Muthu (film)
Muthu | |
---|---|
Directed by | K.S. Ravikumar |
Produced by |
Rajam Balachander Pushpa Kandaswamy |
Written by | K.S. Ravikumar |
Starring |
Rajinikanth Pushpa Kandaswamy |
Music by | A. R. Rahman |
Cinematography | Ashok Rajan |
Editing by | K. Thanikachalam |
Distributed by | Kavithalayaa Productions |
Release dates |
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Running time | 165 minutes |
Country | India |
Language | Tamil |
Box office |
13 crore (1995 release) 6 crore (1998 release) |
Muthu is a 1995 Indian Tamil film directed by K. S. Ravikumar. The film stars Rajinikanth, Meena, and Sarath Babu. The film's score and soundtrack is composed by A. R. Rahman. It is the partial remake of the Malayalam film Thenmavin Kombath (1994).[1] Muthu became a major success among 1995 Deepavali releases along with Makkal Aatchi and Kuruthipunal.
Plot
A kind-hearted Zamindar (Rajinikanth) lived with his sister-in-law and cousin Rajasekhar (Raghuvaran), helping people incessantly. His sister-in-law has a son, to whom the Zamindar bequeaths a major portion of his property. At this juncture, a new baby is born to the Zamindar. His wife dies soon after. Brother Rajasekhar cheats the Zamindar as he fears that his son's property might be taken back and given to the Zamindar's own son. When the cheating comes to light, the Zamindar hands over all his property and his baby to his sister-in-law and brother and goes to the Himalayas, making his sister-in-law promise him that the baby should be brought up as a servant, not as a Zamindar. This baby is named Muthu (also Rajinikanth).
According to the promise tendered to the Zamindar, the son of the Zamindar's sister-in-law - Ejama becomes a Zamindar(Sarath Babu) and Muthu works as his servant. A huge fan of drama, Ejama regularly takes Muthu along with him wherever he goes. One day Ejama falls in love with a drama actress Ranganayaki (Meena). But Ranganayaki's heart lies with Muthu. Raenganayaki shows love and passion to Muthu. Amidst all this, Ejama's Uncle (Radha Ravi), tries to capture all the property by killing Ejama. In the mean time the Zamindar who was in Himalayas returns back to see his sister (resembling a Begger Sage), who saves the Ejama and once for all everything about Muthu is revealed to everyone and he marries Ranganayaki, while Ejama marries his uncle's daughter who was madly in love with him. The film ends by showing Muthu refusing to be Zamindar and chooses to be a worker pointing "Oruvan oruvan Muthalali" which means God is the real master and we all are his servants.
Cast
- Rajnikanth as Muthuvel (Muthu) and Zamindar, Muthu's father
- Meena as Ranganayaki
- Raghuvaran as Zamindar's stepbrother Rajasekhar
- Sarath Babu as Raghuvaran's son, Zamindar Malayasimman
- Jayabharathi as Zamindar's Mother
- Senthil as Thennappan
- Vadivelu as Valayapathy
- Kanthimathi as Poongavanam
- Radha Ravi as Ambarathar, Zamindar's uncle
- Subhashri as Ambarathar's daughter
- Ponnambalam as Kaali
- Vichithra as Rathithevy
- K. S. Ravikumar as Kerala Village President (Special Appearance)
Reception
The film was a blockbuster and completed a 175-day run at the box office. It was dubbed into Telugu under the same title. It was also dubbed in Hindi as Muthu Maharaja and was distributed by Eros Labs. In 1998, the film was dubbed in Japanese, by the distributor Xanadoux, as Muthu Odoru Maharaja (ムトゥ 踊るマハラジャ) which means Muthu - The Dancing Maharaja[2]) and completed a 182-day run grossing ¥200 million at the box office.[3] Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a special note about the reach of this film among the Japanese in his speech at the National Diet of Japan on 14 December 2006.[4][5] The film is characterised by location shots in Kerala and was shot in numerous palaces. The Zamindar's palace in which the movie was shot is the Lalitha Mahal Palace in Mysore.
