Film Appreciation of Manichitrathazhu (Contains Spoilers)

Title of the film: Manichitrathazhu
Language: Malayalam
Color: Color
Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Comedy/Drama
Duration: 156 min.
Certification: U

Name of Production: Swargachitra
Director: Fazil
Producer: Appachan
Story/Screenplay/Dialogues: Madhu Muttom
Cinematographer: Venu
Editor: T R Shekar
Music Director: M G Radhakrishnan
Second Unit Directors:
Lal
Sibi Malayil
Priyadarsan
Siddique
Second Unit Cinematographers:
Sunny Joseph
Ananthakuttan

Cast:
Mohanlal … Dr. Sunny Joseph
Suresh Gopi … Nakulan
Sobhana … Ganga/Nagavalli
Vinaya Prasad … Sreedevi
Nedimudi Venu … Thampi
Innocent … Unnithan
Thilakan … Brahmadattan Namboothiripad
KPAC Lalitha … Bhasura
Sudeesh … Chanthu
Ganesh … Dasappan Kutty
Kuthiravattom Pappu … Kattuparamban
Rudra … Alli


The film revolves around a haunted villa Madampally. It begins with the arrival of the newly married couples, Nakulan (Suresh Gopi) and Ganga (Sobhana) from Calcutta. As this ancestral property is passed on to Nakulan’s mother, he insists on staying there despite the fact it is haunted.
A series of supernatural incidents follows, leading to which Nakulan’s uncle, Thampi (Nedimudi Venu) reminds him that the incidents are result of the curse, which befalls on the newly wed bride who lives in the villa and iterate that Ganga is one such girl. Nakulan isn’t convinced and he blames that the incidents are happening because of Sreedevi (Vinaya Prasad), Thampi’s daughter.
Nakulan calls up his friend to help him out of this trouble. This brings in the arrival of Dr. Sunny Joseph (Mohanlal), a psychiatrist.
Sunny tries to find out the reasons for such untoward incidents. An incident happens in which poison is found in Nakulan’s tea; Sunny blames it on Sreedevi and locks her up in a room. Thampi can no longer bear the trauma faced by his daughter.
Thampi sorts help of renowned mantravathi (magician-physician), Brahmadattan Namboothiripad (Thilakan) to perform rituals. Sunny happens to be an old acquaintance of Brahmadattan. Sunny reveals to him the real story. He tells him that the actual patient is Ganga and not Sreedevi and she is suffering from Split Personality Disorder. This disorder was dormant in Ganga, who once in her childhood had faced similar psychological problems. This problem became active again when she returned to her husband’s ancestral home. She started to believe that she was Nagavalli, the danseuse who was killed by the then head of the family.
Brahmadattan warns Sunny that curing her is near impossible and so it would be wise to keep Nakulan away from Ganga, for her other personality Nagavalli sees Nakulan as the head of family who had killed her. Sunny tells him that he’s ready to take such a risk.
Sunny then with help from Brahmadattan and Nakulan with great precision and unconventional methodology cures Ganga from the psychological disorder.
The story ends in a happy note with Sunny, Nakulan and Ganga leaving back to Calcutta and also Sunny expressing his desire to marry Sreedevi.

