Final Art Installation – ‘Manindramithraiyaa’

For my interim course, my final project involved this blog and an art installation. I wanted to bring out and emphasize the plethora of similarities and differences between the four movies on which I researched. To this end, I edited the four movies and rendered them as two different files in such a way that there would essentially be “dialogues” between the movies – therefore, for example,  if Thilakan as a priest talked on one screen in Malayalam, he would be answered by Akshay Kumar in Hindi on the other. I took the essential bits of the films, starting with the explanations to the husband of his wife’s mental illness, and ending with the climax scene. I made an art installation that consisted of two monitors facing each other, placed on two ends of a hall. The two videos were simultaneously played on both monitors, so that when one video was playing, the other would display a blank screen. For the final dance scene, I incorporated the music of all four movies, which created a cacophony of sound and added to the chaos and confusion happening on the screen, making the audience themselves feel demented – which is what I had hoped to achieve. The installation received a good response from the audience, who were captivated by the unpredictable movement from screen to screen, and also from the unfamiliar languages and sudden transitions.   

These are excerpts from the two clips that were shown on the monitors (the black frames are intentional) :

and

Re-making the Climax

This was a video done by my classmates and me for our Film studies program, which was a part of our B.A. English Literature and Communicative Studies course. We adapted the final climax scene of the original movie Manichithrathazhu, and added the audio from the movie. – Manichithrathazhu Re-make

Bhool Bhulaiya

In 2007, one of the key members of the original crew of the famous Malayalam movie, Manichithrathazhu, Priyadarshan, decided to direct a remake of it in Hindi, namely, Bhool Bhulaiya. Raking in a collection of 84 crores, it is the official remake of the 1993 Malayalam movie. It made the biggest collection out of all four remakes, including Rajmohol (2005), the Bengali version. The movie includes Akshay Kumar playing the role of the psychiatrist, Shiney Ahuja, who is the unfortunate young husband, and Vidya Balan playing Shobhana’s role of the seemingly-possessed young wife.

The storyline follows that of the original Malayalam movie, and not of the Kannada and Tamil remakes. Siddarth and Avani are the young couple who stay in their ancestral palace. Siddarth is crowned the rightful king, and is respected and lauded by the villagers. Ahuja plays the role of Siddarth brilliantly, who is initiallly concerned about his cousin and frustrated with his superstitious extended family, only to be later told that his wife is the patient. His indignation and anger with his psychiatrist friend, Dr. Aditya(Akshay Kumar), and later his helplessness has also been portrayed well, doing full justice to the original. The climax scene is also like the original, with Avni (this time in the guise of a Bengali dancer Manjulika), wanting revenge by drinking the king’s blood.

Comedy scenes of the original have been adapted well into this version, and it is the only version to have included many of the comedy scenes that became classic phrases in Mollywood. Scenes of Innocent’s and KPAC Lalitha’s comedy, Kuthiravattom Pappu’s madness etc. have been well adapted. While Rani Mukherjee plays the role of the scorned betrothed, there is another girl who is shown as sneaking around. She is later attacked, supposedly by whoever is haunting the house. The scene is a gory one, in which a hand pushes a swing at her, hitting her on the forehead and draggin her to another room. There is a trail of blood leading to the room. There is no scene showing Avni discovering the hidden room and imbibing the dancer’s character, which all the other movies had. The modernity and change in society is also shown here, as Avni is no simple housewife but an archeologist. Therefore, her interest in the ancient artifiacts has a better explanation. All the remakes, however, show the entire flashback of the time when the king chops of the head of the dancer’s lover. Vineeth plays the lover in both the Tamil and Hindi versions. It is interesting to note that a Malayalee woman, Vidya Balan, plays the role of the dancer, and so, in a way, the remakes have come full-circle.

Bhool Bhulaiya, unlike Apthamitra and Chandramukhi, leans towards the factual and scientific side of the haunting, which was seen in the original Manichithrathazhu. As it was 2007, split personality had been re-termed as Dissociative Identity Disorder, which was the term used in the movie as well. All the events are factually explained, even the pots that appear to randomly break, which was not done in the original. The suspense and the thrill of the unknown was presented better in this remake, thanks to clever and intelligent uses of background scores and sounds.

All in all, the four remakes are well made in their own languages, each going on to become top-of-the-chart movies and classics in their own right.

