Moodu Pani

Moodu Pani
File:Moodu pani poster.jpg Theatrical poster
Directed by	Balu Mahendra
Produced by	Raja Cine Arts
Starring	Shobha Pratap K. Pothen N. Viswanathan Bhanu Chander
Cinematography	Balu Mahendra
Edited by	D. Vasu
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Release date	6 November 1980
Running time	131 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Moodu Pani ([The Mist] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) is a 1980 Indian Tamil psychological thriller film directed by Balu Mahendra and produced by Raja Cine Arts. The film stars Shobha and Pratap K. Pothen in the lead roles, while N. Viswanathan, Bhanu Chander and Mohan (in his Tamil debut) appear in supporting roles. It is based on the novel Idhuvum Oru Viduthalai Thaan by Rajendra Kumar, and draws inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller Psycho. The film's music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, while director Balu Mahendra handled the cinematography as well.

Moodu Pani tells the story of a man who has a strong hatred towards prostitutes, and would kill any such woman who he encounters. The film was critically acclaimed and commercially successful upon release, with Prathap Pothan receiving wide praise for his performance. Although no print of Moodu Pani has survived, the film is still sold on home video, but is rare on stock.

Plot

Chandru (Pratap K. Pothen), the managing director of an exports company in Bangalore, hates prostitutes since childhood, as he was the victim of a prostitute who ruined his family by taking his father away from his mother. Raghunath (N. Viswanathan) is an inspector who knows Chandru and his mother. Raghunath's son Ravi (Bhanu Chander) is engaged to Rekha (Shobha).

Haunted by memories of the same prostitute, Chandru lures two prostitutes to lonely places and murders them as he sees that woman in each of them. Rekha's friend Pallavi comes to Bangalore to meet her, and contacts her for the address. This is overheard by the Madam of a brothel (Gandhimathi) and she misleads Pallavi. On the pretext of taking her to Rekha's house, Pallavi is taken to the brothel and is forced into prostitution. Rekha and Raghunath search for Pallavi. Chandru comes to the same brothel and takes Pallavi in his car, but kills her. Rekha learns of Pallavi's murder through Raghunath, neither are aware that Chandru is the murderer.

Still photographer Bhaskar (Mohan) takes pictures of his lover with a bike in the backdrop. Chandru, who had come on that bike, had parked it there and killed a woman (Vijaychandrika) who enticed him near the same location, then rode away. Reading about the murder in a newspaper, Bhaskar shows Raghunath the pictures with the murderer's bike in the background. Raghunath investigates about the vehicle and learns that the owner has lent the vehicle to his friend.

Worried about his constant anger, Chandru meets a psychiatrist, who advises him to marry soon so that he will no longer be lonely, saying the loneliness is leading him to continuously think about his past and indulge in extreme acts. Chandru meets Rekha at a theatre and then at a book stall. He proposes to Rekha and even pleads with her to marry him. Surprised at his extreme pleading, Rekha politely informs him that she loves Ravi, and their marriage is already fixed. Raghunath is startled when Rekha tells him about Chandru's marriage proposal.

Chandru keeps following Rekha; one day when she goes to visit her friend, he makes her unconscious and takes her away to a bungalow in Ooty. When she regains consciousness, he tells her that he had purchased this house in Ooty only for her, and requests her to marry him. When Rekha refuses and pleads to be freed, he requests her to stay back for at least a month, so that she can understand him better, and then reduces it to a week. He makes all arrangements to ensure that she cannot escape. One day, Rekha slams Chandru on the back of his head with a spade and finally runs away. He however catches her and traps her in the garage of his house, but gets hospitalised for his injury.

Meanwhile, Raghunath visits Chandru’s office for an enquiry and learns that he has gone to Ooty. He also meets Chandru’s psychiatrist and learns about his hatred for prostitutes. He immediately correlates this with the prostitutes murdered in the city. He visits Chandru’s house; hidden in the garage, he finds the same bike photographed by Bhaskar. With his suspicions growing stronger, he arrives in Ooty to meet Chandru and visits the police station, where he finds Chandru’s car. The Area Inspector informs Raghunath that an unknown person came in the car to the hospital and got admitted. The car was brought to the police station for safety. Raghunath visits the hospital, but Chandru had left by then. Raghunath is joined by Ravi, and both rush to Chandru’s house.

Meanwhile, Rekha escapes from the garage and enters the room where Chandru claimed his mother stays. However, she finds only a skeleton and is cornered by Chandru. Ravi and Raghunath hear Rekha screaming and rush to the room. Seeing them, Chandru collapses and reveals that the skeleton is his mother’s. Raghunath understands Chandru’s love for his mother and the problems he faced during his childhood, which made him develop hatred for women with loose morals. Chandru is arrested, while Rekha and Ravi unite.

Cast

• Shobha as Rekha
• Pratap K. Pothen as Chandru
• N. Viswanathan as Raghunath
• Bhanu Chander as Ravi
• Mohan as Bhaskar
• Shanthi Williams as Pallavi
• Gandhimathi as the Madam of the brothel

Production

Moodu Pani, which was Balu Mahendra's third feature film and second in Tamil after Azhiyatha Kolangal (1979), was based on a novel of Rajendra Kumar titled Idhuvum Oru Viduthalai Thaan, and also drew inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). It was produced by Raja Cine Arts. The film was shot in 30 days in Bangalore with 36,000 feet of negative film. Mohan, who later became a leading actor in Tamil cinema, made his debut in Tamil with this film. In addition to scripting and directing the film, Balu Mahendra also served as the cinematographer, and had dubbed the voice for Pratap K. Pothen. D. Vasu was recruited as the film's editor. Moodu Pani is also noted for being the last produced film of Shoba, who died after the shooting of the film was complete. Shooting also took place at Ooty. The final length of the film was 3,848 metres.

