Manichitrathazhu

Manichitrathazhu
The DVD Cover
Directed by	Fazil II-unit directors: Priyadarshan Siddique-Lal Sibi Malayil
Produced by	Swargachitra Appachan
Written by	Madhu Muttam
Starring	Mohanlal Shobana Suresh Gopi Nedumudi Venu Vinaya Prasad Innocent Kuthiravattom Pappu Sudheesh Thilakan
Music by	Songs: M. G. Radhakrishnan Film score: Johnson
Cinematography	Venu II-unit cinematographers: Anandakuttan Sunny Joseph
Editing by	T. R. Shekar
Studio	Swargachitra
Distributed by	Swargachitra
Release dates	December 25, 1993 (1993-12-25)
Running time	169 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Box office	5 crores (distributor's share)[1]

Manichitrathazhu (Malayalam: മണിച്ചിത്രത്താഴ്, English: The Ornate Lock) is an epic 1993 Indian Malayalam psychological thriller film written by Madhu Muttam, directed by Fazil, and produced by Swargachitra Appachan. The film dealt with an unusual theme which was not common in Indian cinema but proceeded to become a high grosser at the box-office. Several other prominent directors such as Siddique-Lal, Priyadarshan, and Sibi Malayil served as second-unit directors.

The story is influenced from a tragedy that happened in Alummoottil Tharavadu, a famous central Travancore family, in the 19th century.^[2] The film won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and Shobhana was awarded the National Film Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of the central character Ganga. The film stars Mohanlal, Shobhana, Suresh Gopi, Nedumudi Venu, Innocent, Vinaya Prasad, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Ganesh Kumar, and Thilakan in the main roles. The music for the songs were composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan, and the background score was done by Johnson.

Apart from being the highest grossing Malayalam film of the year 1993,^[3] Manichitrathazhu is considered as one the best thrillers ever made in India as well as one of the best Malayalam films ever made.^[4] Manichitrathazhu was remade after nearly 10 years in various languages, including Kannada (Apthamitra), Tamil and Telugu (dubbed) (Chandramukhi), Bengali (Rajmohol), and Hindi (Bhool Bhulaiyaa), all being commercially successful.

Geethaanjali, a spin-off directed by Priyadarshan and Mohanlal reprising the role of Dr. Sunny Joseph, was released on November 14, 2013.

Plot

A young couple, Ganga (Shobana) and Nakulan (Suresh Gopi), arrives at the ancestral home tharavadu called Madampalli of the latter. Hailing from a family that follows tradition and superstitions, Nakulan's uncle Thampi (Nedumudi Venu) objects to the couple's idea of moving into the allegedly haunted mansion, which Nakulan ignores. The couple moves in anyway following which seemingly supernatural events begin to happen.

The mansion that Nakulan and Ganga are living in was occupied in ancient times by Sankaran Thampi, a cruel ancestor and karanavar (head) of the tharavadu. In his heydays, he had imprisoned a famous Bharatnatyam dancer Nagavalli, from Tamil Nadu. She was in love with Ramanathan, a dancer. Learning of their affair and their plan to elope Sanakran Thampi murders Nagavalli in her room at the mansion. Legend has it that on the eighth day of the Durgashtami (an annual Hindu celebration), Nagavalli returned as a blood-thirsty spirit, intent on killing the chieftain and to drink his blood,but he was saved by chanting some mantras. With the aid of sorcerers Thampi somehow escaped from wrath of Nagavalli and her spirit was locked up in a section at the mansion (Thekkini) by putting the talisman over the lock. Sankaran Thampi also commits suicide and his spirit is also locked up in the Thekkini. Both spirits are believed to be haunting the Thekkini where they are locked up by means of an ornate enchanted lock called Manichitrathazhu. (hence the title of the movie)

After moving in and mostly out of curiosity, Ganga manages to unlock the Thekkini, only to find ancient valuables such as jewellery, etc. Upon learning about the unlocking of the Thekkini, fearing the spirits are on the loose, Nakulan's uncle Thampi and family move in to the mansion to try and re-seal the Thekkini lock, while also looking out for Nakulan and Ganga. However, various unclear sightings of a woman are witnessed around the mansion, along with attempted attacks on various people at the mansion, including Nakulan and Ganga.

