Chandramukhi ([Moon-faced beauty] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) is a 2005 Indian comedy-horror film scripted and directed by P. Vasu. Produced and distributed by Ramkumar Ganesan under his production banner, Sivaji Productions, it is a remake of Vasu's Kannada film Apthamitra (2004), which itself was a remake of the Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu (1993). The soundtrack album and background score were composed by Vidyasagar. The film features Rajinikanth in the lead role, and Jyothika as the titular character. Prabhu and Nayantara play other lead roles in the film which featured an ensemble cast that includes Vadivelu, Nassar, Sheela, Vijayakumar, Vinaya Prasad, Sonu Sood, Vineeth, Malavika and K. R. Vijaya. Cinematography was handled by Sekhar V. Joseph and editing by Suresh Urs. Chandramukhi's plot revolves around a woman's split personality which affects a family and how a psychiatrist intends to solve the case whilst laying his own life at risk.

The film was made on a modest budget of ₹190 million (US$2.3 million). It was also the 50th film of Sivaji Productions.^[5] Principal photography commenced on 24 October 2004. It was released on 14 April 2005, on the eve of Tamil New Year's day. The length of the film was 4,575 metres.^[2] The film was a box office success and grossed ₹750 million (US$9.0 million) worldwide in its lifetime run.^[4] It is the longest running south indian film till date. The film went on to win 5 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, 4 Film Fans' Association Awards and 2 Filmfare Awards. Jyothika and Vadivelu were each awarded an honorary Kalaimamani Award for their work in the film. Behindwoods rated Chandramukhi as 2005's summer blockbuster of the decade (from 2003 to 2013).^[6]

Chandramukhi was dubbed in Telugu with the same title and was simultaneously released with its original counterpart. It was also dubbed into Bhojpuri.^[7] The film was became the first Tamil film to be dubbed into German. It was released there under the title, Der Geisterjäger ([The Ghost Hunters] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)). The film was also dubbed into Turkish.^[8] Despite the release of Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007), the Bollywood remake of Manichitrathazhu, the film was dubbed and released in Hindi on 29 February 2008 by Dilip Dhanwani, owner of the production house, Royal Film Company. This version was released in collaboration with producer A. M. Rathnam.^[9] The film was a hit in all the languages.^[5]

Plot

Saravanan (Rajinikanth), an NRI psychiatrist comes to India on vacation. He meets up with his foster brother Senthilnathan alias Senthil (Prabhu) and his wife Ganga (Jyothika). Senthil's mother Kasthuri (K. R. Vijaya) wanted Senthil to get married to Priya (Malavika), daughter of his father's cousin Kandaswamy (Nassar) to reunite the two branches of the family after 30 years of separation, with the reason being Senthil's father chosing to marry Kasthuri instead of Akhilandeshwari (Sheela), Kandaswamy's sister. Saravanan learns that Senthil had bought the Vettaiyapuram mansion, despite attempts by the elders to dissuade them due to fear of the place and moves in with them. Akhilandeshwari is jealous of Saravanan and tries to kill him, with the help of her assistant Oomaiyan (Sonu Sood).

When the family goes to a temple, the chief priest reveals why everyone fears the place: several years ago, a king named Vettaiyan took a trip to Vijayanagaram in Andhra Pradesh where he met a dancer named Chandramukhi and fell in love with her. However, she refused to reciprocate his feelings as she was already in love with a dancer named Gunashekaran. So, Vettaiyan brought her back to his palace by force. Unbeknownst to him, Chandramukhi had Gunashekaran stay in a house nearby. When Vettaiyan discovered this, he beheaded Gunashekaran on Durgashtami and burned Chandramukhi alive as a result of which Chandramukhi's ghost continued to haunt the palace in its south west room to take revenge on the king. Later, Vishwanathan (Vineeth), a dance professor, and Priya's love is supported by Saravanan, who requests Kandaswamy to arrange their marriage.

After hearing Chandramukhi's story, Ganga wants to go to her room as she thinks that the story was fabricated to scare thieves from stealing costly treasures located in the room. She gets the room key from the gardener's granddaughter Durga (Nayantara) and opens the door. Subsequently, strange things begin to happen in the household: a ghost is scaring the people in the house, things are inexplicably breaking, and Ganga's sari catches fire. Suspicion turns towards Durga. Senthil calls Saravanan to solve the case. As soon as Saravanan returns, a mysterious being attempts to kill Priya; attempts are made to kill Senthil, once with poison, and another time by pushing a fish tank and a mysterious voice sings and dances during the night. Saravanan investigates these incidents.