Chandramukhi

Directed again by P. Vasu, the Tamil version of Manichithrathazhu came out in 2005 as Chandramukhi. The star-studded cast included Tollywood’s idol Rajinikanth along with Prabhu Ganeshan and Jyothika. The movie went on to overflow the box-office and brought back a collection of 64 crores. This remake also went on to win numerous awards, including the Filmfare Awards for Best Female Playback Singer and Best Comedian(Tamil),  and the state award for Best Actor and Best Actress.

The movie brought Rajinikanth back to fame, after the box-office failure of Baba, and is called his “come-back” film. The songs in the movie became such a hit that an album was created and released based on the songs. The story is almost exactly like Vasu’s Kannada remake of Manichithrathazhu – Apthamithra. However, there are a few slight variations. For example, there is another interesting character within the household – Akhilandeswari – who is Senthil(the young husband)’s aunt. She is a bachelorette who  was promised in marriage to Senthil’s father, but was denied this right. Thus the two families are initially not on speaking terms, and this, along with Akhilandeswari’s character (played by yester-year actress Sheela), adds to the drama. This intimidating aunt who runs the household and is feared by all, feels she is not given due respect by Saravanan (Rajnikanth) and attempts to have him killed by her mute helper. However, by the end of the movie, on hearing of Saravanan’s intended life sacrifice for his friend, she bows down before him and asks for his forgiveness. Rajnikanth is also given a closer relationship to the young husband, as his foster brother, adopted by Senthil’s parents. Dr. Saravanan is given supernatural powers in this version however, as he appears to read the minds of everyone in the household. He also acts very freely with the women of the household, who are all impressed by the doctor from America – making their husbands restless with sleepless nights.

Like the Kannada version, Chandramukhi also introduces Rajnikanth in the beginning of the movie, having him leave and come back again. The doctor is sent by his foster mother before Senthil to investigate the dangerous rumours surrounding the palace to which the young couple have decided to move. However, unlike both the Malayalam and Kannada versions, the family members do not know the story behind the house, and are instead told the story by a priest in the temple. The scene of the harmonica is again repeated in the Tamil version as well. Like Apthamitra, Chandramukhi also decides to follow the more supernatural aspect of the events, rather than logically explain each suspicious occurrence. For example, glimpses of a gigantic snake is seen throughout the movie, and is shown as slithering out of the house after the climax of the movie.

Unlike its predecessors, this movie has a tragic end to Ganga’s childhood. Her parents are killed by the village elders because her father married a woman of the lower caste. Hence, Ganga is raised by her grandmother, on stories of mythology and fantasy. The flashback however, is a lot like the Malayalam movie. The climax scene is like Apthamitra, except that the story shows the entire story of the King and the court dancer Chandramukhi, with scenes of the king chopping off her lover’s head and watching the body dance for a few minutes before falling to the ground. When Ganga looks up, however, and finds him still standing there, she continues dancing. This scene is done in the Hindi and Kannada versions as well, although it was not included in the original. The dancer, Chandramukhi, is a Telugu from Andhra Pradesh, like in the Kannada movie. In the Malayalam movie however, she is a Tamilian named Nagavalli.

A sequel to Chandramukhi was supposed to have been made with Rajnikanth again, but instead Vasu made a Telugu sequel, named Nagavalli(2010), with Venkatesh Daggubati as Dr. Vijay, Rajnikanth’s apprentice, who can also read minds. Again, in this movie, the dancer is Nagavalli from Tamil Nadu. However, the story is entirely different, as it talks about the strange incidents happening in the house of a middle-aged couple with five daughters. The climax ends with the evil king still being alive and a fight between him and the possessed daughter, who is helped in the end by Dr. Vijay. The snake again makes numerous appearances in this movie, and the painting of Nagavalli is what brings on these strange and supernatural events.

Chandramukhi also has an air of mystery around it, as it is rumoured that Rajnikanth had a very serious heart attack soon after the making of this movie.

Apthamitra

Manichithrathazhu‘s first remake appeared in Karnataka, in 2004. Directed by P. Vasu, the movie became a phenomenal success among the Kannadigas. With a cast that included Vishnuvardhan, Soundarya and Ramesh Aravind, it raked in a collection of 45 crores – 40 crores more than it’s original. Vishnuvardhan played Mohanlal’s role of the madcap psychiatrist while Ramesh played his friend and unfortunate groom to Soundarya, who played Shobhana’s role of Ganga.

