Very few tamil movies have succeeded when they were trying to convey a message rather than just entertain. Most of them tend to fall into one of two extremes. One one end you have Desiya Geetham, which was too stark and realistic while showing the plight of villages in TN. Though effective, it led to disaster at the box office. On the other end was Ponnu Veettukkaaran, which smothered the basic issue of widow remarriage under comedy and was not really effective. Marumalarchi manages to tread this line effectively, managing to be entertaining and feel-good, while at the same time driving home the point about the futility of violence.

Rasu Padayaachi(Mammootty) is the do-gooder respected by everyone in the village. He even refrains from marrying so that his affection towards the villagers does not waver while they in turn, have erected a statue for him. On the way back from a trip, he stops in Sundarapuram, where he rescues Jayanthi(Devayani) from a snake. But she misunderstands him and the villagers, led by Manimaran(Ranjit) and Mannaaru(Mansur Ali Khan), beat him up. On hearing this, his villagers burn Sundarapuram to the ground. Manimaran, who loses his near and dear ones, thinks it was Raasu Padayaachi who instigated this behavior in his villagers and vows revenge. Towards this end, he sends Jayanthi to seek shelter with Raasu Padayaachi. But Raasu Padayaachi marries her and she is soon transformed by his innate goodness. Mannaaru and Manimaran then try to take revenge on their own.

The movie effectively shows how a small misunderstanding leads to spiralling violence between the inhabitants of two villages. It is populated with characters that are well-defined and more importantly, human. While Mammootty is the hero and hence can do no wrong, it is easy to sympathise with Ranjit's situation too. Inspite of his stubbornness and the traditional climactic fight with Mammootty, he never comes off as a villain. Infact, it is Ranjit, with his grey areas, who seems more three-dimensional than Mammootty. Mansur Ali Khan is the other character that is portrayed well. Though a ruffian, he displays uncharacteristic affection towards his cousin and also undergoes a change of heart when it most matters.

The climax is a definite plus for the movie. Set in front of a mosque in the middle of nowhere, it is an effective setting, reminding one of the barren land with a single statue, for the climax in Thevar Magan. The fight is short and effective and the speech by Mammooty after the fight strikes just the right note. It is neither too long (unlike Vijay's lengthy oratory in Nenjinile) nor too sentimental. The violence, though never reaching the realistic levels of Andhappuram, is pretty well picturised.

The separate comedy track with Vivek, R.Sunderrajan and Pandu is crude and cheapens the movie which otherwise has such lofty ideals. While Vivek is definitely funny with his English-mixed style of talking, especially in the 'bra-distribution' scene, the track itself just serves to take away the seriousness of the plot. The director also gives in to crassness by a completely unnecessary group dance by scantily-clad women for Ranjit and Mansur Ali Khan.

Mammootty shines as Raasu Padayaachi without giving into the temptation of over-acting in the emotional scenes. His angry outbursts at the villagers for destroying Sundarapuram are well-delivered and realistic and his pleas to Ranjit to understand him feel sincere and straight from the heart. Ranjit matches him step for step. He is at his best when displaying anger and gets enough scenes to do so. Devayani and Mansur Ali Khan reprise roles they have done several times before. Same goes for Manorama. Nandri Solla Unakku... is a catchy tune among S.A.Rajkumar's numbers.