Ganga mysteriously disappears during Priya and Viswanathan's wedding reception, which Saravanan notices and searches for her, but he ends up almost getting killed by Oomaiyan (sent by Akhilandeshwari). He subdues him and, with Senthil's help, finds Ganga, supposedly being sexually harassed by Viswanathan. Saravanan informs Senthil and Viswanathan that Ganga suffers from split personality and goes on to reveal how she became affected by it and how she took up Chandramukhi's identity. He reveals that the reason she tried to kill Priya and Senthil, and frame Viswanathan for sexual harassment, was because from Chandramukhi's view, Viswanathan is her lover Gunashekaran as he stays in the same home as Gunashekaran did. The only way to stop it is to make her believe Saravanan is dead, as Saravanan acted like Vettaiyan and disrupted one of the pujas conducted by the exorcist, Ramachandra Acharya, by having a conversation with the ghost in order to know its wish.

Akhilandeshwari overhears his idea of self-sacrifice and apologises to Saravanan, who accepts her apology. Later, in the dance hall, the family and Ramachandra Acharya do what Saravanan tells them to do. They let Chandramukhi burn him alive by pouring oil on him. Ramachandra Acharya blows smoke and ash in her face when a torch is given to her to burn Saravanan. Then Senthil opens a trapdoor to let Saravanan escape and a cardboard figure of him gets burnt. Convinced that Vettaiyan is dead, Chandramukhi leaves Ganga's body, curing her. The two families are reunited after 30 years; Saravanan and Durga fall in love and finally, Swarna (Suvarna Mathew) and Murugesan (Vadivelu) become parents after eight years of marriage.

Cast

File:Nayantara at South Indian International Movie Awards 2013.jpg

The main cast of Chandramukhi. From top to bottom: Rajinikanth, Prabhu and Nayantara

• Rajinikanth as Dr. Saravanan and King Vettaiyan

Saravanan is a charismatic and friendly psychiatrist who goes about discovering the problems happening at the mansion and curing Ganga from her mental illness. He later disguises himself as Vettaiyan to trick Chandramukhi and cures Ganga. Vasu, regarding Rajinikanth's look in the film, said, "When I saw him in Bangalore, I was very confident that I could make him look young. He was doing a lot of exercises those days, so he looked quite trim. His face was glowing because he was taking adequate rest. He was mentally at peace. He looked very happy. If a person is happy, that shows on his face. He is one person who reduces weight if you tell him to. If he feels he has developed a paunch, he will work out one or two hours daily. He will do anything if his mind is free. I told him if he had a wig, he would look young."^[11]

• Prabhu as Senthil

A civil engineer and owner of Ganesh constructions. He moves to the town of Vettaiyapuram with his wife, Ganga, to buy the Vettaiyapuram Mansion. He married his love interest Ganga abruptly without letting his mother know, when he was already proposed to his cousin, Priya. He denies rumours that he hears about the haunted household and has no belief in ghosts or other superpowers. To possess Viswanathan, whom she thinks is her lover Gunasekaran, Chandramukhi tries to kill Senthilnathan twice with no success. About the film, Prabhu said, "Our banner has already produced Mannan with Rajini as hero and Vasu as director. The same combination comes together again after a decade.", further saying that "We (the producers) are doing our best to give the audience a good, entertaining movie."^[12]

• Jyothika as Ganga and Chandramukhi

Ganga is found suffering from split personality disorder; her second personality is the ghost of Chandramukhi. Ganga has a very curious and mischievous character. Married to Dr. Saravanan's friend Senthilnathan, she unlocks the ancient rooms of Vettaiyan and Chandramukhi, only to cause her family more trouble and having herself turn into the personality of Chandramukhi quite often, causing havoc in the family. Soundarya was initially selected to reprise her role from Apthamithra, but her death led the director to choose Simran and he shaped the character to suit her. In November 2004, Simran refused to do the project as her role required a lot of dancing and cited her pregnancy at that time as another main reason for her refusal.^[13][14] Sadha and Reemma Sen were also considered as replacements. The role finally went to Jyothika, who gave 50 days of her schedule for the film.^[15] Jyothika was paid ₹5 million (US$60,000) for her participation in the film.^[16] Jyothika thanked the cast and crew of the film, "All of them were confident that I'd do justice to the role. Vasu, especially, was very helpful. I saw Shobana in Manichitrathazhu. It was a magnificent performance. But Vasu didn't want me to imitate her. He wanted something different and enacted the scenes. I just followed his instructions."^[17]

