythic. It's operatic in scale and emotional temperature — the kind of film that asks you to surrender to its logic rather than question it.

TMDb rating

3.4

If you liked this

Hey Ram2000

Kamal Haasan in Shankar's urgent, angry political thriller. A family secret explodes across communal violence and personal betrayal. Shares Murari's obsession with ancestral sins and how the past hunts the present.

But Three-and-a-half hours, densely plotted, and Shankar's direction can feel didactic. The film argues with you while it unfolds.

Devdas2002

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ravishing, doomed romance. Mahesh Babu's peer Shahrukh Khan in a tragedy steeped in family duty and impossible love. Same emotional register — passion crushed by obligation and fate.

But Aggressively melodramatic. If you don't buy into the tragedy from the opening scene, three hours will feel like punishment.

Chandni Bar2001

Madhuri Dixit in Madhur Bhandarkar's brutal survival story. A woman fighting family, circumstance, and her own desperation. Murari's darkness without the supernatural framing.

But Explicitly sexual and exploitative in its presentation. Not a comfortable watch, and the film doesn't offer the catharsis that Murari does.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Murari

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Pather Panchali1955

Both films treat the family as the true subject and see individual characters as notes in a larger tragedy. Murari uses the Gothic to ask what Pather Panchali asks through realism: how do we survive being born into certain circumstances?

Satyajit Ray's masterpiece: a family's life unfolding under economic and social pressure. Like Murari, it sees the family as a living organism. But Ray shows poverty and time as the curse, not the supernatural. Devastating because it's real.

But Black and white, slow, shot in 1955. No plot in the conventional sense, just life accumulating. Many find it an endurance test before they find it beautiful.

The Godfather1972

Family as curse, legacy as burden, fate written in blood. Coppola's meditation on how the past devours the present. The architecture of Murari's emotional logic, in a different language and culture.

But Nearly three hours and deliberate pacing. If you're looking for momentum, this moves like honey.

Rang De Basanti2006

Aamir Khan in Rakeysh Mehra's political awakening story. A tonal shift from Murari, but the same investment in young men and their obligations to something larger than themselves.

But Patriotic fervour that some find heavy-handed. The politics can overshadow the character work if you're not aligned with its message.

Bandit Queen1994

Seema Biswas in Shekhar Kapur's brutal true story. A woman's life consumed by family shame and social caste. Murari's curse as real history rather than supernatural mystery.

But Graphically violent, including sexual assault. The film doesn't soften its subject. It demands something heavy from the viewer.

Swades2004

Shah Rukh Khan returns from America to reckon with duty and home. A quieter film than Murari, but wrestling with the same question: what do we owe to where we come from?

But Didactic and earnest. If you find patriotic sentiment cloying, this will test your patience. The romance feels secondary to its message.

The Wailing2016

Both films use the supernatural as a language for family secrets and ancestral guilt. But where Murari moves toward revelation, The Wailing moves toward uncertainty. They speak different dialects of the same haunting.

Na Hong-jin's Korean horror-mystery about a village cursed by ambiguous supernatural forces. Mystery, faith, and family paranoia spiral together. Visually stunning and genuinely unsettling in ways that linger.

But Two hours and forty minutes of mounting dread that refuses easy answers. If you need resolution, this will infuriate you. Some call it brilliant; others call it frustrating.

Come and See1985

Both films are operatic in their commitment to showing how trauma echoes across generations and corrupts everything it touches. Murari uses the supernatural; this uses war. The effect is similar: watching fate work through a character.

Elem Klimov's devastating Soviet film about a boy's initiation into war. Not supernatural, but utterly mythic. A curse enacted in real time across a landscape. The film most similar to Murari in emotional weight and its refusal to look away from suffering.

But This is one of the most difficult films ever made. Extreme violence, child trauma, and nihilistic despair. Not entertainment. A genuine ordeal that some find necessary and others find unwatchable.