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The story is interspersed with layers of suspense, comedy, and treachery weaving the magic around the viewers that is still lasting as if the movie happened yesterday. Nandhan (Suresh Gopi) and Ganga (Shobana), the newly weds from Calcutta, come to their native village combining the trip with his official work of monitoring the cement plant contruction. They visit their uncle (Nedumudi Venu) who is blessed with two daughters (Aswini & Vinaya Prasad) and express their desire to move to their ancestral palace located next to his house. Nedumudi Venu initially protests that it is haunted and finally gives over by the strong conviction of city bred Nandhan, under the condition that they must not open a particular room. That room was supposed to be the one of Tamil danseuse Nagavalli, who was deceived by the royal family. Out of curiosity Ganga opens it and a series of incidents tarnish the tranquility of the family. Ganga becomes the victim and Vinaya ends up becoming the prime suspect.
Enters, precisely at the interval point, Dr. Sunny (Mohanlal) Nandhan's friend, crazy (Christian doctor undergoing 48 days Iyappan viratham), yet renowned psychiatrist to solve these bizarre happenings. He was welcomed by the "ghost" by burning his baggage. He gets irritated and vows to imprison the ghost with a divine lock (Manichitrathazhu). His entry initiates a spate of rib tickling comical situations and dramatic turns and a stunning climax, that you'll be taken aback. At last he pins down the hand behind these incident which happens to be…… No I won't reveal this at this moment.
The movie boasts of a subtle, sophisticated and unadulterated comedy, suspense and ultimately delves around the psychological concepts. However the beauty of the movie is those psychological concepts appealed to classes and masses alike making it an evergreen movie. It needs lots of guts to pick a complex story like this and present it to the audiences in a way that shouldn’t confuse them. Fazil, a master storyteller, had accomplished this effortlessly. The screenplay and dialogues by Madhu Muttom was simply amazing. Music, by Raveendran, was an integral part of this story telling.
Manichitrathazhu revolved around the danseuse making the dancing skills pre-requisite for the heroine. Also the heroine needed to essay shades of fear, confusion, romance and angst against betrayal, the role that came with so much of complexities. Shobana with her lissome figure, well honed dancing skills and ability to emote and exhibit expressions in a split of seconds suited the character to "T". She handled it with style and elegance, thus bagging her the National award.
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Along with Shobana, it was Mohanlal who stayed in the hearts of audiences as Dr. Sunny. He played the role not as "hero". Else will any superstar agree to make an entry in the interval and has no romantic angle or action sequences for him? Only Fazil and Mohanlal can do it without succumbing to the commercial pressures of having a superstar in the movie.
Suresh Gopi and Sridhar ("Manathil Uruthi Vendum" fame) as Shobana's husband and favourite writer respectively, lends their credible shoulders to the flow of the movie. Sridhar matched the dancing skills of Shobana in the climax. Even though the movie is in malayalam, it featured a beautiful Tamil song "Oru murai vanthu paarthaya?"
Another best part of the movie is, its second unit of technicians. Sibi Malayil, Priyadarshan, Venu Nagavally are "assistant directors" in the movie. Actually by that time, everyone had established themselves in a big way in Malayalam. Yet they came together for the gratitude towards their master Fazil. On the whole, Manichitrathazu is a classic that is a delight to watch. No wonder it enjoys a commendable audience every time it is played on TV.
Cut…. Now it is time to review its clones. After more than a decade P.Vasu remade it in Kannada as "Apthamithra" with Soundharya in lead & Vishnuvardhan playing the Mohanlal's role. It went to become a blockbuster riding on the sympathy wave of Soundharya's demise.
Now Rajinikanth is remaking it in Tamil. Thankfully he didn’t keep his screen name as the title of the movie. Simran who was the first choice was the best choice. She was sacked that she is pregnant and couldn’t do heavy duty dancing towards the climax. She has been now replaced with Jyothika, who hadn't been seen doing any classical dance in the movies still and how she is going to emote on the screen is a big question mark. Original was a heroine-oriented movie, which obviously will be made as hero centered in Tamil.
How can Rajini's fans accept him entering during interval? Rajini is no patch of Mohanlal. Does Rajini has the guts to play a role devoid of mannerisms and a romantic pair. Nayantara who is playing opposite to Rajini is painfully young. Admitted Vidyasagar is a talented guy, but he loses all his creativity once he crosses the Kerala border. Also he is limited by the image of Rajini. So the music of the musical is also going to be the uncertain. He is only as good as his director.
Heard that they had picturised 4 fight scenes and a couple of duets on Rajini & Nayantara. Going by the original there is no scope of these elements. As someone who was mesmerised by the magic of "Manichitrathazhu", I am sure that this must not even match one hundredth of the evergreen classic.