Muthu (film)

Muthu is a charioteer working for zamindar Raja Malayasimman. While watching a play, Raja falls in love with actress Ranganayaki when the garland she throws inadvertently falls on him. When Raja goes to another play of hers and sees her being harassed by a local village chief, he tells Muthu to rescue her. Muthu fights the village chief's goons and rescues Ranganayaki. When more goons turn up, Raja advises Muthu to take Ranganayaki safely in their two-horse chariot while he manages the goons. Muthu assents and escapes with her, evading goons.

Ranganayaki dislikes Muthu's company, but is forced to continue accompanying him. Both become tired and leave the horses to seek their own route, landing in Kerala. Muthu, not knowing Malayalam, gets into trouble for asking some people for a kiss as wrongly tutored by Ranganayaki. Finally, she comes to his rescue. After learning the meaning, Muthu surprises Ranganayaki by kissing her. They fall in love and return to Raja's palace.

Ranganayaki, who is absconding from her abusive brother-in-law Pratap Rayudu who killed her sister and is now searching for her, requests to continue staying at the palace. Her associates also join. Raja's uncle Ambalathar, keen to take control of Raja's wealth plans to get his daughter Padmini married to Raja. Raja's mother Sivakamiyammal keeps requesting her son to marry, referring to Padmini. But Raja, dreaming of marrying Ranganayaki, nods his head, and Sivakami sends word to her brother Ambalathar. When Ambalathar arrives and speaks of marriage, Raja reveals his intention to marry Ranganayaki. Shocked, Ambalathar brings Rayudu to the palace, who forcibly tries to take Ranganayaki until Muthu subdues and sends him away.

To remove Ranganayaki and Muthu from the palace and get his daughter married, Ambalathar instigates Raja, through his informer Kaali at the palace, by alleging that Muthu is romancing Ranganayaki and misinterprets the discussions between Muthu and Ranganayaki (who are at a distance) as Muthu compelling Ranganayaki to marry him. Believing Kaali's words and what he had seen, an enraged Raja throws Muthu out of the palace after having him beaten up by Kaali. Sivakami, who had gone to a temple, returns and is shocked on learning what happened. She berates Raja, reveals that Ranganayaki only loves Muthu, and the truth about Muthu's past.

Muthu's father was the real zamindar of the estate. Since he was childless, he named his cousin Rajasekhar's son Raja his successor. Soon after, his wife conceived and died while giving birth. At his brother-in-law Ambalathar's instigation, Rajasekhar fraudulently obtained the zamindar's signature on blank papers and got all the property transferred to his name. Oblivious to this, the zamindar donated land to the villagers who returned to complain that the lands were not in his name. The zamindar realised that he was deceived, but instead of punishing Rajasekhar, handed over the entire property to him, and decided to leave the palace with his infant son. Sivakami pleaded that she be given the responsibility of raising the motherless child. The zamindar assented, and stipulated that his son be raised as a commoner. After the zamindar left, a remorseful Rajasekhar committed suicide and Sivakami moved to another town, the present one.

Sivakami says she lied that the zamindar's child died, and that the zamindar currently lives nearby as a nomad. Raja, realising his mistake, decides to go meet the zamindar and bring him back. Kaali, having overheard this conversation, reports to Ambalathar, who decides to murder Raja and frame Muthu so that he can take over the property. Kaali beats Raja, throws him into a waterfall and informs everyone that Muthu killed Raja. Muthu beats Kaali and makes him reveal that Ambalathar asked him to kill Raja. The villagers chase Ambalathar, until Raja arrives with his bride Padmini. Raja was rescued by the zamindar and decided to marry Padmini. Ambalathar, remorseful, thanks Raja for forgiving him. Raja tells Muthu of his true identity, and Muthu rushes to meet his father, who has already left the place. Muthu becomes the new zamindar, but prefers to see himself as a worker.

