Chandramukhi

Dr. Saravanan, a psychiatrist, visits India on vacation. He meets up with his foster brother Senthilnathan, alias Senthil, and his wife Ganga. Senthil's mother Kasthuri, wanted Senthil to marry Priya, the daughter of his father's cousin, Kandaswamy, to reunite the two branches of the family after 30 years of separation because Senthil's father chose to marry Kasthuri instead of Akhilandeshwari, Kandaswamy's sister. Saravanan learns that Senthil had bought the Vettaiyapuram mansion, despite attempts by the local village elders to dissuade them, and moves in with them. Akhilandeshwari is jealous of Saravanan and plots to kill him with the help of her assistant Oomaiyan. When the family visits a temple, the chief priest reveals the reason everyone fears the Vettaiyapuram mansion. A hundred and fifty years earlier, a king named Vettaiyan travelled to Vijayanagaram in Andhra Pradesh, where he met and lusted after a dancer named Chandramukhi. However, she did not reciprocate his feelings as she was already in love with a dancer named Gunashekaran. As a result, Vettaiyan took her back to his palace by force. Unknown to him, Chandramukhi made Gunashekaran stay in a house nearby and had meetings with him secretly. When Vettaiyan discovered this, he beheaded Gunashekaran on Durgashtami and burnt Chandramukhi alive. As a result, Chandramukhi's ghost haunts the south-west room of the palace to take revenge on the king. Later, Vishwanathan, a dance professor, and Priya's love is supported by Saravanan, who asks Kandaswamy to arrange their marriage. After hearing Chandramukhi's story, Ganga, who thinks that the story was fabricated to scare thieves from stealing treasures in the room, wants to go there. Saravanan receives an email to attend a patient and assures Senthil to call him if anything happens before leaving. Ganga gets the room key from the gardener's granddaughter, Durga, and opens the door. Subsequently, strange things begin to happen in the household; a ghost frightens the people in the house, things inexplicably break, 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 tries to kill Priya. Attempts to kill Senthil are made with poison and by pushing a fish tank. A mysterious voice sings during the night. Saravanan investigates these incidents. Ganga mysteriously disappears during Priya and Viswanathan's wedding reception. Saravanan notices her absence and searches for her, but he is almost killed by Oomaiyan, who has been sent by Akhilandeshwari. Saravanan subdues Oomaiyan and, with Senthil's help, finds Ganga, who is supposedly being sexually harassed by Viswanathan. Saravanan reveals to Senthil and Viswanathan that Ganga has split personality, how she became affected by it and how she took up Chandramukhi's identity. He tells them Ganga tried to kill Priya and Senthil, and to frame Viswanathan for sexual harassment because, from Chandramukhi's view, Viswanathan is her lover Gunashekaran, since he stays in the same house as Gunashekaran did. The only way to stop this from happening is to make Ganga believe Saravanan is dead because Saravanan acted like Vettaiyan and disrupted one of the pujas conducted by the exorcist Ramachandra Acharya by conversing with the ghost to know its wish. Akhilandeshwari overhears Saravanan's idea of self-sacrifice and apologises to him. Later, in the dance hall, the family witnesses Ganga completely dressed up as Chandramukhi, with disheveled hair and a spooky gaze. Saravanan uses Viswanathan as Gunashekaran to lure Chandramukhi into the exorcism place and Ramachandra Acharya allows Chandramukhi to burn Saravanan alive. Ramachandra Acharya blows smoke and ash on Ganga's face when she is given a torch to burn Saravanan. Senthil then opens a trapdoor to let Saravanan escape, and an effigy of Vettaiyan gets burnt instead. 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 Swarna and Murugesan become parents after eight years of marriage. == Cast ==

Director P. Vasu, producer Ramkumar Ganesan and Rajinikanth's friend Raj Bahaddur make guest appearances in the song "Devuda Devuda". == Production ==