• Vadivelu as Murgesan

The clumsy younger brother of Akhilandeswari and Kandaswamy. He is often irritated by Saravanan who occasionally socialises with his wife, who considers Saravanan as her own brother, which is misinterpreted by Murgesan, who thinks they are in a relationship and tries to safeguard his wife. He provides the comic relief in the film. Vadivelu, in an interview with S. R. Ashok Kumar of The Hindu, rated Chandramukhi as one of the best films he had done in his career.^[18]

• Nayantara as Durga

Durga is the granddaughter of the mansion's gardener, and also Saravanan's love interest. Her first few encounters with Saravanan went with arguments, but later develops an interest in him, also needing his help to prove herself that she is not guilty. She helps out Ganga in her adventure to explore Chandramukhi's room and is later wrongly accused by Senthilnathan and Kandaswamy of causing troubles in the family. When she is informed about Ganga's mental illness by Saravanan, she agrees to take as much blame as possible for Ganga to be cured. Regarding Nayanthara's inclusion in the cast, Vasu said, "My wife saw the Malayalam film Manassinakkare, which had Jayaraam, Nayanthara and Sheela, who was making a comeback after so many years. She told me Nayanthara was very good. Then, I learnt that she was doing Ayya with Sarath Kumar in Tamil. The next day, I saw a picture of Nayanthara and Sarath in Dina Thanthi newspaper. I found her very appealing. I wanted to tell Rajni immediately. What happened was, he called me and asked, 'Did you see the picture of a girl in today's Dina Thanthi? She looks very good.' That was perfect timing, I would say. Ram Kumar also liked her. So we zeroed in on Nayanthara."[sic].^[19]

• Nassar as Kandaswamy^[20]

The brother of Akhilandeswari and Murugesan and father of Priya. He initially thinks that Saravanan is actually Senthilnathan, who was his soon-to-be son-in-law. He was proven wrong when it was clarified by Akhilandeswari. Kandaswamy accuses Durga for causing problems in the family and shows arrogance against Saravanan for supposedly fraternizing with his daughters, .

• Vineeth as Viswanathan and Gunashekaran^[20]

Viswanathan is a dance professor who is the principle love interest of Priya who lets him live in another portion of the mansion. When their love was exposed by Saravanan, it was disliked by Akhilandeswari, who also disliked the doctor intially. Viswanathan is looked upon by Chandramukhi as her lover Gunashekaran, who was beheaded by Vettaiyan. Viswanathan disguises as Gunashekaran during the climax when curing Ganga.

• Vijayakumar as Thottakaarar^[20]

The poor gardener of the Vettaiyapuram mansion and grandfather to Durga.

• Sheela as Akhilandeswari

The intimidating older sister of Kandaswamy and Murugesan, and also the bachelorette family head. She is very arrogant and wants things to be done her way. Her characteristics are highlighted when she often shows her dissatisfaction for Saravanan. She initially gets the urge to take revenge on Senthilnathan and Ganga for cheating on Priya and makes everyone live with the couple at the mansion. She tries to get rid of Saravanan through her mute servant whom she refers to as Oomaiyan. Sheela was known for her role in the Malayalam film, Chemmeen (1965). When Sheela was signed on for the role, she was requested by the producers not to divulge details about her role to the media.^[21]

• K. R. Vijaya in a cameo appearance as Kasthuri^[20]

Senthilnathan's mother. She married Akhilandeswari's would-be, who is revealed to be Sivaji Ganesan, which caused a family dispute for nearly 30 years. To end the dispute, she planned on proposing her son Senthilnathan to Akhilandeswari's niece Priya, which also did not happen. She reunites with Akhilandeswari in the end.

• Avinash as Ramachandra Acharya

A world renowned exorcist, who Kandaswamy calls upon to exorcise Chandramukhi's ghost. Initally despising Saravanan at first, he however realises that Ganga is Chandramukhi and sees Saravanan as Vettaiyan and helps them in the exorcism.

