| Manichitrathazhu | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by |
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| Produced by | Swargachitra Appachan |
| Written by | Madhu Muttam |
| Starring |
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| Music by |
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| Cinematography |
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| Edited by | T. R. Shekar |
Production company |
Swargachitra |
| Distributed by | Swargachitra |
Release date |
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Running time | 169 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Malayalam |
| Box office | est.?7 crore |
Manichitrathazhu (English: The Ornate Lock) is a 1993 Indian Malayalam-language epic psychological thriller film directed by Fazil, written by Madhu Muttam, and produced by Swargachitra Appachan. The story is based on a tragedy that happened in the Alummoottil tharavad, a central Travancore family, in the 19th century. The film dealt with an unusual theme which was not common in Indian cinema at the time but it proceeded to become the highest grosser at the box-office and it was critically acclaimed as well.
Directors such as Siddique-Lal, Priyadarshan, and Sibi Malayil served as second-unit directors. The cinematography was by Venu and it was edited by T. R. Shekar. The film has an ensemble cast featuring Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi, Shobana, Nedumudi Venu, Innocent, Vinaya Prasad, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Ganesh Kumar, Sudheesh, and Thilakan in the main roles. The original songs featured in the movie were composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan, and while the original score was composed by Johnson. 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.
Apart from being the highest grossing Malayalam film of the year 1993, Manichitrathazhu is considered as one of the best thrillers ever made in India as well as one of the best Malayalam films ever made. Manichitrathazhu was remade after nearly 10 years in various languages, including Tamil (Chandramukhi), Kannada (Apthamitra), 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 14 November 2013.
Contents
Synopsis
A young couple, Ganga (Shobana) and Nakulan (Suresh Gopi), arrives at the Nakulan's ancestral home tharavadu called Madampalli. 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, following which seemingly supernatural events begin to happen.
The mansion was occupied in ancient times by Sankaran Thampi, a feudal lord of the province who was also the karanavar (head) of the tharavadu. In his heyday, he had brought in a dancer, Nagavalli, from Tamil Nadu as his concubine. But she was already in love with a man named Ramanathan, a dancer who came along with her secretly and settled in a house near to the mansion. Learning of their affair and their plan to elope, Sanakaran Thampi murders Nagavalli in her room at the mansion. Legend has it that on the eighth day of Navaratri, on Durgashtami night(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 some sorcerers, Thampi somehow escaped from the wrath of Nagavalli. Her spirit was locked up in a southern section at the mansion (Thekkini) by putting the talisman over the lock. Later Sankaran Thampi committed suicide and his spirit is locked up in the same Thekkini, by means of an ornate enchanted lock called Manichitrathazhu.
Ganga manages to unlock the Thekkini, only to find ancient valuables such as jewellery, musical instruments etc. Upon learning about the unlocking of the Thekkini, fearing the spirits are on the loose, Nakulan's uncle Thampi and family move into 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's cousin Alli and Ganga. While most of the family including Thampi believe that Nagavalli's ghost roams the mansion, Nakulan, disapproving of supernatural theories, suspects Sreedevi, daughter of Thampi, 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 from the USA to investigate. Soon enough Dr. 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 mental patient of Madampilly. He investigates Ganga's childhood and past. Ganga grew up in a highly superstitious family and had partaken in various religious rituals as a child. Her parents had left her to her grandmother as a 3 year old and never bothered about her due to their busy lifestyle. This made her sensitive as an individual; so when she came to know that her parents were moving her to Calcutta she was unable to come to grips with it. She had become very close to her grandmother and didn't want to leave her village and her ancestral home. 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 childhood days in her, and she slowly develops the personality of Nagavalli after having sympathised with her.
Meanwhile, Nakulan's uncle, Thampi, having lost faith in Dr.Sunny, calls in a renowned tantric expert Pullattuparambil Brahmadattan Namboothiripad (Thilakan) to rid his family of the supernatural menace. As fate has it, both the Namboothirippad and Dr.Sunny are old acquaintances and mutually admire each other's expertise in their respective fields. At his own risk, Sunny reveals the secret to Nakulan though he hides some of facts which he observed from Ganga's alter ego behaviour.