• Rajinikanth as Muthu and the zamindar[3]
• Meena as Ranganayaki[3]
• Sarath Babu as Raja Malayasimman[3]
• Radha Ravi as Ambalathar[4]
• Senthil as Thennappan[5]
• Vadivelu as Valayapathy[5]
• Jayabharathi as Sivakamiyammal[5]
• Subhashri as Padmini[5]
• Ponnambalam as Kaali[5]
• Vichithra as Rathidevi[5]
• Raghuvaran as Rajasekhar[5]
• Tiger Prabhakar as S. P. Pratap Rayudu[5]
• Ganthimathi as Poongavanam[5]
• Pandu as Pallavarayan[5]
• Jyothi Lakshmi (special appearance in the song "Kokku Saiva Kokku")[6]
• Kumarimuthu as Kamalakannan[5]
• K. S. Ravikumar as the Tamil-speaking Malayali (uncredited)[7]

Numerous critics have felt that the dialogue "Naan eppo varuven, epdi varuvennu yarukkum theriyathu. Aana vara vendiya nerathula correcta vandhuduven" (Nobody knows when or how I will come, but I will come when the time is right) hinted at Rajinikanth's political aspirations.[22][23][24] Writing for PopMatters, Ranjani Krishnakumar felt that Muthu singing "Katchiyellam ippo namakkedhukku, kaalathin kaiyyil adhu irukku" (Why do we need a party now; time will tell) also underlined Rajinikanth's political maneuvers,[25] while critic Naman Ramachandran feels Rajinikanth was actually dispelling rumours of him joining politics through those lyrics.[26] Writing for Mint, Shoba Narayan said that Rajinikanth's heroines play to every traditional stereotype, beginning with their names, and cited Ranganayaki as an example, adding, "The names set the tone for the character."[27]

The soundtrack was composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Vairamuthu.[28] Muthu is the first film where Rahman, Rajinikanth and Ravikumar worked together.[8][26] The Hindi version is titled Muthu Maharaja and had lyrics penned by P. K. Mishra,[29] whereas the Telugu version of Muthu is penned by Bhuvana Chandra.[30] The songs were recorded at Panchathan Record Inn, Madras, and the soundtrack was released on 8 October 1995 under the Pyramid label.[28][31]

Ravikumar considered "Thillana Thillana" the song "most difficult to crack". It initially had the lyrics, "Tamizh naatu makkal kootam unnodu dhaane, naan mattum thalli nippena" which Ravikumar disliked, and an irritated Vairamuthu replied, "Ennanga neena, thanana thanana thillana thillana-nu", which caught Ravikumar's attention. He realised it was the catchphrase the song needed, so Vairamuthu wrote "Thillana thillana, nee thithikindra meena". The word "meena" was replaced with "thena" at Ravikumar's suggestion since he had previously written "Meena Ponnu" for Nattamai (1994).[8] The song sampled African humming which the French group Deep Forest had earlier sampled in "Night Bird".[32]

Rahman composed a tune with no lyrics except for the beginning which had the gibberish word kuluvalilae. When it came to writing lyrics, Vairamuthu could not find a substitute word for kuluvalilae that was equally long but made sense. He and Ravikumar wanted Rahman to change the tune slightly to accommodate a more proper word, but realised it was not possible without disturbing the song. As a result, the word kuluvalilae was retained. Ravikumar recalled, "I just made it seem as though the song was set in this village called Kuluvaele [sic] and put up a road sign indicating that it was the name of the village and then had the song start with the word".[33] The background rhythm and beats of "Kuluvalilae" were taken from "Rescue Me" by Fontella Bass.[34]

The concept of "Oruvan Oruvan", which reflects philosophies relevant to society through its lyrics,[3] was inspired by "Aandavan Ulagathin Muthalali" from Thozhilali (1964), and Vairamuthu wrote the lyrics as Ravikumar wanted.[8] The song "Kokku Saiva Kokku" is set in the Carnatic raga known as Kalyani,[35] and "Vidukathaiya" is set in Chakravakam.[36][37] "Thillana Thillana" was later adapted by Nadeem–Shravan as "Deewana Deewana" for the 1996 film Jung.[32] Over 400,000 cassettes of the soundtrack of Muthu were sold on the day of release.[38] It was selected as the most popular foreign soundtrack in Japan.[39][40] The tunes from Muthu were later retained in its Kannada remake Sahukara (2004), though Rajesh Ramanath was credited for the music.[41]

Muthu was released on 23 October 1995, during the Diwali holiday frame.[42][43] Though Ravikumar initially feared the film would fail since he felt screenings were declining during the third week of its run at Udhayam Theatre, it ultimately ran there for over 88 days housefull and eventually became a silver jubilee hit.[8] It was dubbed into Telugu under the same title, where Rajinikanth's voice was dubbed by Mano.[44] It was also dubbed in Hindi as Muthu Maharaja.[29]

