# Manichitrathazhu

Manichitrathazhu (transl. The Ornate Lock) is a 1993 Indian Malayalam-language epic psychological horror film directed by Fazil, written by Madhu Muttam and produced by Swargachitra Appachan. The film stars Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi and Shobana. It also features Thilakan, Nedumudi Venu, Innocent, Vinaya Prasad, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Sridhar, K.B. Ganesh Kumar, Sudheesh. The story is inspired by a tragedy that happened in the Alummoottil tharavad located at Muttom (near Haripad), belonging to central Travancore. The inheritor of the Alummoottil property and his domestic worker girl were murdered by the son-in-law after he had been written-off from the marumakkathayam system of inheritance prevalent in Kerala at the time. The murder gave rise to many local legends which serve as the basis for the film. Muttam, the writer of the film, is a member of the Alummoottil tharavad through his maternal family.
Sibi Malayil, Priyadarshan and Siddique–Lal served as the second-unit directors, who worked separately but simultaneously with Fazil to significantly speed up the filming process. The cinematography was done by Venu, Anandakuttan and Sunny Joseph served as the second-unit cinematographers, the film was edited by T. R. Shekar. The original songs were composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan, while the original score was composed by Johnson. Mohanlal, though credited as a lead actor, has been noted to have only an extended cameo, the main role being that of Shobhana, who won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Ganga / Nagavalli. The film won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. The film also won three Kerala state awards -- Best Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value (1994), Best Actress and Best Make-up Artist (PN Mani).
The film dealt with an unusual theme which was not common in Indian cinema at the time. The film completed 300 days of run in many theatres. Manichitrathazhu was remade in four languages – in Kannada as Apthamitra (2004) (with some plot changes) which in turn was remade in Tamil as Chandramukhi (2005), in Bengali as Rajmohol (2005) and in Hindi as Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007)– all being commercially successful. Madhu has been credited as the sole writer for the remakes after he filed a copyright suit against Fazil when the latter started being listed as the writer of the original script in the remakes. Geethaanjali, a spin-off directed by Priyadarshan with Mohanlal reprising the role of Dr. Sunny Joseph was made in 2013.
Manichitrathazhu is considered by many critics as one of the best films in Malayalam cinema and developed a cult following, years after its release. It has also been regarded as one of the best psychological thrillers in Indian cinema. It was listed among the "70 Iconic Films of Indian Cinema" by Mint in 2017. A digitally remastered 4K Dolby Atmos version of Manichitrathazhu was released in theatres on 17 August 2024.

## Plot

Nakulan and his wife Ganga live in Kolkata and decide to take a vacation to Nakulan's ancestral village in Kerala. Despite warnings from elder family members, Nakulan insists on staying at his ancestral home, the Madampalli Tharavad, which is apparently haunted. The rest of the family joins them, not willing to leave them alone there. The couple is cautioned to avoid certain parts of the house, particularly the "Thekkini," a locked room.
About 150 years before, the family's patriarch and the ruling feudal lord, Karnavar Sankaran Thambi, fell in love with dancer Nagavalli during a trip to Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, and brought her to the mansion. However, Nagavalli was already in love with dancer Ramanathan, who moved into the nearby house and continued seeing her. The Karnavar discovered the affair, decapitated them and burned their bodies. Legend has it that Nagavalli's vengeful spirit later began haunting the mansion. Priests locked her spirit away in the Thekkini. The Karnavar committed suicide shortly after.
Ganga believes that the legend is only meant to scare people away from hidden treasures in the house. Driven by curiosity, she enlists Bhasura's daughter Alli, to help her unlock the Thekkini. After they gain access, people start seeing apparitions of a woman, objects mysteriously break, and Ganga's sari catches on fire. The family eventually begins to believe that Nakulan's cousin Sreedevi, who had been originally meant to marry him years before, may be possessed by Nagavalli's spirit.
Nakulan calls on Dr. Sunny, a renowned US-based Indian psychiatrist, to investigate the situation. Sunny soon encounters mysterious events, including an attempt on Alli's life, as well as a woman's voice singing and dancing in Tamil emanating from the locked Thekkini at midnight. Impersonating the Karnavar, Sunny eventually converses with the voice, who reveals herself as Nagavalli and vows revenge on the upcoming Durgashtami night by killing the Karnavar. Sunny goes to Evoor and talks to people there. He also foils someone's attempt to kill Nakulan by giving him poisoned tea. Blaming Sreedevi, he locks her up in her bedroom.
Sunny later finds Ganga supposedly being harassed by Alli's fiancé, Mahadevan, who insists that he is innocent. Sunny deduces that Ganga is orchestrating all the problems in the house. She suffers from dissociative identity disorder and has taken on the personality of Nagavalli. She adopted the persona of Nagavalli when she started sympathizing with her. Ganga, whose mind is frequently overtaken by Nagavalli's personality, perceives Mahadevan as Ramanathan due to him currently residing in the same house Ramanathan used to live in. She tried to kill Alli due to jealousy over Mahadevan and had tried to frame Mahadevan for her apparent sexual harassment to get him back into her life through stopping his marriage to Alli. She also views Nakulan as the Karnavar and tried to kill him with the tea. Sunny explains everything to Sreedevi, who starts helping him. Nagavlli persona's goal is to kill Nakulan on Durgashtami night.
Meanwhile, Nakulan's family, skeptical of Sunny's treatment, calls in tantric expert Pullattuparam Brahmadathan Namboodiri for another solution. Namboodiri is an old friend of Sunny's and decides to help in a plan the latter has in mind.
On the morning of Durgashtami, Sunny asks Nakulan to provoke Ganga and witness her transformation. The Nagavalli persona emerges and cusses at Nakulan by speaking in Tamil. Nakulan shouts at her, bringing her Ganga persona back. She reverts to Nagavalli later that night and, believing Mahadevan to be Ramanathan, follows him to the rituals prepared by the Namboodiri in front of everyone. Namboodiri talks to Nagavalli and promises to help her behead the Karnavar. Nakulan is brought before her but just before she prepares to strike, Namboodiri blows smoke and ash into her face to temporarily blind her. Sunny, meanwhile, swaps Nakulan with a dummy. Nagavalli cuts the dummy into pieces and leaves Ganga's body, convinced that her enemy is dead. Later, Sunny uses therapy to cure Ganga.
The family bids farewell to Ganga, Nakulan, and Sunny. Before leaving, Sunny proposes to Sreedevi, who accepts.

