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Kanchana (also known as Muni 2: Kanchana) is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language horror comedy film written, produced and directed by Raghava Lawrence. It is a sequel to his previous venture, Muni (2007) and the second installment in the Muni (film series). The film stars Lawrence alongside Sarathkumar, Kovai Sarala and Lakshmi Rai while Devadarshini and Sriman play supporting roles.

Kanchana
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Raghava Lawrence
Written by	Raghava Lawrence
Produced by	Raghava Lawrence
Starring	Raghava Lawrence R. Sarathkumar Kovai Sarala Lakshmi Rai
Cinematography	Vetri E. Krishnasamy
Edited by	Kishore Te.
Music by	Sai Thaman
Production companies	Sri Thenandal Films Raghavendra Productions
Distributed by	Sun Pictures
Release date	15 July 2011 (2011-07-15)
Running time	170 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	₹7 crore[1]

The film revolves around Raghava, who is scared to venture outside gets possessed by a ghost and starts behaving weirdly. The film's cinematography and editing was handled by Vetri and Kishore Te, respectively. The film's soundtrack was composed by Sai Thaman. The film's distribution rights were bought by Sri Thenandal Films.The Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) gave the film an "A" Certificate for "Violence" and "Horror".

Kanchana's Tamil version was released on 22 July 2011 while a same-titled Telugu dubbed version was released a week earlier on 15 July 2011.[1][2] Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film became a commercial success in both languages.[3][4] The film has been remade several times including – in Kannada as Kalpana, in Sinhala Sri Lanka as Maya, in Bengali Bangladesh as Mayabini, and in Hindi as Laxmii; Lawrence acted as screenwriter on Kalpana, while directing and co-writing Laxmii.

Plot

Raghava is a typical jobless man but a lovable person who spends his days playing cricket with friends. He suffers from an irrational fear of ghosts and retreats to the safety of his home after sunset. His fear is so great he prefers to sleep beside his mother and has her accompany him to the restroom at night. This creates a major annoyance in the household, including Raghava's brother, sister-in-law, and their children.

One day, Raghava and his friends are forced to abandon their usual cricket ground and find a new one; they unwittingly select an abandoned ground which is rumoured to be haunted. A bizarre weather change scares them away. Raghava brings home his cricket stumps, which have been stained with blood from a buried corpse in the ground. He focuses on wooing Priya , his sister-in-law's sister. In the following days, his mother and sister-in-law witnesses several paranormal activities at night because of a ghost. On consulting a priest, they perform three rituals to ascertain if the house is haunted:

1. Place a coconut on a rangoli and pray to Lord Shiva. If the coconut spins, it is considered that the house is haunted, but only 50% sure. They start to do the next ritual.

2. Feed a cow. If the cow runs out of the house without eating the food, the house is considered to be haunted, but they just want to make sure and start to do the next one but are 75% sure.

3. Leave a lamp lit with two drops of blood and leave the house and cut off power supply. The ghost of the woman appears and licks the blood. They see this and get frightened and run away from the house for that night.

Shocked, Raghava's mother and sister-in-law hire two priests to get rid of the ghost from their house. The priests, however, are con men and run away after seeing the real ghost. That night, the ghost possesses Raghava, who begins acting increasingly effeminate, alienating himself from Priya and wearing women's clothes and jewellery. His family angrily confronts him and it is revealed that there are actually three ghosts who have possessed him: a violent woman, an Urdu-speaking Muslim, and a mentally disabled boy. Raghava's family hires an exorcist, who drives the spirits away from Raghava's body. However, the woman's ghost being trapped, reveals her story.

Karthik alias Kanchana is a transgender woman who was disowned by her parents. She is offered shelter by a kind Muslim named Akbar Bhai, who has an intellectually disabled son. Regretting that she could not become a doctor as she intended, she adopts another young transgender girl named Krishna alias Geetha and works hard to support her financially. When Geetha leaves to study medicine abroad, Kanchana buys a plot of land where Geetha intended to construct a hospital for the poor. That ground is unlawfully taken by the crooked MLA Shankar. Kanchana angrily confronts Shankar, who kills her. He also kills Bhai and his son. Before Kanchana died, she vowed to kill Shankar, his wife, and his henchmen. The bodies were then buried in Kanchana's own ground.