Soundtrack
Muthu | ||||
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Soundtrack album by A. R. Rahman | ||||
Released |
1995 (India) 1998 (Japan) | |||
Recorded | Panchathan Record Inn | |||
Genre | Film soundtrack | |||
Label | Pyramid | |||
Producer | A.R. Rahman | |||
A. R. Rahman chronology | ||||
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The soundtrack features six songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Vairamuthu. Muthu is the first Rajinikanth film for which Rahman wrote music. The soundtrack for this movie turned out to be a major hit and Rahman gained popularity in Japan when the movie was released in Japanese. The Hindi version is titled Muthu Maharaja and had lyrics penned by P. K. Mishra. "Omanathinkal Kidavo" portion of "Kuluvalilae" is written and tuned by the famous Malayalam poet Irayimman Thampi.
The video for the hit song "Thillana Thillana" became famous for the belly dance of Meena featuring a lot of closeup shots of her navel.[6][7] Rahman sampled African humming in the song; French group Deep Forest had earlier sampled the same in their song Night Bird.[8][9] Thillana Thillana was later adapted by Nadeem-Shravan as Deewana Deewana for the 1996 film Jung.[9]
This soundtrack was selected as the most popular foreign soundtrack in Japan.[10]
Tamil version
# | Song | Artist(s) |
---|---|---|
1 | "Kuluvalilae" | Udit Narayan, K. S. Chithra, Kalyani Menon |
2 | "Thilana Thilana" | Mano, Sujatha |
3 | "Oruvan Oruvan" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam |
4 | "Kokku Saiva Kokku" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Theni Kunjaramma, Febi Mani, Ganga |
5 | "Vidu Kathaiya" | Hariharan |
6 | "Theme Music" | Instrumental |
Telugu version
The soundtrack features six songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics Penned by Bhuvanachandra.[11]
# | Song | Artist(s) |
---|---|---|
1 | "Thilana Thilana" | Mano, Sujatha |
2 | "Kalagalile Prema" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chithra, G. V. Prakash |
3 | "Konga Chitti Konga" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Ila Arun |
4 | "Virisinada Vidhi Galam" | Hariharan |
5 | "Okade Okkadu" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam |
6 | "Theme Music" | Instrumental |
Hindi version
# | Song | Artist(s) |
---|---|---|
1 | "Ooperwala Malik Hai" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Chorus |
2 | "Phoolwali Ne Loota Mujhko" | Udit Narayan, K. S. Chithra, G. V. Prakash |
3 | "Koi Samjhade" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Ila Arun |
4 | "Rangeela Rangeela" | Mano, Sujatha |
5 | "Chhod Chala Nirmohi" | Hariharan |
6 | "Theme Music" | Instrumental |
Awards
- Won
- Nominated
- Rajinikanth - Filmfare Best Actor Award (Tamil) in 1996
References
- ↑ The Hindu Metro Plus
- ↑ Mutu: Odoru Maharaja
- ↑ Gautaman Bhaskaran (January 6, 2002). "Rajnikanth casts spell on Japanese viewers". The Hindu. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
- ↑ "It's India-Japan Friendship Year". Chennai, India: The Hindu. 15 December 2006.
- ↑ http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=1&theme=&usrsess=1&id=140002
- ↑ Rise of the Navel - 'Bollywood navel fashion has led to re-emergence of sari' - India Today
- ↑ Meena's exposure
- ↑ "PLAGIARISM POLICING IS GOING OUT OF HAND". The Times of India. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Naman Ramachandran (2012). Rajnikant: The Definitive Biography. pp. 163–164. ISBN 9788184757965.
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20081218060205/http://www.screenindia.com/old/fullstory.php?content_id=5670
- ↑ http://www.telugufm.com/modules/music/moviedetail.aspx?mid=10643
External links
- Muthu at the Internet Movie Database
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