• Thyagu as Kumar

Senthilnathan's assistant and work colleague.

• Manobala as an exorcist

A cowardly character who is hired before Ramachandra Aacharya and unsuccessfully tries to annihilate Chandramukhi's ghost.

• Mohan Raj as Senthilanthan's work opponent

An opponent in Senthilanthan's profession who resorts to rowdyism to get hold of the highway road contract project that Senthilnathan finally gets.

• Sonu Sood as Oomaiyan^[20]

The mute servant of Akhilandeswari who is always shown giving cunning smiles to himself. He is sent by Akhilandeswari at one point to kill Saravanan, which turns out to be an unsuccessful attempt.

• Madhan Bob as a car owner

He features in a comic sequence where Rajinikanth and Vadivelu's characters are on the way to a village called Ealur to learn more about Ganga's past.

• T. P. Gajendran as Senthilnathan's assistant

He informs Senthilnathan's opponent with pride that the highway contract project was handed over to his employer's company, Ganesh constructions.

• Malavika as Priya Kandaswamy^[20]

The daughter of Kandaswamy who was mostly raised by her paternal aunt, Akhilandeswari. She was initially betrothed to Senthilnathan but her love for Viswanathan was later found out by Saravanan. Priya is also one of Chandramukhi's targets as Chandramukhi wanted to have Viswanthan, who she thinks is Gunashekaran, for herself.

• Vinaya Prasad as Lakshmi Kandaswamy^[20]

The obedient wife of Kandaswamy and mother of Priya.

• Suvarna Mathew as Swarna

The wife of Murgesan. She considers Saravanan as her own brother, which is misinterpreted by Murgesan, who thinks they are in a relationship and tries to safeguard his wife.

• Sujibala as Kandaswamy's youngest daughter

She is also smitten by Saravanan like the other characters.

• Omakuchi Narasimhan in an uncredited cameo appearance as the temple priest^[20]

The priest gives information about the palace to the family, which prompts Ganga to go to Chandramukhi's room.

The film's director P. Vasu and the film's producer Ramkumar Ganesan make guest appearances in the song "Devuda Devuda".

Production

Development

In September 2004, Rajinikanth in a telephonic conversation with him P. Vasu, congratulated him on the success of Apthamitra (2004) and was impressed with the film's screenplay. Vasu narrated a reworked story of the film to Rajinikanth, who listened to the story in detail. Rajinikanth later called up Ramkumar Ganesan and asked him to do the film in Tamil under Ramkumar's home production banner, Sivaji Productions.

Ramkumar phoned Vasu, who was offering worship in a temple in Guruvayoor, informing him of Rajinikanth's wish to do Apthamitra in Tamil under his direction.^[22] Vasu reworked the script he wrote for Apthamitra to suit Rajinikanth's style of acting.^[23] The film dealt mainly with the concept of dissociative identity disorder, commonly known as "multiple personality disorder" (MPD) or "split personality syndrome". Coincidentally, another film titled Anniyan (2005) which featured Vikram in the lead role and was released a couple months after Chandramukhi did, was also based on split personality.^[24]

Thota Tharani was the film's art director,^[22] and took care of the costume designing involved in the film.^[25] Regarding the designing of the Vettaiyapuram palace, Thota Tharani watched both Manichitrathazhu and Apthamitra to get the basic idea of the film's plot. Manichitrathazhu was shot in a real palace in Kochi. So, Vasu wanted Tharani to make the sets more colourful and grand and didn't want the realistic look of the original. Tharani designed Chandramukhi's room and placed a corridor in it, which was quite different from the original and its Kannada remake, even though the corridor resembled those that were often seen in many palaces in Kerala.^[25] Additional costume designing was done by Sidney Sladen.^[26]

Filming

Principal photography commenced on 24 October 2004 with a puja ceremony for the muhurat shot at Annai Illam, the residence of Sivaji Ganesan. Ramkumar Ganesan claimed that the film would be entirely wrapped up by 15 February 2005, giving them two months to complete the post-production work, including VFX.^[27] The first schedule began two days later with a fight scene choreogrpahed by Thalapathy Dinesh and filmed at Ramavaram in Chennai with over 25 vehicles used in the sequence. 30 stunt artistes took part in the fight sequence that featured Rajinikanth.^[28] The song sequences, one picturised on Rajini alone and two songs where he appears with the other principal cast members and the climax song, which was canned on Jyothika, were canned in Ramoji Film City. Vasu stated that the film had taken only 78 days to be completed instead of 120 days as was planned earlier.^[29]