Anand Kannan wrote for Indolink, "What makes the movie charming is the clean, simple hearted humour, and of course the unfailing Rajnikanth formula – dances, punch lines, fights, comedy, and restrained doses of preaching. And add some political undercurrent in the dialogue/lyrics, you have a jubilee film".[45] Ananda Vikatan wrote that the film did not dip or bore at any time, described it as an engaging fare and masala entertainer, and praised the song sequences for their vibrance, giving the film a rating of 42 out of 100.[46]

Rajinikanth won numerous awards in the Best Actor category for his performance, namely the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, the Cinema Express Awards, the Film Fans Association Awards and Kalasagar Award.[47]

In 1996, Japanese film critic Jun Edoki discovered the film at a video shop in Little India, Singapore. He said, "[Muthu] was absolutely fascinating—even without subtitles". Edoki then approached several Japanese distributors to release the film in Japan, before Xanadeux eventually agreed to release it.[48] In 1998, the film was dubbed in Japanese, by the distributor Xanadeux. It was given the Japanese title Muthu Odoru Maharaja (ムトゥ 踊るマハラジャ), which means Muthu – The Dancing Maharaja.[2]

Muthu Odoru Maharaja initially had a limited release on 13 June 1998 at Cinema Rise in Tokyo's Shibuya district, where it completed a 23-week run, selling 127,000 tickets and grossing ¥208 million ($1.7 million ). It was the theatre's highest-grossing film of 1998, with distributor Atsushi Ichikawa describing it as "the 'Titanic' of the art theaters".[48] It then received a nationwide release across 100 theatres,[49] drawing nearly 500,000 audiences[48] and grossing ¥400 million ,[49] which was equivalent to $3,055,651[50] (₹126,073,105)[51] in 1998, or $4.8 million (₹457 million ) adjusted for inflation.

Prior to Muthu, the previous highest-grossing Indian film in Japan was the Bollywood film Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992), which released there in 1997. Muthu surpassed it to become the most successful Indian film in Japan, as well as becoming 1998's top film in the category of independent "first-run show" theatres. The success of Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman and especially Muthu sparked a short-lived boom of Indian films released in Japan, up until 1999.[2] Muthu was also the second highest-grossing 1995 Indian film overseas, behind only another Bollywood film, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.[52] As of November 2018, Muthu remains the highest-grossing Indian film in Japan.[49]

On 14 December 2006, the then Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh made a special note about the reach of this film among the Japanese in his speech at the National Diet of Japan.[53] A 4K remaster of the film was released in Japan on 23 November 2018.[49]

The video for "Thillana Thillana" became famous for the belly dance of Meena featuring a lot of closeup shots of her navel.[54] The film itself has frequently aired on Sun TV, and recorded large viewership.[55] Many dialogues too attained popularity such as "Kedaikkaradhu kedaikkama irukkadhu. Kedaikkama irukardhu kedaikadhu",[8] "Naan eppo varuven, epdi varuvennu yarukkum theriyathu. Aana vara vendiya nerathula correcta vandhuduven",[22] and the Malayalam dialogue "Eruki anachu oru umma tharum" (Hug me tight, and kiss me).[56] A 100-second fight sequence from Muthu was used in the French film I Do (2006) with permission from Kavithalayaa Productions.[57] In 2018, GRT Hotels in Chennai started making many dishes named after Rajinikanth's films, with one dish named Muthu being "gun powder arancini in the shape of pearls".[58]

• Dhananjayan, G. (2011). The Best of Tamil Cinema, 1931 to 2010: 1977–2010. Galatta Media. ISBN 978-81-921043-0-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Ramachandran, Naman, ed. (2012). Rajinikanth: A Birthday Special. Kasturi & Sons Ltd. ISBN 9788184757965.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Ramachandran, Naman (2014) [2012]. Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-342111-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Sundararaman (2007) [2005]. Raga Chintamani: A Guide to Carnatic Ragas Through Tamil Film Music (2nd ed.). Pichhamal Chintamani. OCLC 295034757.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Muthu at IMDb
• Muthu at Rotten Tomatoes