King Seevaka of the Pandya Kingdom ruled from its capital, Madurai. However, under the bad influence of his minister, Kutilan (Balasubramaniam), he moved the capital to Tirunelveli, where Kutilan sought to consolidate power and overthrow the king. Rajaguru (Sama) told the king that the new capital is not so strong. He said that he would make the Kingdom good with doing a yagna and want to have a special room for him.
Manonmani, the Pandya princess (Rajakumari), falls in love in her dream with a prince Purushottaman (Chinnappa) who too does likewise with each unaware of the other's identity! But their love grows deeper in their hearts. The Rajaguru (Sama) is keen on bringing the two kingdoms together and builds a ‘secret way' from one kingdom to the other. However, the King (Perumal) is under the influence of the scheming minister Kutilan, (Balasubramaniam, the name was obviously inspired by the celebrated Kautilya, Chanakya.) The minister's son Balaiah has an eye on the princess, and the father and son try to manipulate the king's mind…
After many twists, the lovers meet and the two kingdoms come together and the ‘dream lovers' marry…. An interesting tale of kings, princes and princesses, Rajaguru and evil ministers, Manonmani was a box office hit with Rajakumari and Chinnappa stealing the show. Sakunthala (Mrs. Chinnappa in private life) played the princess's companion, while the ‘comedy track' was taken care of by the inimitable Krishnan-Mathuram supported by Narayana Rao.