The picturisation of the song "Devuda Devuda" focused on a variety of professions, notably those of janitors, sewage cleaners, farmers and washerfolk.^[30] According to Ramji, the location designer for the song, Australia and Russia were the intial choices for shooting the song "Konjam Neram", but Ramkumar and Vasu chose Turkey, making Chandramukhi the first Tamil film to be shot there.^[31] The song was shot after the audio launch.^[32] "Konjam Neram" was shot in segments in Ephesus and Pamukkale. Shooting in Ephesus took place for 6 hours at a stretch. The segment in Pamukkale was done in an amphitheatre in the ancient city of Hierapolis, which was located close to Pamukkale. The last segment was shot in the Cappadoccia region.^[32] The Cappadoccia region was a 10-hour drive by bus from the country's capital city, Istanbul. Rajinikanth stood in the middle of the vehicle all the while during the travel to the shooting spot.^[33] "Athinthom" was shot in Mysore Palace.^[34] "Raa Raa" was choreographed by Kala. The song took only four days to complete.^[35]

Music

Vidyasagar composed the soundtrack album and the background score of the film. The soundtrack album consists of six tracks. Vaali, Yugabharathi, Pa. Vijay, Na. Muthukumar and Bhuvanachandra wrote the lyrics for the Tamil version.^[36] Bhuvanachandra, Suddala Ashok Teja, Vennelakanti and Vaali wrote the lyrics for the dubbed Telugu version. The track "Ra Ra" was based on the Surya raaga, which is also known as the Sallabham raaga.^[37] Veteran singer Asha Bhosle was confirmed to sing a song in the film and also to attend the film's audio launch.^[38] The audio rights for the film were sold to Sanjay Wadhva of AnAK audio for ₹11 million (US$130,000).^[39] The album cover depicts Rajinikanth in the song "Devuda Devuda".

The album was released on 5 March 2005 at the Taj Connemara hotel in Chennai.^[40] An overseas audio launch took place the next day in Malaysia.^[39] At the Music World shop located in Chennai, 437 cassettes and 227 CD’s were sold on the first day of its stock release.^[41] The OST (Original Soundtrack) of the film was released on 27 September 2005 in Chennai along with a video CD titled, "The making of Chandramukhi", which featured the making of the film.^[42] The film's background score was released as a separate CD.^[43]

Reception

The album received positive reviews from critics. Siddhu Warrier of Rediff.com said, "Devuda Devuda finds S. P. Balasubramanian in top form." whilst labelling Athinthom as "A soft, melodious song", Kokku Para Para as "insipid", before concluding that the song Annonda Pattu "is vintage Rajni, and gets your feet tapping. One can almost picture Rajni brandishing his trademark cigarette and sunglasses as he gyrates to the beat. If one is a die-hard Rajni fan, then one is likely to go beserk dancing to this. This one's a homer, folks!"^[44] IndiaGlitz wrote, "So considering the pressure and pulls, Vidyasagar has come up with a fine score keeping in mind what Rajni's fans usually look for. The thing is that he has not gone for experimentation or tried out any new funky sounds. He has played safe even while managing to come up with some eminently hummable tunes. To be sure, they may not be classics. But it sure fits the bill. A good mixture of melody, mass and foot-tapping numbers. Chandramukhi is sure to be another hit of Vidyasagar's and will join the list of his recent Dhool, Ghilli and Madurey."^[45] Dhananjayan in his book The Best of Tamil Cinema: 1977 to 2010, mentioned that all the songs became popular and contributed to the success of the film, further adding that "Raa Raa" became an evergreen number among music lovers.^[5] Reviewing the song "Konjam Neram", which was based on the Sriranjani raaga, Charulatha Mani of The Hindu called it "An attractive take on the raga" and said the song "is contemporary in feel and traditional at the roots."^[46]

Tracklist

Original Tracklist^[47]

