Kamal Haasan wrote the story, screenplay and co-wrote the dialogues with acclaimed novelist, Ra Ki Rangarajan.
Kamal Haasan's then-wife Sarika designed the costumes and was also an uncredited audiographer for the film.Director Cheran worked as an associate director on the film.Mahanadhi marked the acting debut of singer Shobana, who did not act in any other film since then.Actors Dinesh and Shankar got the film's title, Mahanadhi, added to their names as a prefix.Mahanadhi was the first film in India to make use of Avid edting technology, becoming one of the first digitally edited films outside of US.Kamal Haasan later revealed in an interview that Mahanadhi was heavily influenced by Les Misérables.The important characters in the film are named after the various rivers in India. The Cauvery water problem is dealt with in a symbolic way. The daughter of Krishna is named Cauvery.Later a prostitute in Kolkata, where the Ganga flows as the Hooghly, rescues her. Here, Kamal brings about the importance of the 'linking of rivers'.Mahanadhi is a major river in India and translates to 'Great River', and the names of the characters played by Kamal, Suganya, Shobana/Sangita and Dinesh are Krishna, Yamuna, Kaveri, and Bharani.Mahanadhi was released in theatres on 14 January 1994, along with Sathyaraj's Amaidhipadai, Prabhu's Rajakumaran, Vijayakanth's Sethupathi IPS, and Bhagyaraj's Veetla Visheshamga.Mahanadhi was screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam six years after its release.Mahanadhi won two awards at the 41st National Film Awards. It received the Best Feature Film in Tamil. H Sridhar and KM Surya Narayan received the award for best audiography.Mahanadhi has been often cited by many as one of the saddest and most depressing films made ever in Tamil cinema.On the centenary of Indian cinema in April 2013, Forbes included Kamal Hassan's performance in Mahanadhi on its list, '25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema.'Mahanadhi was dubbed in Telugu-language with the same title and released on May 27, 1994. It was critically acclaimed, was a super hit at the box officeHere, we give you some very rare posters, pictures, and paper ads of the film...