Moondru Mudichu
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''Moondru Mudichu'' () is a 1976 Indian
Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...
-language
romantic thriller A romantic thriller is a narrative that involves elements of the romance and thriller genres. A good thriller provides entertainment by making viewers uncomfortable with moments of suspense, the heightened feeling of anxiety and fright. A thril ...
film directed and co-written by
K. Balachander Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...
. A remake of the
Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...
film ''
O Seeta Katha ''O Seeta Katha'' () is a 1974 Indian Telugu-language film directed by K. Viswanath. The film won the Nandi Award for Best Feature Film (Silver), and the Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu). The film was later remade both in Malayalam and Tamil la ...
'' (1973), it stars
Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...
, Sridevi and Rajinikanth. The film revolves around an 18-year-old girl and two roommates who fall in love with her. ''Moondru Mudichu'' marked Sridevi's first leading adult role at the age of 13, and Rajinikanth's first major role in Tamil. It was released on 22 October 1976 and became a success.


Plot

Balaji and Prasath are roommates in a city. Balaji falls in love with 18-year-old Selvi who lives in the same apartment complex. Prasath, who has his eyes on Selvi, pretends to back Balaji's love while secretly hoping to create a divide between them. Selvi realises Prasath's evil intentions when she finds out that he has seduced an innocent girl living in the same apartment complex. However, she is unable to convince Balaji, who hero-worships Prasath. Things come to a head when Balaji and Selvi go for a picnic by the lake and Balaji decides to invite Prasath along. As the three of them head to the middle of the lake on a boat, Balaji topples over by mistake. Prasath refuses to jump in and save Balaji, on the pretext that he does not know swimming. A devastated Selvi returns home to another shock – her sister, who plays small roles in movies, has been in a fire accident which has left her face permanently scarred. Overnight, Selvi's life undergoes a change . Selvi comes across a advertisement in paper for a second marriage to a wealthy man with 4 kids and applies for the same. However the elderly person refuses for marriage with a young girl and asks her to take care of the kids. Impressed by her Service, he decides to marry her to his eldest son, whom unknown to her was Prasath. Seeing Selvi in his house seems like a deer in lion's den for Prasath who visits his father during the weekend. Prasath tries his best to convince his father for his marriage with Selvi and fixes the date. In meantime chasing Selvi, Prasath goes to Selvi house and spots the burnt face of her sister. Unable to see the face, he returns immediately. The sister humiliated by Prasaths act commits suicide , leaving Selvi with no one in the World In an attempt to salvage her life, Selvi decides to marry Prasath's father in the absence of Prasath, before he returns the next weekend. After her marriage to Prasath's father, she decides to use her 'mother' status to exact revenge on Prasath and gives him a shock when he returns. The movie ends with lines in Tamil, roughly translating to: "When it is time for a seed to sprout, if the conscience cannot empathise; and only after the incident, is the conscience present! When conscience grapples with oneself for selfish ends; in the evildoer's eyes, his madness will be his conscience!"


Cast

*
Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...
as Balaji * Sridevi as Selvi * Rajinikanth as Prasath *
Y. Vijaya Yenigandla Vijaya (born 8 February 1957) is an Indian actress and classical dancer. She has appeared in more than 1000 films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada languages. Early life and education Y. Vijaya was born on 8 February 1957 in Ku ...
as Subhadra * N. Viswanath as the unnamed widower *
K. Natraj K. Natraj is an Indian actor and director who primarily worked in Tamil-language films and serials. Personal life In film industry circle, he is popular as a close friend of actor Rajinikanth. His daughter, Rajini, was married actor Vishn ...
as Prasath's consciousness


Production

''Moondru Mudichu'' is a remake of the 1973
Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...
film ''
O Seeta Katha ''O Seeta Katha'' () is a 1974 Indian Telugu-language film directed by K. Viswanath. The film won the Nandi Award for Best Feature Film (Silver), and the Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu). The film was later remade both in Malayalam and Tamil la ...
''.
Jayabharathi Jayabharathi is an Indian actress. She is a two-time recipient of the Kerala State Film Award for best actress. Jayabharathi's first leading role was given by director P. Bhaskaran for his movie Kattukurangu in 1969. Later she became one of ...
was offered to play a negative role but did not accept, resulting in Rajinikanth being cast. It was Rajinikanth's first major role in Tamil.
Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...
, who portrayed a negative role in ''O Seeta Katha''s
Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
remake ''
Mattoru Seetha ''Mattoru Seetha'' () is a 1975 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed by P. Bhaskaran, starring Kamal Haasan, Roja Ramani (credited as Shobana), Sheela, Adoor Bhasi, Bahadoor, Sukumari, Jose Prakash, Prema Menon, M. G. Soman and Vincent. I ...
'' (1975), played a different role this time. This was the first film where Sridevi played an adult character, despite being 13 years old. She was paid 5000, Haasan was paid 30,000 and Rajinikanth was paid 2000. The budget of the film was .


Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by M. S. Viswanathan and lyrics were by
Kannadasan Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...
.


Release and reception

''Moondru Mudichu'' was released on 22 October 1976,
Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...
day. Kanthan of ''
Kalki Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...
'' called the pre- interval portions better than the post-interval ones. The film became a success, and many of Prasath's traits became signature moves of Rajinikanth in his future films such as his tendency to flip cigarettes into his mouth; critic
Naman Ramachandran Naman Ramachandran is an Indian critic and journalist. He is the author of '' Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography'' (Penguin, 2012) and '' Lights Camera Masala: Making Movies in Mumbai'' ( IBH, 2006). He writes for ''Variety'', ''Sight & Sound'' ...
felt that with Prasath's recurring catchphrase "Theek Hai?" (Okay?), "the seed for future Rajini catchphrases had been sown."


References


Bibliography

*


External links

* {{K. Balachander 1970s romantic thriller films 1970s Tamil-language films 1976 films Films about women in India Films directed by K. Balachander Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films with screenplays by K. Balachander Indian black-and-white films Indian romantic thriller films Tamil remakes of Telugu films