Development During a success meet for Mannan (1992), Rajinikanth announced that he would act in Sivaji Productions' 50th film, which would eventually become Chandramukhi. In September 2004, Rajinikanth congratulated P. Vasu on the success of his Kannada film Apthamitra (2004) and was impressed with the film's screenplay. Vasu then requested to remake the film in Tamil with Rajinikanth, who in turn, called Ramkumar Ganesan and asked him to produce it under Ramkumar's banner, Sivaji Productions. Vasu reworked the script he wrote for Apthamitra to suit Rajinikanth's style of acting. Thota Tharani was the film's art director, Regarding the designing of the Vettaiyapuram palace, he watched both Apthamitra and its source Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu (1993) to get the basic idea of the film's plot. Vasu wanted Tharani to make the sets more colourful and grand and did not want the realistic look of the original film. Tharani designed Chandramukhi's room and placed a corridor in it, which was noticeably different from the original and its Kannada remake. The corridor resembled those commonly seen in palaces in Kerala. Casting Rajinikanth played the roles of Dr. Saravanan and King Vettaiyan. He sported a wig for his role. Both Rajinikanth and Vasu discussed every scene featuring the former and added necessary inputs before they were shot. Rajinikanth appears in the beginning of the film unlike Manichitrathazhu, where the same character, played by Mohanlal, appears in the middle of the film. Ramkumar's brother Prabhu played Senthilnathan, a civil engineer and owner of the fictional Ganesh Constructions. Prabhu co-produced the film with Ramkumar. For the roles of Ganga and Chandramukhi, Simran was initially cast. She ultimately refused to do the project, as her role required a lot of dancing and cited her pregnancy at that time as another reason for her refusal. Aishwarya Rai was later offered the role but declined. Sadha and Reema Sen were also considered as replacements. The role finally went to Jyothika, who allotted 50 days of her schedule. Vasu wanted her to perform her scenes in a manner different from that of Shobana in Manichitrathazhu, enacting the scenes himself before they were shot featuring Jyothika. Nayanthara was selected to portray the role of Durga after Vasu was impressed with her performance in the Malayalam film Manassinakkare (2003). Sheela played Akhilandeswari, the intimidating older sister of Kandaswamy (Nassar) and Murugesan. When Sheela was signed on for the role, she was requested by the producers not to divulge details about her role to the media. Avinash reprised his role of the exorcist Ramachandra Acharya who talks with the spirit Chandramukhi from Apthamitra. 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 said the filming would be finished by 15 February 2005, giving the crew two months to complete the post-production work, including visual effects. The first shooting schedule began two days later with a fight scene choreographed by Thalapathy Dinesh and filmed at Ramavaram in Chennai. More than 25 Toyota Qualis and 30 stunt artists were involved in the fight sequence that featured Rajinikanth. The Vettaiyapuram mansion was erected in Hyderabad. The picturisation of the song "Devuda Devuda" focused on a variety of professions, especially janitors, sewage cleaners, farmers and washer folk. According to Ramji, who helped the production unit look for locations for the song "Konjam Neram", Ramkumar Ganesan and Vasu chose Turkey, making Chandramukhi the first Tamil film to be shot there. The production unit flew to Istanbul from Chennai via Dubai on 25 February 2005. "Raa Raa" was choreographed by Kala and took four days to be completed instead of the planned seven days. == Music ==

Vidyasagar composed the soundtrack album and the background score of Chandramukhi. The soundtrack album consists of six tracks with lyrics written by Vaali, Yugabharathi, Pa. Vijay, Na. Muthukumar and Bhuvana Chandra. The album was released on 5 March 2005 at the Taj Connemara hotel in Chennai. == Release ==

The film was released on 14 April 2005, a Tamil New Year's Day release, alongside Kamal Haasan-starrer Mumbai Xpress and Vijay-starrer Sachein. Chandramukhi was released in 37 theatres in Malaysia, 15 in Europe, nine in Sri Lanka, seven in the United States, four each in Canada and the Persian Gulf countries and two each in Australia and Singapore. The film was released with 23 prints in Coimbatore, 12 more than Rajinikanth's Padayappa (1999). 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 Japan. The film opened the 7th IIFA Awards Film Festival held at the Dubai International Convention Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, becoming the first South Indian film to open the Film Festival. In November 2011, it was screened at the International Tamil Film Festival held in Uglich, Russia alongside Thillana Mohanambal (1968), Sivaji: The Boss (2007), Angadi Theru (2010), Boss Engira Bhaskaran (2010), Thenmerku Paruvakaatru (2010) and Ko (2011). Though the film was a remake, Madhu Muttam, who wrote the story for Manichithrathazhu, was not mentioned in either the opening or closing credits. Instead, the story was credited to the director P. Vasu. Vasu defended himself by stating the script was not a scene-by-scene remake of the original and that only the basic plot was used. == Marketing ==

The producers entered into a business dealing with Tata Indicom to promote the film; ringtones of the songs from the film's soundtrack and special screensavers were issued. Giant cutouts of Rajinikanth and film release posters were posted all over the state as a run-up for the release. The promotional campaign started in early March 2005 and continued mid-May that year. The film was screened in eight city theatres in Chennai. == Home media ==

The film's original negative was damaged because of poor care and ill treatment. AP International 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. This restored version was released on 2 August 2012 on Blu-ray format. The film's television premiere occurred on Sun TV, on the occasion of Diwali in 27 October 2008. == Reception ==