The film’s message is quite simple and clear. It draws parallel between the traditional and the modern beliefs, without hurting either of the sentiments. It smartly avoids criticizing either of the sentiments which in itself is quite a remarkable achievement. It shows through the characters of Nakulan and Ganga, the deep love and caring the husband and wife have for each other. Through the character of Sunny, it portrays the virtue of a true friend and breaks the cliché that intellectuals have to be quite and introverts. Most notable is the character of Chanthu (Sudeesh), younger brother of Sreedevi. He is shown in deep pain and trauma when others accuse his sister to be mentally imbalanced. This gives quite an insight of the relation between the brother and the sister.
Though towards the end of the film, the problem behind the villa to be haunted is revealed and solved, but few questions are still unanswered. As viewers we’re told that the villa is haunted but it is only after the arrival of Ganga, we’re shown. So before Ganga’s arrival who was responsible for it? This is quite important because only Thampi, Nakulan and Chanthu are the only three male children of the family. And as per the story it’s their wives who will be affected by the curse if they live there. Chanthu isn’t married and Thampi and his wife do not live in the haunted villa. We’re only told few untimely deaths have happened in the past.
Overall the film has made an effort to answer the questions it raises with satisfaction. Though the solution for the cure shown at the end of film is quite remarkable and interesting, still one feels had it not been successful, it would have been quite a deadly business. Suppose the lever that turns the movable platform upside down doesn’t work, then Nakulan would have been killed. And moreover the solution is not quite practical but is shown in such a manner that we are indeed made to believe it. And there isn’t any scope for an alternate solution which would result in a happy ending. Solutions are plenty which even the film speaks about but none could give a happy ending.
Casting has been quite extra-ordinary. With such a good script it becomes very necessary that the actors give their best and the best of them are chosen for the role. The performance by each of the actors is noteworthy. Suresh Gopi and Sobhana makes up perfect couples. Mohanlal as psychiatrist is wonderful with his easy go attitude. Nedimudi Venu as the family head easily acts out his role. Innocent comes out as real winner with his role of Unnithan. He provides the comic element in the movie and his confrontation with Mohanlal is quite hilarious. And towards the end Thilakan as Brahmadattan Namboothiripad is indeed magical. Sobhana gives life to the character of Nagavalli. The way she transforms from Ganga to Nagavalli remains one of the highlight of the film. Her performance single handedly lifts the film to a greater level.
Another highlight of this movie is its lighting and camera work. The camera has been handled by Venu as part of the first unit. Sunny Joseph and Anathakuttan does their part quite efficiently as part of the second unit. For a movie having mystery element as its main subject, lighting becomes quite an important aspect. The cinematographer has to make sure the film doesn’t look bright but also has to ensure that the audience is able to notice each and every frame properly without any discomfort. The shot selection too becomes quite an important issue. The cameramen have gone for full shot, mid-shot, and mid close ups for most of the part in the movie. The camera shakes from the point of view of the unknown to create the fear element. Surprisingly the film has avoided using extreme close ups and even close ups, which is quite a norm for mystery and suspense thrillers.
Sound is another important or maybe the most important element in mystery/thriller movies. Johnson has given the back ground music while M G Radhakrishnan has composed the music for the songs. Both ensured usage of traditional, semi-classical carnatic music for the movie. Usage of veena is quite prominent and has been used to bring out the unknown or mystery element. The song Pazham Tamizh Padi…. sung by K J Yesudas is wonderfully composed. Usuage of western instruments in the beginning of a semi-carnatic classical song is quite unnatural. But it has worked out well. The other major composition is Oru Murai … sung by K S Chitra and KJ Yesudas is again excellent. The song which is in Tamil goes well with the mood. Again a semi-carnatic classical one and usage of violin and mridangam in tandem in the beginning of the song comes out really well. The song has been choreographed excellently showing in parts the imaginary situation and the real act. The lyrics of the song too go well with the situation. The song Oru Murai has been used frequently in the movie. The song used in the mid-part of movie is without music instruments. It gives the haunting feel. Then there are two poems wrote by Madhu Muttom. The poems Varuvanillarum and Pallavattom are rendered at two different situations in the film. Both are significant as they give a hint which a viewer might realize only during the second viewing.
Director Fazil has used well of all the resources he got. He even went further by letting his once disciples to be the directors of the second unit. Second unit consisted of Siddiq-Lal, Priyadarsan and Sibi Malayil. The director made sure the actors doesn’t dominate the characters. He made sure they all are introduced at right time. The film has a good dose of drama, comedy and mystery. The mystery element starts from the first scene itself and is only resolved towards the end of the movie. Even the narrative is very good. He hasn’t gone for those lengthy flashback scenes. The only flashback scene which comes at the end is narrated by the psychiatrist giving justification for all the incidents happening and very good thing about that is that it’s without any dialogues so the director was able to cut down the time in flashbacks. And also he has used wisely few shots of the flashbacks in middle of the movie through songs, so this too resulted in a very small flashback scene towards the end of the movie. And the transformation of Ganga’s character to Nagavalli which is quite mesmerizing, because of the director’s visualization skill. He made sure the character of Nagavalli is not over acted.
So to sum up I would like to put down that the output is quite an enthralling and wonderful movie which one would like to watch again and again. And as always the credit should go to the director.