Magic of Manichitrathazhu: Celebrating the Timeless Brilliance of a Cinematic Masterpiece After 31 Years

Trailer of Manichitrathazhu in 4K from YouTube

As usual, I was busy doing mundane tasks for my routine when I suddenly saw the news that Manichitrathazhu was set to rerelease on big screens. For a moment the entire plot of the movie came to my mind in that second. The day I saw the trailer I literally had goosebumps all over my body. The sheer brilliance of Fazil hit the theatres on the 17th of August. Amidst all the chaos I made it a point to finally watch this psychological thriller on the big screen. This movie has been remade in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, and Kannada but this movie still is the best among all out there.

Even while revisiting the film in 2024, Manichitrathazhu is one of those works that never feels outdated and the credit mainly goes to the writer Madhu Muttam. The movie begins with introducing the mansion named Madampalli and the character of Innocent(Unnithan) singing in a jovial mood searching for Raghavan. When Raghavan is nowhere to be seen a sense of eerie is experienced by Unnithan which makes him feel uneasy. All this is followed with humorous scenes mainly by Unnithan, his wife Bhasura(KPAC Lalitha), the temple priest(Kuthiravattam Pappu), and Unnithan's Helper Dasapan Kutty( Ganesh Kumar). The belief that the mansion is haunted is introduced very subtly.

The story starts to progress as the tales of the Madampalli are revealed one by one. The story behind Nagavalli the dancer, her lover Ramanathan, and Shekharan Thambi the powerful landlord is narrated by Bhasura. Instead of showing flashbacks the narration and Shobana's expression are used to create a more powerful impact. This one scene is enough to understand how much expertise he holds for the craft. Slowly tension starts to build as everyone starts to spot a female ghost. Convinced that it is Sreedevi (Vinaya Prasad) Nakulan( Suresh Gopi) calls his friend Sunny(Mohanlal) for help. The scene where his bag is burnt causes a mysticism which creates a perfect interval for the movie.

The arrival of Sunny causes the tension to amplify and more terrifying incidents start to occur. This leads to the opening of Thekkini by Ganga which makes people believe that she unleashed the ghosts. At some point Sunny makes Nakulan understand that it is Ganga who actually suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder. The film starts to unravel the past of Ganga and how well she can relate to the character Nagavalli. The revelation is portrayed beautifully in the song Varuvaanillaruminn. After all these revelations you can see Shobana shine in her character. Each muscle, action, expression, and every inch of her body contributes to showing how Ganga behaves after Nagavalli takes over her. The song Nagavalli shows the masterpiece performance of how an actor can blend so well into the character.

While talking about this movie you cannot ever forget the climax scene. The way the entire scene is depicted is such a fresh take on how well each frames are executed. The way the Thekkini is designed and shown with the help of Mani displays the brilliance of Fazil. The costume and makeup for Shobana in those scenes have played a huge part in conveying how far Ganga has become the victim of the disorder. The priest played by Thilakan as Brahmadattan who actually believes in science is something you usually never see. The screams and the pain of a woman trapped finally got her freedom.

Instead of the usual exorcism performed by priests, this movie shows a scientific approach to how to tackle the disorder. Even though the approach is criticized and ridiculed in the beginning this helps to bring calm to the chaos. The main factor that helps in balancing the movie is the background scores played by the legend Johnson. He skillfully used instruments like violin, mridangam, keyboard, and others to elevate the experience by taking the movie to greater heights. No matter whether the scene is comedy, serious, or horrifying the background scores make it even more intense.

Manichitrathazhu offers you a thrilling and comedy ride throughout the film. So if you are a fan of those horror sequences with a punch of comedy in them then this is surely the film to watch. So what are you waiting for go watch them on the big screens for a visual treat.