Release

The film was released on 14 April 2005, on Tamil New Year's day, alongside Kamal Haasan's Mumbai Express and Vijay's Sachein. Chandramukhi was released in 37 theatres in Malaysia, 15 in Europe, 9 in Sri Lanka, 7 in the US, 4 each in Canada and the Gulf countries and 2 each in Australia and Singapore.^[49] The film was released with 23 prints in Coimbatore, 12 more than Rajinikanth's Padayappa (1999).^[50]

The producers entered into a business dealing with Tata Indicom to promote the film for which ringtones of the songs from the film's soundtrack and special screensavers were used.^[51] Giant cutouts of Rajinikanth and movie release posters were posted all over the state as a run-up for the release.^[52] The promotion campaign started in early March 2005 and went on till mid-May 2005.^[51] The movie was screened in eight city theatres in Chennai.^[53]

Chandramukhi was screened at the 18th Tokyo International Film Festival in Japan on 23 October 2005 and 28 October 2005 as part of the 'Winds of Asia' section. It was the first public screening of the film in the country.^[54] It was met with positve response from the people there.^[55] The film opened the 7th IIFA Awards Film Festival held at the Dubai International Convention Centre in Dubai, UAE, becoming the first south indian film to open the Film Festival.^[56]

Though the film was a remake, Madhu Muttam, who wrote the story for Manichithrathazhu, was neither mentioned in the opening credits nor in the closing credits. Instead, the story was credited to the director P. Vasu.^[57] The same issue happened in Vasu's Apthamitra. Vasu, however stated that the script was revised and was different from the original, though very slightly.^[58] Chandramukhi was banned in Kerala as a result.^[59]

Home media

The television rights were sold to Sun TV.^[60]

The original negative was damaged due to poor care and ill-treatment. AP International and Shahran Sunny Audit started a restoration project which scanned the film frame-by-frame, in a 2K workflow. They were able to remove all wear and tear, and retain the natural film grain.^[61] This version was released in Blu-ray on 2 August 2012.^[1]

Reception

Critical response

The film received positive reviews from critics. Writing for The Hindu, Malathi Rangarajan said, "As you watch the film you cannot but admire the ingenuity of writer-director P. Vasu in choosing a story that is bound to sell and at the same time helping Rajini maintain his image of an invincible hero." and concluded that "The Mannan team proves a winner again.^[62] Another critic from The Hindu, Sudhish Kamath, wrote, "Chandramukhi started with a bang -- a Matrix style stunt sequence and fans went euphoric. The ecstasy continued when Superstar shook hip to "Devuda Devuda" Soon Superstar's comic interludes with Vadivelu rocked the house. The excitement was infectious, as fans cheered, danced in the aisles and rushed towards the screen at every opportunity to shower it with confetti. This despite the fact that the film had absolutely no politically loaded statements or finger-gimmickry. Just a strong script cleverly adapted from Manichitrathazhu and Superstar at his vintage best."^[63]

In an interview with film journalist Sreedhar Pillai, Rajinikath attributed the success of the film mainly to Vasu's script and the performance of his co-artistes. He also mentioned that his comedy track with Vadivelu went a long way in making the film a successful venture and that their perfect timing clicked, bringing audiences to the theatres to watch the film more than once. He also felt that the female sections of the audience loved the portrayal of the female cast.^[23]

The Times of India wrote, "From playing the standard urban underdog or rural patriarch, Rajni goes back to yet another respected southern hero—the benevolent western intellectual. As a psychiatrist battling a case of split personality, he cleverly layers on traditional exorcism when science leaves embarrassing question-marks. Entertaining, stylish, respectful of ritual, and always massively larger than life—evidently worth the Rs 500 premium per ticket on a Chennai Sunday."^[64] Arun Ram of India Today said, "With Chandramukhi, Rajnikant revives his fading career and fortunes of Tamil cinema."^[3] G. Ulaganathan, writing for the Deccan Herald praised the chemistry between Rajinikanth and Vadivelu, saying that "Rajinikanth is back in full form, comedy comes naturally to him and he finds an able ally in Vadivelu. Some of the best scenes in the movie are when both are together. With Vadivelu suspecting his wife to be having an affair with Rajni and the superstar doing everything to keep him on the edge, the exchanges are hilarious."^[65] Ananda Vikatan in its review mentioned, "Rajni's films normally revolve around him but in this case, Rajni is in a script which goes around several people. [...] Rajni as Vettaiyan is the highlight of the film. [...] After many years, Rajni has shown that he does not confine to his personality cage through this film.", and gave the film 40 marks.^[66] G. Dhananjayan in his book The Best of Tamil Cinema: 1977 to 2010, labelled the film as "a family entertainer".^[2] Behindwoods stated, "Rajini belies his age on the screen and performs his antics with enthusiasm. His comic interludes with Vadivelu are the highlight of the movie. Shankar Josheph’s camera work is impressive. Vidyasagar’s music has enriched the songs which are soothing."^[67] IndiaGlitz summarised, "Chandramukhi, on the whole, will surely the join the long list of Rajni's super hits."^[68]

