A young couple, Ganga and Nakulan, arrives at the ancestral home called Madampalli of the latter. Hailing from a family that follows tradition and superstitions, Nakulan's uncle Thampi objects to the couple's idea of moving into the allegedly haunted mansion, which Nakulan ignores. The couple moves in anyway following which seemingly supernatural events begin to happen.
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Such a wonderful script and making is rarely seen in mollywood. Manichitrathazhu is truly a malayalee movie. The route taken by the movie is outstanding.Its a must watch epic psycho thriller.
The story of this movie is very unique and has not been told before. First we thought it is a supernatural story, but as we understood the dual personality of Shobhana we got very interested in this character and how she would be able to get out of her predicament. The characters in the movie, Sunny Joseph, Nakulan, Ganga, Ammavan are all memorable and have been portrayed with realism.Even though this is a ghost movie, there are no special effects. Director Fazil uses simple tricks like shadows on the wall and sounds to heighten the tension. In one scene, the whole family goes to watch a Kathakali performance. Sunny sits in the front and occasionally turns back to see if Ganga is alright. The sound of the drums heighten in the background. Then, once when Sunny turns back, there is silence and Ganga is not there. The intensity of the scene is heightened by the lack of any background sound, which we thought was a very innovative but subtle technique.In this movie, the script by Madhu Mattom is the hero and Shobhana is the heroine. Shobhana had two roles, one as the mild mannered Ganga and the other as the revenge seeking Nagavalli. It during the Nagavalli phase that you see her transformation, in her voice and in her mannerism. Shobhana won a truly deserved National Award for this role.Mohanlal makes his entry just before the interval, which is unconventional. From that point onwards, it is his show and the character he portrays is that of a fun loving psychiatrist. He is unconventional in his treatment style also. Mohanlal does not have much histrionics in this movie and plays a very subdued role.For a movie which is a psycho-thriller, it has excellent comedy provided by Innocent, Lalitha and Mohanlal himself.The story, screenplay and dialogue is by Madhu Mattom and we liked all three of them. There are no unnecessary scenes in this movie and each scene in the screenplay sustains our interest in the story. We also are impressed by the craft of director Fazil for making this movie very interesting. The movie also had a second unit by directors Sathyan Antikkad and Priyadarshan. M.G.Radhakrishnan has provided some memorable music for this movie. All the songs are nice to hear, but our favourite is Palavattom Pookalam This movie is one of our favourites and is a must watch.
This has got to be one of the best movies both in malayalam and in India. superb script combined with beautiful direction and acting has made this movie a treat to watch. I have watched this one numerous times..don't even remember the number. As many I was also disappointed to see its remake in other languages. I think they spoiled the beautiful concept and feel of this movie. Sobhana who got a National Award for this movie should have been given a second one after seeing the way other actress performed her role in those remakes.Its one of the dream movies which doesn't come very often...Perfect from all points of view - story, dialogues, performance, comedy, songs and direction..Please watch it if you haven't already.
This was one movie which really impressed me in 1993. Writing a review after so many years is a proof of how much sense it makes to me even today. Malayalam movies are always ahead of the rest of the country in making meaningful and realistic stories. That too on quarter of the budget a Bollywood movie is made with. This movie was a masterpiece work from Fazil. This movie also had another 6 A list directors doing diff segment of this movie, like the comedy part was done by Priyadashan. This movie was later made into a Tamil, Kannada and Telungu all which turned out to be super duper hits. Plans are in the pipeline to remake it in Hindi. But the essence of the movie is being lost in the translation. The 1993 Malayalam version is the best yet. This movie was well made and well received my all the generations of Keralites. A must watch if u like horror, thriller or friction movies.