When Ganga transforms into Nagavali, her alter ego assumes the man staying in old Ramanathan's house as Ramanathan which unforunately was Mahadevan who was fiance of Alli. So as she assumes Nakulan to be the cruel Karnavar- Sankaran Thampi, thereby waits till Durgastami night to take revenge on him. These kind of associating mystical codes, Ganga's alter-ego picked from the tales and family connections of the house.
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 finally be able to kill Sankaran Thampi. The plan is put into action and in a fiery climax, the blood thirsty Nagavalli exacts revenge on the cruel Karanavar, Sankaran Thampi.
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 (Voice dubbed by Bhagyalakshmi and Durga)
- Suresh Gopi as Nakulan / Shankaran Thampi
- Nedumudi Venu as Thampy, Nakulan's maternal uncle
- Vinaya Prasad as Sreedevi, Thampy's daughter (Voice dubbed by Anandavally)
- Shridhar as Mahadevan, a college lecturer and poet, fiance of Alli
- Sudheesh as Chanthu, Thampy's son
- Innocent as Unnithan, Bhasura's husband
- K. P. A. C. Lalitha as Bhasura, Thampy's sister
- Thilakan as Brahmadattan Nampoothirippaad
- Kuthiravattam Pappu as Kattuparamban
- K. B. Ganesh Kumar as Dasappan Kutty
- Rudra as Alli, daughter of Unnithan and Bhasura (Voice dubbed by Ambili)
- Vyjayanthi — Jayasri, younger daughter of Thampy
- Kuttyedathi Vilasini, Thampy's wife
Production
Dubbing credits
Shobana's voice was dubbed by two dubbing artistes—Bhagyalakshmi and Durga. Bhagyalakshmi dubbed Shobana for her voice for Ganga, while Durga gave voice to the character's alter-ego, Nagavalli. Nagavalli's voice is heard only in the minor part of the film when compared to Ganga's. Though Durga was not credited in the film or any of its publicity material; until 2016, for long 23 years since the film release, it was believed that Bhagyalakshmi solely voiced Shobana for both Ganga and Nagavalli.
In January 2016, in an article Ormapookkal for Manorama Weekly published by Malayala Manorama, Fazil said, initially Bhagyalakshmi dubbed for both Ganga and Nagavalli. But during post-production, some of the crew including editor Shekar had a feeling that the voices for both the characters sounded somewhat similar, although Bhagyalakshmi altered her voice for Nagavalli. Since Nagavalli speaks in Tamil language, Fazil hired a Tamil dubbing artiste Durga for dubbing for her part. But Fazil forgot to inform it to Bhagyalakshmi, hence she was also unaware of it for a long time. Fazil did not credit Durga in the film credits; according to him it was a difficult job to make changes in the titles at that time, and her portion in the film was minor. The film was released with the already prepared titles which shows Bhagyalakshmi as the dubbing artiste for Shobana. Other dubbing artistes were Anandavally and Ambili, who dubbed for Vinaya Prasad and Rudra.
Filming
Major parts of the film and the climax scenes were filmed in Padmanabhapuram Palace and Hill Palace, Tripunithura.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for the film was composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan which went on to become one of the most popular film albums in Malayalam. The album consists of nine tracks. The lyrics sung are in Malayalam and Tamil written by Bichu Thirumala and Madhu Muttam for Malayalam and Vaali for Tamil.
| Manichitrathazhu | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by M. G. Radhakrishnan | ||||
| Released | December 23, 1993 | |||
| Recorded |
1993 Kodandapani Audio Laboratories, Chennai | |||
| Genre | Film Soundtrack | |||
| Length | 64:50 | |||
| Label | Wilson Audios | |||
| Producer | M. G. Radhakrishnan | |||
| M. G. Radhakrishnan chronology | ||||
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