The story of Manonmani is taken from the pioneering play Manonmaniyam, written by the playwright Sundaram Pillai in the 19th century. Though Tamil literature had a rich heritage of poetry and prose, it surprisingly had no plays till Sundaram Pillai, a great admirer of Shakespeare, first introduced it as a literary form. Manonmani is the story of a princess who finds love in the middle of a web of political intrigue and betrayals.