The story again revolves around the same theme of the couple who come and live in an ancient house and are burdened by the mysterious occurrences there. Ramesh aptly plays the role of the initially indignant and later helpless young husband. However, there are a few stark differences between Apthamithra and Manichithrathazhu, along with many more subtle ones. First of all, the climax scene  has been changed for this version. While in the Malayalam version Nagavalli seeks and finds her revenge by slitting her captor’s throat and drinking his blood, her Kannadiga counterpart is satisfied simply by watching him burn to his death from a distance.

The doctor in this version is much more of a warrior, with a fight sequence in the beginning of the movie serving as an introduction, in which he takes on a substantial number of bad guys to save the ladies in distress. These women turn out to be Ramesh’s relatives, to whose house he needs to go. Ganga’s inclination and curiosity to go into the room and explore it is shown much more dramatically in the Kannada version. Vishnuvardhan’s character was given a lot more importance than Mohanlal’s, with Vishnuvardhan’s version appearing in the beginning of the movie itself, as opposed to Mohanlal’s character appearing halfway through. Dr. Vijay(Vishnuvardhan’s character) is also given a very hero/demi-god – like aura in this movie, which is again absent in the original. The Kannadiga doctor is also given more screen time than his Malayalee counterpart, with entire scenes dedicated to his flirting and attempts to Ramesh’s cousin, Saumya, who is the supposedly mentally-unstable patient.

There is a scene in this movie in which Dr. Vijay refuses to allow Saumya to conduct dance classes outside the house, and which sparks up a fight and later romance between the two. This scene, which is repeated in the tamil version as well, is taken from another Malayalam movie starring Mohanlal and Manjuvaryar. There is a lot more dramatization of events in this version, as opposed to the more subtle occurrences in malayalam. For instance, as Ganga inserts the key into the lock and opens the forbidden locked door, simultaneously, Ramesh is almost run over by an out-of-control truck on his work site.

The priest appears much sooner than the doctor’s second arrival, and appears not to recognize him until he is almost kicked out of the house by an angry Ramesh on hearing the news of his wife’s madness. The priest then goes on to tell the members of the household and a stunned Ramesh how the doctor is the apprentice of a famous professor (Bradley) in the United States of America. He praises the doctor until everyone is convinced. Another twist in this movie is that Ganga believes the doctor to be the Rajah, and determines to take revenge on him, although it is the husband in Manichithrathazhu. Therefore the family members and Ramesh believe that the doctor is willing to give up his life for the sake of his friend’s wife, and he becomes the hero of the family.

This entire movie bends much more to the spiritual side of the science vs. religion debate. The priest talks of Dr. Vijay’s “thejus” , or enlightenment that could be seen on his face after he returns from his epiphany in which he discovers the true identity of his patient. The doctor himself accepts as fact that there is more than a mere mental disorder that is the root of these problems. He talks of how to appease Nagavalli, rather than of how to cure Ganga. He talks of possessions and other supernatural things, although he still clearly explains the phenomenon of Multiple Personality Disorder. There is a slight artificiality in between when they sit in a room that looks very much like an interrogation room within the house, with a light table set in the center and lamps set on all four sides.

The movie won the Filmfare awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress and went on to be a box-office hit, running for almost a year. It was such a success that a sequel was made, called Aptharakshaka. Oddly enough, the actress Soundarya, who played Ganga,  died immediately after Apthamithra, in a plane crash, making it her last movie. What adds to the mystery and intrigue is that the actor Vishnuvardhan also passed away after the sequel was made. Coincidence? You decide.

Manichitrathazhu

Written by Madhu Mittam and directed by Fazil, Manichitrathazhu (Ornate Lock) (1993) is a psychological thriller meant for all audiences.
The story is of a newly married couple, Nakulan and Ganga, who move into their ancestral home, despite being warned by the elders of the dangers of the old house. Strange events start occuring, after which the entire family moves in to support the couple. They tell them the story of the head of the household (karnavar) of the house, who had a Tamilian court dancer named Nagavalli. Upon discovering that she loved the dancer next to his house, the karnavar had him killed and Nagavalli burnt alive. The elders believed it was her spirit causing this unrest. They claimed that she would only be satisfied if she killed the karnavur on Durgashtami day. A disbelieving Nakulan invites his friend, Dr. Sunny, a psychiatrist, to help him find an answer to these mysterious occurences. Although everyone suspects it to be the work of Nakulan’s rejected bride, Sreedevi, Sunny realizes it is Ganga, who has Multiple Personality Disorder due to traumas in her childhood. Sunny and Nakulan set up a dramatic scene to satisfy Nagavalli’s thirst for revenge and cure Ganga.