## Cast

* Mohanlal as Dr. Sunny Joseph/Sunny/Sunnichan, the psychiatrist from America, who solves Ganga's personality disorder.
* Suresh Gopi as Nakulan, Ganga's husband and the Karnavar in Ganga's hallucination as Nagavalli
* Shobana in dual roles:
** as Ganga Nakulan, a slightly modern lady from Kolkata who grows curious about the legends heard from Nakulan's ancestral house, later develops split personality disorder (voiceover by Bhagyalakshmi)
** as Nagavalli, the dancer from the legends (voiceover by Durga)
* Vinaya Prasad as Sreedevi, Thambi's elder daughter and Sunny's love interest (voiceover by Anandavally)
* Nedumudi Venu as Thambi, maternal uncle of Nakulan
* Kuttyedathi Vilasini as Thambi's wife, Nakulan's aunt by marriage
* Sudheesh as Chandhu, Thambi's son and Sreedevi's younger brother
* Innocent as Unnithan, Bhasura's husband and Nakulan's uncle by marriage
* K. P. A. C. Lalitha as Bhasura, Nakulan's maternal aunt
* Sridhar as P. Mahadevan, a professor living next door to Madampally and engaged to Alli / as Ramanathan, Nagavalli's love interest
* Rudra as Alli, daughter of Unnithan and Bhasura, engaged to Mahadevan (voiceover by Ambily)
* Thilakan as Pullattuparam Brahmadathan Namboothiripad, tantric expert and Sunny's friend
* Kuthiravattam Pappu as Kattuparamban, a neighbour
* K. B. Ganesh Kumar as Dasappan Kutty, helper of Unnithan and their distant relative
* Vaijayanthi as Jayasree, Thambi's younger daughter
* Kottayam Santha as School Head mistress

## Production
### Development

Then young directors Sibi Malayil, Priyadarshan and Siddique–Lal served as the second-unit directors, who worked separately but simultaneously with veteran director Fazil to significantly speed up the filming process. The cinematography was by Venu, Anandakuttan and Sunny Joseph served as the second-unit cinematographers, the film was edited by T. R. Shekar. The original songs were composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan, while the original score was composed by Johnson. Mohanlal, though credited as a lead actor, has been noted to have only an extended cameo, the main role being that of Shobhana.

### Filming

The haunted Thekkini room was created inside the Vasan House in Chennai, the house of late S. S. Vasan, the founder of Gemini Studios. It was one of the film's key locations apart from Padmanabhapuram Palace and Hill Palace, Tripunithura. The major parts of the film were filmed at Hill Palace, Tripunithura and the climax was filmed at Padmanabhapuram Palace. The painting of Nagavalli was made by artist R. Madhavan, drawn without a live model.

