Muni (film)
| Muni | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Raghava Lawrence |
| Written by | Ramesh Khanna (Dialogues) |
| Screenplay by | Raghava Lawrence |
| Story by | Raghava Lawrence |
| Produced by | Saran |
| Starring | Raghava Lawrence Vedhicka Rajkiran Vinu Chakravarthy Kovai Sarala Dhandapani Rahul Dev |
| Cinematography | K. V. Guhan |
| Edited by | Suresh Urs |
| Music by | Original songs: Bharathwaj Background Score: S. P. Venkatesh |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Gemini Productions |
Release date | 9 March 2007 |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget | ₹20 million (US$250,000) |
| Box office | ₹150 million (US$1.9 million) |
Muni (Tamil: முனி) is a 2007 Tamil horror comedy film written and directed by Raghava Lawrence, who also plays the lead role. Vedhicka, Rajkiran and Rahul Dev among other play supporting roles, while the film's score is composed by S. P. Venkatesh, while the songs were composed by Bharathwaj. The film released on 9 March 2007 along with a Telugu dubbed version of same name and gained positive reviews and huge box office collections. Later,it was dubbed into Hindi as Pratisodh: Ek Real Revenge in 2011.[1] In 2011, a sequel titled Muni 2: Kanchana was released by Raghava Lawrence. It was the first installment in the Muni franchise.
Plot
Ganesh (Raghava Lawrence), a young man with a deep fear of ghosts who refuses to even go out after 6pm, moves into a new house with his mother (Kovai Sarala), father (Vinu Chakravarthy), and wife Priya (Vedhicka), not knowing it is the residence where Muni met his death and where his spirit now resides. Muni enters Ganesh's body and Ganesh starts behaving in a rude manner; his family couldn't understand why his behavior is weird, so they seek the help of a priest Andaiyer (Nassar). Andaiyar asks the ghost about his whereabouts. The ghost says he is Muniyaandi (Rajkiran) and starts saying his flashback. Muniyaandi was a kind-hearted poor man living in the slums with his daughter and other people. Muni's friend is the MLA Marakka Dhandapani (Dhandapani), who uses Muni to make him win in elections and promises that he would give lands to the poor villagers. Dhandapani wins the election, but he cheats Muni. Muni fights with Dhandapaani, but Dhandapani kills both him and his daughter. Dhandapani lies to poor people saying that Muni and his daughter had fled with the money he had given Muni for the welfare of the village residents. Ganesh accepts Muni, and he enters his body. Ganesh enters Dhandapani's household and terrorizes him and his assistants. Dhandapani comes to know that Muni's spirit resides in Ganesh's body, so he gets a shaman Mastan Bai (Rahul Dev) to save his life. The shaman bargains with Muni, who agrees to let Dhandapani go if he repents and helps the poor villagers. In the climax, at Ayyanaar temple, Dhandapani confesses to the people that he had actually killed Muni and his daughter. Dhandapani then leaves money with the villagers. Muni talks with the people and eats the feast prepared by them. The shaman instructs Muni to leave Ganesh's body and he does. However, Dhandapani had lied and was planning to get back all his money from the villagers. Ganesh, upon hearing this, kills Dhandapani while pretending to be still possessed by Muni. Mastan Bai sees through this act of Ganesh, but instead does nothing as the shaman sees the injustice done by Dhandapani.
Cast
- Raghava Lawrence as Ganesh
- Rajkiran as Muniyandi
- Vedhicka as Priya Ganesh
- Vinu Chakravarthy as Kandasaamy, Ganesh's father
- Kovai Sarala as Kannamma, Ganesh's mother
- Dhandapani as Maraka Dhandapani
- Rahul Dev as Mastan Bhai, the shaman and a Muslim exorcist
- Nassar as Andaiyar, a Hindu priest
- Delhi Ganesh as Ganesh, Priya Ganesh's father
- Bianca Desai
- Bala Singh
- Meera Krishnan as Priya Ganesh's mother
- Asha
- Kavya
- Neelima Naidu as Chandramukhi
- Vadivelu David
- Scissor Manohar as House broker
- Kallukkul Eeram Ramanathan
- Pudhupettai Suresh
- Citizen Mani
- Rangammal
- Kavithan Rajamohan
Soundtrack
The film's original soundtrack has been composed by Bharathwaj.
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Assah Pussah" | Karthik, Priya | 4.16 |
| 2. | "Suru Suru Susuravarthi" | Anuradha Sriram, Ranjith | 4.19 |
| 3. | "Gulla Gulla Dracula" | Bharathwaj | 4.24 |
| 4. | "Varranda Muni" | Mukesh | 3.54 |
| 5. | "Thalai Suthuthey Mami - Version 1" | Bharadwaj, Kavitha | 4.50 |
| 6. | "Thalai Suthuthey Mami - Version 2" | Raghava Lawrence | 4.11 |
Critical reception
Muni received generally positive reviews from critics. IndiaGlitz.com called the movie a visual treat from Lawrence.[2]
Box office
The film grossed around ₹ 15 crore worldwide and commercial success
Sequels
Muni 2: Kanchana, the sequel of Muni, released on 15 July 2011 in Andhra Pradesh and 22 July 2011 in Tamil Nadu with a different cast except Raghava Lawrence and Kovai Sarala and became a Super-Hit. Muni 3: Ganga was released on 16 April 2015 and also became a Blockbuster. A fourth installment titled Muni 4-Urvashi was announced.
References
- ^ "'Muni' completes talkie part - Bollywood Movie News". IndiaGlitz. 28 December 2006. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
- ^ "Muni Review - Three cheers to Saran and Larencce". IndiaGlitz. 9 March 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