The story is said to have been inspired by a real tragedy that occured in the Alumoottil Tharavadu, which is the name of an old family in Central Travancore. In a country which tiptoes around the controversy of science and religion, this movie was perfect in its balanced handling of both. It catered to the rational audiences by explaining the psychiatric reason for the mysterious occurrences  while satisfying the religious ones by acknowledging the wisdom of the priests. It had famous second-unit directors, which is what created the perfect balance of this unique genre – a mix of slapstick comedy, subtle humour, horror, drama and romance.  The directors who helped in the making of this film were Sibi Malayil, known for his dramatic moments, Priyadarshan, a block buster director famous for slapstick comedies (and who also later made Bhool Bhulaiyaa), and Sidiq Lal, also known for comedy.

After the phenomenal success of Manichitrathazhu, these and other directors tried aping  this style of story telling. Movies like Aakasha Ganga, Devadoodan etc. were testimonials to this. However, none could reach the heights that Manichitrathazhu had claimed. The casting itself has a lot to do with the movie’s success. A half-mad doctor who initially makes a fool out of himself, but who can pull off the seriousness required of him during the climax scenes, could only have been portrayed with perfection by Mohanlal. And to act as an amateur dancer while having learnt classical dance for years was flawlessly done by Shobhana. Her subtle gestures and expressions which brought both the innocent Ganga and the demonic Nagavalli to life, also brought her the National Award for Best Actress for her role. The film also raked in the National Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, along with a number of State Awards.

 

Alone in the Crowd.

Growing up in the city of Cochin in Kerala, I had always been surrounded by a flood of English books and movies. Because the school I went to had students from all over India, this was never a problem – rather it gave us all common grounds for discussion. I was convinced that Hollywood was the only place that produced movies worth watching, and that everything else was trash. I wiled away my time in front of the television watching Star Movies, HBO, ZeeStudio etc., while Malayalam channels like Asianet and Surya, and Hindi channels lay quietly forgotten in the background. Even Hindi was just not cool enough for me.

However, this neglect later came back to bite me. When I went for family visits to my relative’s houses, all my cousins talked about the latest Hindi or Malayalam blockbuster. Although they used to watch English movies too, they were also up-to-date on the movies in the regional languages. They would laugh about funny scenes from movies, quote dialogues, enact certain parts, and even dance like the actors.. Even though they never intended it, I began to feel left out. I wanted to laugh, I wanted to quote, I wanted to sing and act and dance!

And so it was that I began a conscious undertaking of watching Malayalam movies. I started by creating a list of Must-watch Comedies, which my oldest cousin and my mother helped me make. I watched hilarious ones like Kilukkam, Thalayana Manthram, Naadodi Kaattu, etc. Along with these, they mentioned a few all-time hits. Thus, I stumbled on to the movie Manichithrathazhu.

It had taken the malayalam movie industry by storm, and had collected a whopping 5 crores (a big sum at the time) during its release in 1993. The movie itself won a National Award, as well as State Awards, and Shobhana, who played the role of Ganga/Nagavalli was given the National Award for Best Actress. It was critically acclaimed throughout the country and led to several remakes in several languages.

During recent years, however, Manichithrathazhu seems to have been lying forgotten, ready to be buried along with the decaying glories of the other precious treasures of the Indian film industry. When I watched it on tv two years back, the beauty, balance and flow  of the movie overwhelmed me. On research, I found that it had inspired four remakes in four different languages; namely, Apthamithra in Kannada, Chandramukhi in Tamil, Nagavalli in Telugu, and Bhool Bhulaiya in Hindi. While all four movies have neatly balanced out the very touchy subject of science vs. religion, both the Malayalam and the Hindi versions seem to have been slightly more biased towards the pschyological and rational reasoning behind the story; whereas the Tamil and Kannada movies have stuck to the religious viewpoint, with both psychiatrists insisting on Ganga having been possessed by the spirit, along with the disorder. What was amusing was the fact that each movie declared it was a re-make of the previous, not particularly attributing it to the original. Tamilians I talked to seemed unaware of the Malayalam original, even believing it to be a copy of the Tamil version. Kannadigas thought the Kannada version came from the Tamil one, while the audiences of the Hindi version simply thought it was the first of its kind.

So I decided to take it upon myself to try and enlighten my fellow countrymen on the origins of this genre in the Indian movie industry – a delicate balance between drama, comedy, horror, sci-fi and non-fiction – a balance unparalleled even a decade after its time.