### Dubbing credits

Shobana's voice was dubbed by two dubbing artistes—Bhagyalakshmi and Durga. Bhagyalakshmi dubbed her voice for Ganga, while Durga gave voice to the character's alter-ego, Nagavalli. Nagavalli's voice is heard only in a minor part of the film compared to Ganga's. Durga was not credited in the film or its publicity material and until 2016, the popular belief was that Bhagyalakshmi solely dubbed both voices.
In January 2016, in an article Ormapookkal published by Manorama Weekly, Fazil revealed that initially Bhagyalakshmi dubbed for both Ganga and Nagavalli, but during post-production, some of the crew, including editor Shekar, had a feeling that both voices sounded somewhat similar even though Bhagyalakshmi tried altering her voice for Nagavalli. Since Nagavalli's dialogues are in the Tamil language, Fazil hired Tamil dubbing artist Durga for the part. But he forgot to inform Bhagyalakshmi, hence she was also unaware of it for a long time. Fazil did not credit Durga in the film; according to him, it was a difficult to make changes in the titles at that time, which was already prepared and her portion in the film was minor. The credits included only Bhagyalakshmi as the dubbing artiste for Shobana. Other dubbing artistes were Anandavally and Ambili, who dubbed for Vinaya Prasad and Rudra.

## Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the film was composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan which went on to become one of the most popular soundtrack in Malayalam. The album consists of nine tracks. The lyrics in Malayalam is written by Bichu Thirumala and Madhu Muttam and lyrics in Tamil are written by Vaali.

## Release

Manichitrathazhu was released on 25 December 1993, and performed well at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing Malayalam film at the time. It ran for more than 365 days in some theatres.

## Awards

| Award | Ceremony | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
| National Film Awards | 41st National Film Awards | Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment | Swargachitra Appachan, Fazil | Won |
| National Film Awards | 41st National Film Awards | Best Actress | Shobana | Won |
| Kerala State Film Awards | 34th Kerala State Film Awards | Best Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value | Swargachitra Appachan, Fazil | Won |
| Kerala State Film Awards | 34th Kerala State Film Awards | Best Actress | Shobana | Won |
| Kerala State Film Awards | 34th Kerala State Film Awards | Best Makeup Artist | P. N. Mani | Won |
| Kerala Film Critics Association Awards | 17th Kerala Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actor | Suresh Gopi | Won |
| Kerala Film Critics Association Awards | 17th Kerala Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress | Shobana | Won |
| Kerala Film Critics Association Awards | 17th Kerala Film Critics Association Awards | Best Music Director | M. G. Radhakrishnan | Won |
| Kerala Film Critics Association Awards | 17th Kerala Film Critics Association Awards | Special Jury Award | Fazil | Won |

## Themes

Certain themes that were discussed in the movie were Ganga's yearning for intimacy with her husband Nakulan, Mental health disorders and why it's important to turn to science rather than trust conventional modes of treatments as well as Dr. Sunny and Ganga's passionate friendship, all of which were rare in Indian cinema, creating a unique blend which received a positive response from the audience.
The film also deals with the devadasi courtesan practice formerly prevalent in southern India and its patronage by local Nair chieftains, caste prejudices and Tantric cults.

## Legacy

Manichitrathazhu is considered as a classic and is hailed as one of the best films ever made in Indian cinema. The film has consistently fetched maximum ratings for its television screenings. Even twenty years after its release it has been screened more than 12 times a year on an average on Kerala's leading TV channel, Asianet. The film has received the maximum TRP rating on every screening; TRP ratings have increased every year, a rare record for a film produced in Kerala. For many Malayalis, Manichitrathazhu is a part of their cultural lives.
In a 2013 online poll in India by IBN Live, Manichitrathazhu was voted second among India's greatest films, by the audience. The poll was conducted as part of the celebration of Indian cinema completing 100 years. The poll constituted a list of 100 films from different Indian languages. A saree featuring Shobhana in a song scene from this film was released in the market as the Nagavali saree.
One of the most memorable or defining scenes of the movie where Nakulan provokes Ganga to transform into the Nagavalli persona was recreated in later Malayalam films like Om Shanti Oshana.
The film was re-released in theatres after 30 years in August 2024.
"Vijanaveedhi", a Malayalam horror novel by Aswathi Thirunal, has been listed by some as an inspiration for the film, though director Fazil and writer Madhu both deny this.

## Remakes

| Language | Title | Year | Cast | Director | Notes |
| Kannada | Apthamitra | 2004 | Vishnuvardhan, Soundarya | P. Vasu | Some plot changes made according to the director |
| Tamil | Chandramukhi | 2005 | Rajinikanth, Jyothika | P. Vasu | Some plot changes made according to the director |
| Bengali | Rajmohol | 2005 | Prosenjit Chatterjee, Anu Choudhury | Swapan Saha | |
| Hindi | Bhool Bhulaiyaa | 2007 | Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan | Priyadarshan | |

## Spin-off

A spin-off titled Geethaanjali was released on 14 November 2013, directed by Priyadarshan with Mohanlal reprising his role as Sunny and Suresh Gopi as Nakulan in a cameo appearance.