Themes

According to K. Hariharan of The Hindu, sexuality and the repression of desire were the dominant motifs in Moodu Pani and Balu Mahendra's later film Moondram Pirai (1982), expressed through the mysterious misty atmospheres of Ooty where the protagonists confronted their psychological antagonists.

Soundtrack

Untitled

Main article: Moodu Pani (soundtrack)

The film's soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja in his 100th film. It is also his first film with Balu Mahendra. The soundtrack cover shows a scene from the song "Yen Eniya Pon Nilave" involving Chandru (Prathap Pothan) and Rekha (Shoba). The scene shows his dream of being together with her, even though she actually dislikes him because he has kidnapped her and taken her to Ooty, and she seeks to escape.

"Yen Iniya Pon Nilave" was the song that had the longest prelude and interlude using a guitar. The songs were praised for their superior quality over other Tamil songs. Ilaiyaraaja had composed a song "Ilaya Nila" which was first supposed to feature in this film, but Balu Mahendra rejected it, and chose "Yen Iniya Pon Nilave" instead. However, "Ilaya Nila" was subsequently used in Payanangal Mudivathillai in 1982. "Yen Iniya Pon Nilave" is also featured on music artist M. Rafi's remix album Aasaiyae Alaipolae.

Due to the popularity of its music, Moodu Pani became the first Tamil film for which a cutout was made for Ilaiyaraaja and displayed in theatres. The first soundtrack edition did not feature the song "Aasai Raja", sung by Uma Ramanan; it was however included in the 1981 re-edition. Moodu Pani also marked A. R. Rahman's first association with Ilaiyaraaja; the former worked as a keyboard player in the film.

Tracklist

Side 1

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Yen Iniya Pon Nilavae"	Gangai Amaran	K. J. Yesudas	4:10
2.	"Paruva Kaalangalin"	Gangai Amaran	Malaysia Vasudevan, S. Janaki	3:00

Side 2

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Sing Swing"	Vijay Manuel	Kalyan	4:57
2.	"Aasai Raja"	Gangai Amaran	Uma Ramanan	1:04

Reception

Moodu Pani was released on 6 November 1980 and ran for 250 days in theatres. On 30 November 1980, Ananda Vikatan said, "Half the dialogues in the film were spoken by the camera... Balu Mahendra's camera challenges and asks when I am there, where is the need for screenplay and dialogues..." Behindwoods called the film as "one of Tamil cinemas best in the film noir genre", and rated Prathap Pothan's "psycho lover" performance as "among the finest performances in Tamil cinema history". English journalist Phil Hardy in his book The BFI Companion to Crime (1997) said, "Finally, given the tendency in Indian cinema to remake successful Hollywood films, it is worth signalling Balu Mahendra's remake of Psycho in Tamil, Moodupani (1980)."

Bhama Devi Ravi of The Times of India said, "With his easygoing manners, Pothan was brilliant as a serial killer, and the last few minutes of the film were rivetting." IndiaGlitz said, "in eighties there were very few romantic thrillers - Bharathiraja's Sigappu Rojakkal and Balu Mahendra's Moodu Pani - among others which are best till date in this genre." G. Dhananjayan in his The Best of Tamil Cinema: 1977 to 2010 called the film "a sleek thriller", appreciating it for its "quality of making and camera work". In February 2014, S. Saraswathi of Rediff named Moodu Pani as one of "The Best Films of Balu Mahendra". K. S. Sivakumaran of Ceylon Today described the film as "halfway between artistic and merely entertaining".

Legacy

After Sigappu Rojakkal (1978), there was a resurgence of the suspense thriller genre in Tamil cinema through films like Moodu Pani. According to Dhananjayan, the film became a "benchmark for every cinematographer on how it was shot frame by frame." Pothen recalled in 2015 that it was the simultaneous release of Moodu Pani and Varumayin Niram Sivappu (another film featuring him) that made him a star. However, the film led to Pothen being typecast in similar roles. In the film Iruvar Mattum, Azhagu (played by Abhay) keeps the skeletal remains of his mother and frequently talks to her; Sify compared this plot detail to that of Moodu Pani and Psycho.

In 2006, Yesudas performed "En Iniya Pon Nilave" during a programme held at PSG College of Technology, organised by Helpline Arts Academy to sponsor the education of underprivileged children in and around Coimbatore. In Vaaranam Aayiram (2008), when Suriya's character first sees Sameera Reddy's character and falls in love with her, he sings "Yen Iniya Pon Nilave" while playing the guitar. In June 2014 during Ilaiyaraaja's 71st birthday, singers Shweta Mohan and Aalap Raju collaborated to make a video where they performed some of Ilaiyaraaja's songs, as a tribute to him; one song was "Yen Iniya Pon Nilave". A song in Thirudan Police (2014) written by Vaali, was named "Moodupani". Although no print of Moodu Pani has survived, the film is still sold on home video, but is rare on stock.

Bibliography

• Dhananjayan, G. (2011). The Best of Tamil Cinema, 1931 to 2010: 1977–2010. Galatta Media. ISBN 978-81-921043-0-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Hardy, Phil (1997). The BFI Companion to Crime. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-304-33215-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• Moodu Pani at IMDb