The exorcist sympathizes with her but remains duty-bound and traps her. After hearing her story, Raghava is touched; risking the danger, he allows Kanchana to possess him once again. Raghava/Kanchana confronts Shankar and disposes of his henchmen gruesomely. Shankar seeks refuge in a Narasimha temple, which Kanchana is forbidden from, but she asks the deity for justice and manages to chase him inside the temple. The three spirits combined kill Shankar. A few years later, Raghava has constructed the hospital for Geetha as per Kanchana's wishes. He also unites with Priya. A few local goons who came there to demand money get scared and run away when Raghava is possessed again by Kanchana, implying he will be possessed every now and then when needed.

Cast

• Raghava Lawrence as Raghava / Kanchana (Possessed by R. Sarathkumar)
• R. Sarathkumar as Karthik alias "Kanchana"
• Aryan Preet as young Karthik alias Kanchana
• Kovai Sarala as Sarala - Raghava's mother
• Lakshmi Rai as Priya - Raghava's girlfriend (Kamakshi's Younger sister)
• Devadarshini as Kamakshi - Raghava's sister-in-law and Priya's elder sister
• Sriman as Prasad - Raghava's elder brother and Kamakshi's husband
• Devan as MLA Shankar [Main Antagonist]
• Babu Antony as Akbar Bhai
• Priya as Krishnan alias "Geetha"
• Sarvesh Rao as young Geetha
• Manobala as fake priest 1
• Mayilsamy as fake priest 2
• Minnal Deepa as Madhavi - Shankar's girlfriend
• Vijay Jasper as Shahnawaz Peer Baba
• Boys Rajan as School Head Master

Soundtrack

The film's original soundtrack has been composed by S. Thaman.[5]

Muni 2: Kanchana
Soundtrack album by S. Thaman
Released	11 May 2011
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	18:13
Language	Tamil
S. Thaman chronology
Veera (2011) Muni 2: Kanchana (2011) Vandhaan Vendraan (2011)

Reception

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews from critics.[6][7][8] Rediff wrote "It is torturous and tedious to watch, the chills and thrills are not spine-chilling and a soundtrack that is supposed to be eerie is anything but. There's quite a bit of unintended comedy too".[9] Great Andhra wrote "As for Lawrence, his intention was to target the mass audience and he has been fairly successful in his attempt as compared to his prequel by infusing good depth and emotional intensity".[10] Sify wrote:"On the whole, Kanchana is an entertaining affair and can be watched once".[11]

Box office

According to Sify, Kanchana emerged 2011's most successful Tamil film based on return on investment.[1] The film, made on a budget of ₹7 crore (US$880,000) and marketed for ₹1.5 crore (US$190,000), had its Telugu dubbing rights sold to Bellamkonda Suresh for ₹4 crore (US$500,000). The film grossed around ₹20 crore (US$2.5 million) share from Tamil Nadu alone at the end of its run.[1]

Accolades

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards

• Best Choreographer - Raghava Lawrence

Vijay Awards

• Best Supporting Actor - R. Sarathkumar
• Best Female Comedian - Kovai Sarala

1st South Indian International Movie Awards

• Best Actor in a Supporting Role - R. Sarathkumar

Sequel and remakes

In early 2012, sources claimed that Raghava Lawrence was planning to make a third part of Muni.[12][13][14] Furthermore, it was suggested that Lawrence's brother might play the lead role in the sequel. Instead, he danced with his brother in a cameo for the film. Eventually the third installment Kanchana 2[14] was released on 17 April 2015 and fourth installment Kanchana 3 was released on 19 April 2019 both were commercial success at the box office.

Rama Narayanan, who distributed the Tamil version directed the Kannada remake of the film titled Kalpana with Upendra playing lead role and Sai Kumar playing the transgender role and Lakshmi Rai reprising her role from the original film. It was released in September 2012.[15]

In the 2016 Sri Lankan remake, Maya, directed by Donald Jayantha, Ranjan Ramanayake played the role initially portrayed by Sarath Kumar as Kanchana.[16] It was unofficially remade as Tar Tay Gyi (2017) in Myanmar.[17] In 2017, the Bangladeshi remake of the film released titled Mayabini starring Symon Sadik and Airin Sultana.^{[citation needed]}

Lawrence himself directed the Hindi remake titled Laxmii starring Akshay Kumar and Kiara Advani. It released on the online streaming service Disney+ Hotstar on 9 November 2020.[18]

Legacy

The song "Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thora" inspired a 2017 film of same name starring Jiiva which was also based on the genre of horror-comedy.[19]

See also

• List of Indian horror films
• List of ghost films

References

External links

• Kanchana at IMDb
• Kanchana: Muni 2 on ČSFD [cs]

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