Critical response 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", before concluding that, "The 'Mannan' team proves a winner again". Another critic from The Hindu, Sudhish Kamath, said Rajinikanth is "at his vintage best". A reviewer from The Times of India called the film "Entertaining, stylish, respectful of ritual, and always massively larger than life". Arun Ram of India Today said, "With Chandramukhi, Rajnikant revives his fading career and fortunes of Tamil cinema". Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan said in its review, "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 out of 100. The Sify reviewer wrote that Chandramukhi was simply "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" but like Ulaganathan, commended the comedy scenes of Rajinikanth and Vadivelu, terming them the film's highlight. A. Ganesh Nadar of Rediff said the film would become "a certain hit" and,"[t]he star will be happy, his fans will be happy and producer Prabhu will giggle all the way to the bank". Screen wrote "The strength of the Rajnikant-starrer Chandramukhi is its screenplay. Director P Vasu has worked very diligently on the screenplay, especially in the second half. Initially, one wondered what Rajnikant would do in a film that is centered on the heroine. But Rajnikant’s charisma and screen presence in the film makes all the difference". V. Gangadhar of The Tribune wrote, "As in all Rajni films, Chandramukhi is a one-star attraction and Rajni plays to the gallery, There are no political messages in the film and that should come as some relief. With Nayanthara and Jyothika in the female leads, there is plenty of glamour in the film. But the message is clear, King Rajni is back. His legion of fans can not ask for more." Karthiga Rukmanykanthan writing for Daily News Sri Lanka said, " ... the long anticipated delight Chandramukhi has made itself the box-office hit of the year". Grady Hendrix of Slate appreciated Rajinikanth's characterisation in the film, calling the character, Saravanan's ability to read minds "well-trained" before concluding, "Rajinikanth's movies are crammed with comedy, action, and musical numbers and they take great delight in kicking narrative logic in the face." Box office Chandramukhi was a box office success, selling 20 million tickets worldwide and earning 150 million in salary and profit share for Rajinikanth. The film's distributors made a 20 per cent profit over the 25 million for which they bought the rights to the film. Kamal Haasan and Sridevi attended the function. Karunanidhi presented the "Shivaji" sword to the film's cast and crew, and awards were given to everyone involved in the film. India Chandramukhi grossed 8.4 million in 11 days in eight screens in Chennai. In the Santham screen of Sathyam Cinemas, around 22,000 tickets were sold for the first 10 days of its release. Chandramukhi grossed 30 million in Coimbatore, beating the 24.5 million record set there by Padayappa. Chandramukhi received 60 million as Minimum Guarantee (MG) from theatres in North Arcot, South Arcot and Chengalpattu districts collectively. It was also a hit in Kerala where it grossed 711,545 in four days, doing better than the Mohanlal starrer Chandrolsavam, which also released on 14 April 2005, but grossed 523,340 during the same period of time. The film's theatrical run lasted 890 days at Shanthi Theatre, beating the 62-year record set by the 1944 film Haridas, which ran for 784 days at the Broadway theatre, also in Chennai. The New Indian Express estimates that it grossed 650 million (US$14.3 million in 2005). It was the longest running South Indian film, until surpassed by the Telugu film Magadheera (2009), which completed a theatrical run of 1000 days in April 2012. According to Hindustan Times, it emerged the highest-grossing Indian film of 2005. Overseas Chandramukhi was screened in Tokyo in October 2005 to packed houses. Chandramukhi completed a 100-day theatrical run in South Africa. It collectively earned 43 million in Malaysia, UAE and the US during the first month of its theatrical run. == Accolades ==

In an interview with The Hindu, Binny Krishnakumar said: == Scientific accuracy ==

In an August 2005 seminar on revisiting psychiatric disorders which centred around Chandramukhi and Anniyan, psychiatrist Asokan noted that there were many logical faults in both films; Vasu said he knew nothing about psychiatric disorders. Writing for PopMatters in 2014, Kumuthan Maderya criticised Vasu for confusing "spirit possession with Dissociative Identity Disorder, conflating both to create pop psychology" and "ostensibly fusing modern science and demonology for the sake of intellectualism". == Legacy ==

Split personality disorder became well known after the film's release. MIOT International Hospital, in a blog description of the syndrome, called it The Chandramukhi syndrome. Film artist, trainer and filmmaker L. Satyanand said Chandramukhi is a classic example of the subgenre "horror of the demonic" and of "brilliance", ranking it alongside The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Psycho (1960). The film became a trendsetter for later horror films in Tamil such as the Muni series, Yavarum Nalam (2009), Eeram (2009), Pizza (2012), Yaamirukka Bayamey (2014), the Aranmanai series, Darling (2015) and Demonte Colony (2015). Sivaji Productions joined Galatta Media and eBay for an online auction of the film's memorabilia, becoming the first South Indian film to auction film merchandise. Ramkumar Ganesan said the proceeds of the auction would be given to the Sivaji Prabhu Charity Trust and that 300,000 (US$6,650 in 2005) would be given to Papanchatram Middle School. Sophie Atphthavel from France bought Rajinikanth's sunglasses, which he sported in the film, for 25,000 (US$554 in 2005). According to Girish Ramdas, chief operating officer of Galatta Media, all the items had certificates of authenticity signed by the film's producers. Bidding for the items ranged between 10,000 (US$222 in 2005) and 20,000 (US$444 in 2005). In a statement by eBay, the articles made available for bidding were Rajinikanth's blue shirt worn in the song "Devuda Devuda", Jyothika's saree worn for the climax scenes, the peach-coloured saree worn by Nayanthara in the song "Konja Neram", and the Vettaiyan Raja costume and ornaments worn on set by Rajinikanth. Rajinikanth's dress, which he wore in "Devuda Devuda", was sold for 25,000 (US$554 in 2005). His Vettaiyan costume and ornament set were sold for 32,000 (US$709 in 2005). == In popular culture ==