Sify wrote, "First thing first. Rajnikanth’s Chandramukhi is far better than his last film Baba, yet it leaves you with somewhat mixed feeling. Undoubtedly the plot is nothing but Fazil’s Manichitrathazhu from Malayalam. But Chandramukhi is a remake of P. Vasu’s Apthamitra from Kannada with some additional songs, fights and comedy scenes thrown in to further boost the superstar’s image".^[69] A. Ganesh Nadar of Rediff asserted that the film would become "a certain hit.", before concluding that "The star will be happy, his fans will be happy and producer Prabhu will giggle all the way to the bank.".^[70] Karthiga Rukmanykanthan, writing for Daily News Sri Lanka, stated that "[...] the long anticipated delight Chandramukhi has made itself the box-office hit of the year.".^[71]

Box office

The film was a box office success, selling 20 million tickets worldwide. The success of the film netted ₹150 million (US$1.8 million) in salary and profit share for Rajinikanth. The film's distributors made 20 per cent profit over the ₹25 million (US$300,000) for which they bought the rights to the flm.^[3]

Chandramukhi's 365th day, 400th day^[72] and 550th day^[73] were celebrated at Shanthi theatre in Chennai. The 365th day celebrations were organised by LIC.^[74]

The film's 804th day celebration function were held at Kamaraj Arangam in Chennai on 25 June 2007. The then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi, director K. Balachander, film producer and owner of AVM Productions, M. Saravanan,^[75] Kamal Haasan and Sridevi attended the function.^[76][77] The "Shivaji" sword was presented by Karunanidhi to the film's cast and crew and awards were given to each of the persons involved in the film.^[78]

India

Chandramukhi grossed ₹8.4 million (US$100,000) in 11 days in eight screens in Chennai alone.^[79] Around 22,000 tickets were sold for the first 10 days of its release in the Santham theatre of Sathyam Cinemas.^[53] The dubbed Telugu version topped the box office charts in its first week of release.^[80] Chandramukhi grossed ₹30 million (US$360,000) in Coimbatore, beating the ₹24.5 million (US$290,000) record set there by Padayappa^[81] Chandramukhi got ₹60 million (US$720,000) as Minimum Guarantee (MG) from theatres in North Arcot, South Arcot and Chengalpattu districts put together.^[82] The film went to have a theatrical run of 890 days at Ganesan's family-owned Shanthi theatre, beating the 62 year record set by the 1944 film Haridas, which ran for 770 days at the Broadway theatre.^[83] The film grossed ₹750 million (US$9.0 million) in its lifetime run.^[4] The Telugu version also ran for 100 days. In the multiplexes of Mumbai and Delhi, the film had a successful theatrical run and attracted the audience there as the film was screened with subtitles.^[5] This was the first Tamil film to beat the box office record set by Ghilli (2004), which grossed ₹500 million (US$6.0 million). The record was beaten two years later by Sivaji (2007).

Overseas

The film was screened in Tokyo on October 2005 to packed houses.^[84] In the United States, Chandramukhi became the highest grossing South Indian film at that time.^[5] Chandramukhi completed a 100 day theatrical run in South Africa.^[85] It went on to collectively make ₹43 million (US$520,000) in Malaysia, UAE and the US during the first month of its theatrical run.^[86] The film collected a total of ₹62.78 million (US$750,000) in Malaysia and was the only Indian film to feature in the country's top ten grossers of the year.^[87]

Accolades

The awards for the film mainly went to Vadivelu and Jyothika for their performances. Rajinikanth won a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor for his dual role.

