# Muni (film)

Muni (transl. Sage) is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language comedy horror film directed by Raghava Lawrence and produced by Gemini Productions. The film stars Rajkiran, Lawrence and Vedhika. Nassar, Vinu Chakravarthy, Rahul Dev, Delhi Ganesh, Kadhal Dhandapani and Kovai Sarala play supporting roles. It follows Ganesh, a man with phasmophobia, who gets possessed by Muniyandi "Muni" who seeks revenge against an MLA who killed him.
Muni was released on 9 March 2007 and became a block buster on box office.It is the first Indian film cross ₹1 billion and touch 10 billion.It is the first instalment in the Muni film series, and a spiritual successor, Kanchana, was released in 2011.

## Plot

Ganesh, a man with phasmophobia who refuses to go out after 6 PM, moves into a new house with his mother, father, and wife Priya. All of a sudden, Ganesh is possessed by a ghost and starts behaving in a rude manner; his family cannot understand his behaviour, so they seek the help of a priest named Andaiyar. Andaiyar asks the ghost about his past. The ghost says that he is Muniyaandi and starts revealing his flashback.
Muni was a kindhearted but poor man living in the slums with his daughter. His friend is MLA Marakka Dhandapani, who uses Muni to win local elections and promises that he would give lands to the poor villagers. Dhandapani wins the election but cheats on Muni. Muni fights with Dhandapani, who kills Muni and his daughter. Dhandapani lies to the poor people by saying that Muni and his daughter fled with the money that he had given Muni for the welfare of the villagers.
After hearing Muni's story Ganesh feels sorry for him and decides to help him, Ganesh requests Andaiyar to lie to his family that the ghost has left and andaiyar agrees. Ganesh now possessed by Muni manages to get a job as a bodyguard for Dhandapani's daughter but after he brutally kills Dhandapani's brother Dhandapani finds out that Ganesh is Muni and hires an exorcist named Mastaan Bhai to save himself. Bhai captures Muni and bargains with him, 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 killed Muni and his daughter. He then leaves money with the villagers. Muni talks with the people and eats the feast prepared by them. Bhai tells Muni to leave Ganesh's body, and he does. However, Dhandapani lied and was planning to get back all his money from the villagers. Ganesh, upon hearing this, kills Dhandapani. Bhai sees this act but does nothing, as he finally sees the injustice done by Dhandapani.

## Cast

* Rajkiran as Muniyandi/Muni
* Raghava Lawrence as Ganesh
* Vedhika as Priya Ganesh
* Nassar as Andaiyar
* Vinu Chakravarthy as Kandasamy
* Delhi Ganesh as Priya's father
* Kadhal Dhandapani as MLA Dhandapani
* Kovai Sarala as Kannamma
* Bala Singh
* Rahul Dev as Mastan Bhai
* Vadivelu David as Murugesan
* Scissor Manohar as House Broker
* Kallukkul Eeram Ramanathan
* Pudhupettai Suresh as Dhandapani's Brother
* Meera Krishnan as Priya's mother
* Asha
* Kavya
* Neelima Naidu as Chandramukhi

## Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Bharadwaj.

## Reception

Sify wrote, "On the whole, Muni does not make for great horror film. At best it provides some funny comedy time!!". Malini Mannath of Chennai Online wrote "Lawrence's Telugu ventures were better crafted and presented. He hasn't revealed even half that potential here. Again, the attempt to blend comedy with the supernatural doesn't quite work out here. For, the film neither makes you laugh nor takes you to the edge of your seat. Minus it's gore and violence, 'Muni' at most could have turned out to be enjoyable fare for children!". Lajjavathi of Kalki praised the acting of Rajkiran and Lawrence and other actors, Bharadwaj's music and Ramesh Khanna's dialogues and called the film as comedy express. Sriram Iyer of Rediff.com wrote, "Though the first half of the movie seems frivolous, it has, nevertheless contributed to building up the plot, which takes a serious turn in the second half where it ceases to be scary".

## Sequels

The success of the film spawned three spiritual successors: Kanchana (2011), Kanchana 2 (2015) and Kanchana 3 (2019).