While most of the family including Thampi believe that Nagavalli's ghost roams the mansion, Nakulan, disapproving of supernatural theories, suspects Sreedevi of being mentally ill, hence orchestrating the incidents at the mansion. Hearing of this, Thampi and the family fear that Sreedevi might be possessed by Nagavalli's spirit.

Sreedevi (Vinaya Prasad), Nakulan's cousin and Thampi's daughter, according to tradition, was to be married to Nakulan; however, after finding that Sreedevi had an ominous horoscope, Nakulan's mother withdrew from this proposal, and got Nakulan married to Ganga; later, Sreedevi entered a marriage which was short-lived. Sreedevi's tragic history, along with her perceived gloominess, and her being the only person present during an attack on Ganga, lays cause for suspicion of her.

Dr. Sunny Joseph (Mohanlal), a brilliant yet frolicsome Psychiatrist and Nakulan's close friend is called in to investigate. Soon enough Sunny finds out that Nakulan's conclusions are not as obvious and he uncovers a plan to commit a murder during the upcoming Durgashtami Festival. Sunny's trained psychiatric mind begins to suspect that Ganga could well be the Ghost of Madampilly. He investigates Ganga's history. Ganga grew up in a highly superstitious family and had partaken in various religious rituals. She was unable to come to grips with the fact that her parents were moving the family to Calcutta and chose to stay in the ancestral house, instead. It was a period of great emotional and psychological turmoil for her, and she became afflicted with multiple personality disorder. Madampilly with its share of superstitions and dark tales evokes memories of the olden days in her, and she slowly develops the personality of Nagavalli after having sympathised with her.

Meanwhile, Thampi, having lost faith in Sunny, calls in renowned tantric expert Brahmadattan Namboothiripad (Thilakan) to rid his family of the supernatural menace. As fate has it, both the Namboothirippad and Sunny are old acquaintances and mutually admire each others' expertise in their respective fields. At his own risk, Sunny reveals the secret to Nakulan and Mahadevan. In one of the more memorable scenes of the movie, Ganga also gets to know about her illness during a manifestation of her hidden personality, that of Nagavalli. Sunny, with help of the Namboothirippad, plans an elaborate Tantric ceremony to invoke Ganga's Nagavalli persona and make it believe that it will kill Sankaran Thampi. The plan is put into action and in a fiery climax, the blood thirsty Nagavalli exacts revenge on the cruel Karanavar.

Ganga wakes up from her hypnotic sleep and learns that she is completely cured of the illness. Sunny expresses his intent to marry Sridevi, and they all drive off happily.

Cast

• Mohanlal as Dr. Sunny Joseph
• Shobhana as Ganga/Nagavalli
• Suresh Gopi as Nakulan
• Nedumudi Venu as Thampy, Nakulan's maternal uncle.
• Vinaya Prasad as Sreedevi, Nakula's cousin and Thampy's daughter.
• Shridhar as Mahadevan, a college lecturer and poet, moreover fiance of Alli.
• Innocent as Unnithan, Bhasura's husband.
• Sudheesh as Chanthu, Thampy's son
• KPAC Lalitha as Bhasura, Nakulan's maternal aunty and Unnithan's wife.
• Thilakan as Brahmadattan Nampoothirippaadu
• Kuthiravattam Pappu as Kattuparamban
• Ganesh Kumar as Dasappan Kutty
• Rudra as Alli, daughter of Unnithan and Bhasura.
• Vyjayanthi, Daughter of Thampy
• Kuttyedathi Vilasini, Thampy's Wife

Dubbing artists

• Bhagyalakshmi for Shobana's Ganga portion, Nagavally's portion by Jayageetha, a famous Tamil dubbing artist.
• Anandavally for Vinaya Prasad.
• Ambili for Rudra (Alli).

Locations

A major part of the film was shot in Tripunithura Hill Palace and the climax scenes were filmed in Padmanabhapuram Palace.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the film was composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan which went on to become one of the most popular film album in Malayalam. The lyrics sung are in Malayalam and Tamil written by Bichu Thirumala and Madhu Muttam for Malayalam and Vaali for Tamil.

Reception

Contemporary reviews

Rating the film , film website Shvoong.com wrote that "Manichitrathazhu is probably one of the best psycho-thrillers [sic] produced in India. Fazil has done a great job in creating a fantastic movie which keeps the readers glued to their seats."^[5]

Film blog Varnachitram.com, in its review, wrote, "In this movie, the script by Madhu Mattom is the hero and Shobhana is the heroine. For a movie which is a psycho-thriller, it has excellent comedy provided by Innocent, Lalitha and Mohanlal. There are no unnecessary scenes in this movie and each scene in the screenplay sustains the interest in the story. M.G.Radhakrishnan has provided some memorable music for this movie."^[6]

Indian entertainment website Oneindia.in gives the film a full scale rating of .^[7]

Box office

Manichitrathazhu was the highest grossing Malayalam film of the year 1993.^[3] It ran for more than 365 days in 2 center Ernakulam Savitha & Thiruvanathapuram Sreekumar. The film grossed a distributor's share of more than 5 crore (US$800,000), a large sum then.^[1]

Awards

National Film Awards

• Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment
• Best Actress - Shobana

Kerala State Film Awards^[8]

• Best Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value
• Best Actress - Shobana
• Best Makeup Artist - P. N. Mani

Legacy

Manichitrathazhu is hailed as one of the best movies ever made in Malayalam.^[4] The film has consistently fetched maximum ratings for its television screenings.^[4] Twenty years after its release it has been screened more than 12 times a year on average on Kerala's leading TV channel, Asianet.^[4] This film has received the maximum TRP rating on every screening; TRP ratings have increased every year. This is a rare record for a movie produced in Kerala.^[4]

In a 2013 online poll by IBN Live, Manichitrathazhu was listed as the No:2 greatest Indian film of all time. The poll was conducted as part of the celebrations of Indian cinema completing 100 years. The poll constituted a list of 100 films from different Indian languages.^[3]

Remakes

• Manichithrathazhu later inspired remakes and sequels in other languages, such as Apthamitra and its sequel Aptharakshaka in Kannada starring Vishnuvardhan, Chandramukhi in Tamil and Telugu starring Rajnikanth and its sequel in Telugu titled Nagavalli starring Venkatesh, and Bhool Bhulaiyaa in Hindi.
• The central character played by Shobhana is named Ganga in the all the remakes except Bhool Bhulaiya. In that film, the character is named Avni, played by Vidya Balan.
• All three South Indian versions (Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil) earned the actresses playing the central character (Shobhana, Soundarya, Jyothika, respectively) the state awards for best actress of the respective states (Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu).
• In Apthamitra (the Kannada version) the character of psychiatrist, played by Vishnuvardhan, is given more screen time. The Tamil version, Chandramukhi, followed the same pattern. Both films were directed by P. Vasu. However, the Hindi version (Bhool Bhulaiyaa, directed by Priyadarshan) stuck to the original script.
• The story was not credited to Madhu Muttam in Apthamitra and Chandramukhi, in which the story was credited to the director P. Vasu himself. However, in Bhool Bhulaiyaa the story was credited to Madhu Muttam, following a Kerala High Court verdict in a case filed by him.
• The film was dubbed into Telugu as Chandramukhi.
• Apthamitra's sequel, Aptharakshaka starring Vishnuvardhan was written and directed by P. Vasu and went on to become a huge success in Kannada.
• P. Vasu also planned to remake it in Tamil as Chandramukhi 2. But as Rajnikanth wasn't available, he approached Ajith Kumar for the film. But the Tamil version could never make it to the sets and finally Telugu producer Bellankonda Suresh bought the movie rights and the movie was released as Nagavalli in Telugu starring Daggubati Venkatesh.

Character map of Manichitrathazhu and its remakes

Spin-off

A spin-off titled Geethanjali was released on 14 November 2013.^[9]

See also

• List of Malayalam horror films
• Mental illness in film
• Dissociative identity disorder
• Identity formation

References

External links

• Manichitrathazhu at the Internet Movie Database
• Can Manichitrathazhu be remade?
• Shobana's official homepage
• All Time Greatest Movies-Manichitrathazhu- an article on Manichitrathazhu