“I will forever remain indebted to composer Vidyasagar, who gave me the song when I was a nobody in playback singing. I had given a cassette of my songs to Vidyasagar, who knew Krishnakumar.^[b] Then, about six months later, Vidyasagar invited me to record ‘Ra ra…,' The way that song has helped me in my career – both as a playback and classical singer – has been incredible. I was lucky I got a song in a Rajnikanth film so early in my career and the Filmfare award for my very first song."^[89]

— Binny Krishnakumar, in an interview with The Hindu

Legacy

Split personality syndrome became well known after the release of the film. MIOT hospital, in a blog description of the syndrome, labelled it as The Chandramukhi syndrome.^[96] Film artist trainer and film-maker L. Satyanand rated Chandramukhi as a "classic example[s] of brilliance” in terms of horror film genres and stated that the film was along the lines of many other famous horror films like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Psycho (1960).^[97]

Certain scenes, dialogues and expressions from the film earned iconic status all over the world, such as the "Lakka Lakka..." sound that Rajnikanth's character makes became very popular, especially with children.^[23] Vadivelu's expressions, scenes, especially those with Rajinikanth and dialogues like "Maapu...Vachittandaa Aapu!!!", became popular.^[98] Another dialogue spoken by Rajinikanth to Prabhu, Naan gunda irundha nalla irukkadhu...nee elachcha nalla irukkadhu, which translates into "I won't look good if I put on weight...but you won't look good if you have reduced weight" evoked a lot of laughter amongst the audiences.^[99]

Prabhu's dialogue from the film, "Enna kodumai Saravanan idhu?" which literally means "What atrocity is this, Saravanan?" gained a lot of popularity. According to the website Urban Dictionary, it is usually used to express displeasure/unhappiness about something, showing some signs of grief and sometimes surprise. Such moments became frequently mentioned as "EKSI moments".^[100] The line was parodied many times by actor Premgi Amaren, who altered it slightly to "Enna Kodumai, Sir Idhu?". This altered line was frequently used in Chennai 600028 (2007), Goa (2010) and Mankatha (2011).^[101][98] Regarding this, Prabhu said in an interview with Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu, “I hope I get to play light roles. Incidentally, I quite like the way in which these young actors have made a joke of my serious line in Chandramukhi — ‘Enna Kodumai Saravana Idhu.’".^[102]

Sivaji Productions joined hands with Gallatta Media and eBay for an online auction of the film's memorabilia, becoming the first South Indian film to have an auction of the film's merchandise. Ramkumar Ganesan said the entire proceeds of the auction would be given to the Sivaji Prabhu Charity Trust and that ₹300,000 (US$3,600) would be given to Papanchatram Middle School.^[103] The bidding for the sunglasses worn by Rajinikanth in the film was won by Sophie Atphthavel from France for ₹25,000 (US$300). According to Girish Ramdas, chief operating officer of Galatta Media, all the items came with a certificate of authenticity signed by the film's producers. Bidding for the items ranged between ₹10,000 (US$120) and ₹20,000 (US$240).^[104]

In a statement by eBay, the articles that would be available for bidding were Rajinikanth's blue shirt in the song "Devuda Devuda", Jyothika's Sari used for the climax scenes, the peach saree worn by Nayantara in the song "Konja Neram", and the Vettaiyan Raja costume and ornaments set worn by Rajinikanth.^[105] Rajinikanth's dress which he sported in "Devuda Devuda" was sold for ₹25,000 (US$300) and his Vettaiyan costume and ornament set was sold for ₹32,000 (US$380). The saree worn by Nayantara in the song "Kokku Para Para" was also auctioned in addition to these articles.^[106]

In a scene from Kuselan (2008), which was also directed by P. Vasu, Rajinikanth and Nayantara's characters act in a film titled Chandramukhi 2.^[107]

Remakes

Below is a character map of the lead characters in the story of Manichithrathazhu and its remakes.

Template:Manichitrathazhu character map

Sequel

A stand-alone sequel to Chandramukhi in Telugu was made in the same language as Nagavalli (2010) by P. Vasu starring Venkatesh Daggubati in the lead along with Anushka Shetty, Richa Gangopadhyay, Shraddha Das, Poonam Kaur, and Kamalinee Mukherjee.^[108]

See also

• List of ghost films

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography