''Moondru Mugam'' () is a 1982 Indian Tamil-language

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include l ...

directed by

A. Jagannathan A. Jagannathan (26 November 19357 October 2012) was an Indian film director who worked in the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi film industries and he was introduced by R.M. Veerappan in his Sathya Movies banner for Manipayal. He directed nearly ...

. The film stars Rajinikanth in three distinct roles as Alex Pandian, Arun and John. The film was a blockbuster and ran for 175 days in theatres. Rajinikanth won the

Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize Recipients Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won. * The year mentioned refers to the year in which the films released. This is the list of Winners of Jury's Special Award See also * Tamil cinema * Cinema of Indi ...

for Best Actor. The film was remade in Hindi as '' John Jani Janardhan'' with Rajinikanth reprising his roles, in Telugu as ''Mugguru Monagallu'' (1983) and in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

as ''Gedda Maga''.

Plot

Arun, the son of a rich businessman Ramanathan, returns to India after 10 years in the United States, but as a saint. His shocked father enlists a press reporter, Rekha, to change him back to normal. Rekha first sets up an interview, which he thwarts. Later, on the pretense of taking him to a temple, she plans another set up. On the way to the temple, Rekha pretends that the car has broken down and he leaves to roam around a bit when sees a crying child and offers a chocolate. Suddenly he is swarmed by more children and other villagers who confront him of being a child-kidnapper. Using the event, Rekha cuts Arun's beard off, a symbol of piety. After a few more set up events, he renounces his sainthood. Later, Arun goes to work and is puzzled about why his father has been sending money to a woman named Sagaya Mary for over twenty years. In a parallel scenario, a man informs Sagaya Mary that someone has proposed to her nephew John. When asked about John's parentage, she opens up about her brother and John's father, Alex Pandian. A flashback ensues that explains Alex's story. Alex, a scrupulous police officer, is ruthless on criminals and clashes with the mob boss, Egambaram. After repeated confrontations, Egambaram fatally stabs him. With his last breath, Alex vows that he will be reborn to take revenge. When Alex dies, so does his wife after giving birth to twins. Ramanathan's wife gives birth in the same hospital but the child dies, as with her previous three pregnancies. Sagaya Mary hands over one of Alex's children to them and he is christened Arun, while she raises the other child, John. On his 25th birthday party, Arun gets a divine epiphany that makes him realise he is the reincarnation of Alex. He is asked to meet a woman named Asha at a hotel but it proves to be a set up. In the ensuing battle for survival, he kills the attacker and goes to jail. He comes to court to reveal the truth when suddenly a man claiming to be Alex shows up and says that he is not dead but had been in Sri Lanka the whole time. The man posing as Alex is actually John. Unknown to Arun, he is working with Egambaram, the man who murdered his father. Later, Arun tells the police he concocted the fact that he was an incarnation of Alex Pandian to draw the killers out. Soon, John finds the truth about Alex Pandian and Arun and fights to save his brother. However, John is fatally wounded by Egambaram who he eventually kills and throws into the sea, the same way his father was killed. The film ends with Arun and Rekha getting married.

Cast

* Rajinikanth as Alex Pandian, Arun and John * Raadhika as Rekha * Sathyaraj as Dhadi * Senthamarai as Egambaram * Thengai Srinivasan as Ramanathan *

Silk Smitha Vijayalakshmi Vadlapati (2 December 1960 – 23 September 1996), better known by her stage name Silk Smitha, was an Indian actress and dancer who worked predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. Smitha was part of ...

as Asha * Rajyalakshmi as Sheela *

Kamala Kamesh Kamala Kamesh is an Indian actress in Tamil movies. She was one of the prominent supporting actress in late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s in Tamil movies. She has acted nearly 480 movies in Tamil. She is often seen in all of Visu's movies. Biography ...

as Sagaya Mary *

Sangili Murugan Sangili Murugan, is an Indian actor, screenwriter and producer. During the 1980s and 1990s, he was an actor doing negative and supporting roles in Tamil films. He has also worked as production controller in a number of films. His birth name is M ...

as Gopal * V. Gopalakrishnan as Commissioner of police * Poornam Viswanathan as Judge *

Delhi Ganesh Delhi Ganesh is an Indian actor who mostly acts in supporting roles in Tamil cinema and serials. He has acted in more than 400 films from 1976 to present. Before films, he was a member of the Delhi-based theatre troupe, ''Dakshina Bharata Natak ...

as Seeni * C. R. Parthiban as D.I.G * Charuhasan as Acharya swamiji (Guest Appearance) *

Ennatha Kannaiya Ennathe Kannaiah (1925 - 7 August 2012) was a comedian who appeared in Tamil-language films. In the Ravichandran-Jayalalita starrer Naan, as he spoke his dialogues, he frequently used the word Ennathe and this became his nickname. Decades later, ...

as Arun's uncle *

Ganthimathi Ganthimathi (30 August 1940 – 9 September 2011) was a Tamil stage and film actress. She acted in over 500 films. Early life Kanthimathi was born in Manamadurai in the then Ramanathapuram district of India. She started acting in dramas and ...

as Gajalakshmi *

Loose Mohan Arumugam Mohanasundaram (8 February 1928 – 16 September 2012), popularly known as Loose Mohan and Raja Gopalakrishnan, was an Indian actor who had acted as a comedian in over 1000 Tamil films. He is credited with popularizing Madras Basha ...

as Drunker * Idichapuli Selvaraj as Drunker *Haja Shareef as Mani

Production

''Moondru Mugam'' was directed by

and produced by V. Thamizhazhagan and G. Thyagarajan of Sathya Movies. It is the first film where Rajinikanth played three distinct roles. For the role of Alex Pandian, he wore a wig and sported dentures.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Shankar–Ganesh Shankar–Ganesh is an Indian music director duo who has worked on Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada movies for around 50 years. Career They started as assistants to Tamil music composers M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy in 1964 an ...

with lyrics written by Vaali, Muthulingam and

Vairamuthu Vairamuthu Ramasamy (born 13 July 1953) is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he first ...

Release and reception

''Moondru Mugam'' was released on 1 October 1982. ''

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 ...

'' wrote that portraying the titular three characters differently was an achievement not only for Rajinikanth, but the director too. Rajinikanth won the

for Best Actor.

Legacy

The character "Alex Pandian" became one of the memorable characters in the career of Rajinikanth. The popularity of the character's name inspired the Tamil dubbed version of the Telugu film '' Mugguru Monagallu'' (1994) to take on its name, as well as a 2013 film of same name.

Chinni Jayanth Chinni Jayanth (born Krishnamurthy Narayanan on 26 July 1960) is an Indian film director, producer, comedian, actor and mimicry artist who has appeared in many main, character and supporting roles in Tamil films. He is also a popular television ...

's character Telex Pandian from '' Pattukottai Periyappa'' (1994) was named after Alex. The title ''Moondru Mugam'' inspired two unrelated series: one on Polimer TV and another on Zee Tamil.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{A. Jagannathan 1980s Tamil-language films 1982 action films 1982 films Fictional portrayals of the Tamil Nadu Police Films directed by A. Jagannathan Films scored by Shankar–Ganesh Indian action films 1980s masala films Tamil films remade in other languages Twins in Indian films