Some scenes, lines and expressions from the film, such as the "Lakka Lakka..." sound that Rajnikanth's character makes, became very popular, especially with children. Vadivelu's expressions and scenesespecially those with Rajinikanthand lines including "Maapu?...Vachittandaa Aapu!!!" (Dude?...He screwed me up!!!), also became popular. A line 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 among audiences. Prabhu's line, "Enna kodumai Saravanan idhu?" (What atrocity is this, Saravanan?) became popular. It is usually used to express irony or surprise. The line was often parodied by Premgi Amaren, who altered it slightly to "Enna kodumai Sir idhu?" (What atrocity is this, sir?) and used it in most of his featured films, subsequently becoming the actor's catchphrase. Prabhu, in an interview with Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu, expressed appreciation for the way his "serious line" was made into a comical one. Parodies Chandramukhi was parodied in various films. In a comedy scene from Englishkaran (2005), Theeppori Thirumugam (Vadivelu) invents an idea to frighten Thamizharasu (Sathyaraj) but the ruse backfires on him as he witnesses Thamizharasu in a garb similar to that of Chandramukhi's. In the Telugu film Rajababu (2006), the characters played by Rajinikanth and Jyothika are renacted by Brahmanandam and Kovai Sarala, respectively. In a scene from Thalaimagan (2006), Erimalai (Vadivelu), after entering an old abandoned bungalow, gets frightened when he hears the "Lakka Lakka" sound, and says "Yaaro Telugula Koopuddrangga!" ( "Someone is calling in Telugu!"). In Vallavan (2006), Vallavan (Silambarasan) is seen singing "Konja Neram" to Swapna (Nayanthara). In Sivaji: The Boss (2007), Thamizhselvi (Shriya Saran) would be seen dancing for the song "Raa Raa", Sivaji (Rajinikanth) and Arivu (Vivek) are seen uttering the last lines of the song. Livingston who appears as a police inspector, utters the sound "Lakka Lakka" which Rajinikanth makes in Chandramukhi. Rajinikanth and Nayanthara's characters act in a film within a film titled Chandramukhi 2 in a scene from Kuselan (2008), which P. Vasu also directed. In Padikkadavan (2009), Assault Arumugam (Vivek) imitates Rajinikanth's tornado creating leg movement from the introduction scene when arriving in Andhra Pradesh. In Tamizh Padam (2010), Shiva (Shiva) would be seen imitating the film's introduction scene by stretching his leg when it is revealed that Siva has a split seam in his pants. Sundar C's role in the film Aranmanai (2014) was inspired by Rajinikanth's role in Chandramukhi. Chandramukhi was parodied in the Star Vijay comedy series Lollu Sabha, in an episode named "Chappamukhi". == Other versions ==

Chandramukhi was dubbed in Turkish with the same title and in Bhojpuri under the title Chandramukhi Ke Hunkaar. It is the first Tamil film to be dubbed into German. It was released in Germany under the title, Der Geisterjäger (). Despite the release of Manichitrathazhu's Hindi remake Bhool Bhulaiyaa in 2007 (which had the working title of Chandramukhi), ''Chandramukhi's'' Hindi dubbed version was released in 2008. == Sequel ==

In April 2020, a sequel, Chandramukhi 2, to be produced by Sun Pictures was announced, but was eventually taken over by Lyca Productions in June 2022, owing to the delays from the COVID-19 pandemic. P. Vasu returned as the director with confirmed cast members including Raghava Lawrence, Kangana Ranaut, Lakshmi Menon and Vadivelu, who reprised his role as Murugesan. Principal photography began in mid-July 2022, and wrapped by mid-August 2023. The film released on 28 September 2023 and was a major commercial and critical failure. == Spin-off ==

A spin off to Chandramukhi, named Nagavalli, was made in Telugu. It was a remake of Aptharakshaka (2010), which itself was a direct sequel to Apthamitra (2004). It was directed by P. Vasu and released on 16 December 2010. == See also ==