Moondru Mudichu

 ( 1976 Indian Films ) 

Moondru Mudichu () is a 1976 Indian Tamil language-language romantic thriller film directed and co-written by K. Balachander. A remake of the Telugu language film O Seeta Katha (1974), it stars Kamal Haasan, Sridevi and Rajinikanth. The film revolves around an 18-year-old girl and two roommates who fall in love with her.

Moondru Mudichu marked Sridevi's first leading adult role, and Rajinikanth's first major role in Tamil. It was released on 22 October 1976 and became a success.

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Plot Balaji and Prasath are roommates in Chennai. Balaji falls in love with 18-year-old Selvi, who lives in the same apartment complex. Prasath, who has his eyes on Selvi, pretends to back Balaji's love while secretly hoping to create a divide between them. Selvi realizes Prasath's intentions when she finds out that he has seduced Menaka, an innocent girl living in the same apartment complex. However, she is unable to convince Balaji, who hero-worships Prasath.

Things come to a head when Selvi, Balaji, and Prasath go for a picnic by the lake. Balaji topples over by accident. Prasath refuses to jump in and save Balaji, on the pretext that he does not know how to swim. A devastated Selvi returns home to another shock: her sister, who plays small roles in films, has been in a fire accident which has left her face permanently scarred. Overnight, Selvi's life undergoes a change.

Selvi comes across an advertisement in the paper for a second marriage to Viswanathan, a wealthy man in Salem with four children, and applies for the same. However, Viswanathan refuses to marry a young girl like Selvi and asks her to take care of the kids instead. Impressed by her service, he requests her to marry his eldest son, who turns out to be none other than Prasath, who visits his father during the weekend.

Prasath continues to harass Selvi and orders her to marry him. He gives her a week to decide and returns to Chennai. In an attempt to salvage her life, Selvi successfully persuades Viswanathan to marry her before Prasath returns the next weekend. This puts Prasath in an uncomfortable situation, as Selvi taunts him back using her 'mother' status. Meanwhile, Selvi spots Menaka, who has given birth to Prasath's child, brings them home, and tries to convince Prasath to marry her, but he rejects them.

Viswanathan accidentally finds out about the prior relationship between Prasath and Selvi and enacts an accident to make Prasath agree to his immoral past. Prasath repents for his mistakes and agrees to marry Menaka.

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Cast

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Production Moondru Mudichu is a remake of the 1974 Telugu language film O Seeta Katha. Jayabharathi was offered to play a negative role but did not accept, resulting in Rajinikanth being cast. It was Rajinikanth's first major role in Tamil. Kamal Haasan, who portrayed a negative role in O Seeta Kathas Malayalam remake Mattoru Seetha (1975), played a different role this time. This was the first film where Sridevi played an adult character. She was paid 5000, Haasan was paid 30,000 and Rajinikanth was paid 2000. The budget of the film was . The filming was held at Bengaluru.

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Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by M. S. Viswanathan and lyrics were by Kannadasan.

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Release and reception

Moondru Mudichu was released on 22 October 1976, Diwali day. Kanthan of Kalki appreciated the film for its cast performances, and called the pre-Intermission portions better than the post-interval ones. The Hindu lauded Rajinikanth for performing an "unsympathetic yet challenging role with style and fineness".

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Legacy

The film became a success, and many of Prasath's traits became signature moves of Rajinikanth in his future films, such as his tendency to flip cigarettes into his mouth. Critic Naman Ramachandran felt that with Prasath's recurring Hindi catchphrase "Teek Hai?" (), "the seed for future Rajini catchphrases had been sown."

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Bibliography

• Naman Ramachandran (2026). 9780143421115, Penguin Books. ISBN 9780143421115

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External links

Categories: 1976 Indian Films, 1970s Romantic Thriller Films, 1970s Tamil-language Films, 1976 Films, Films About Women In India, Films Directed By K. Balachander, Films Scored By M. S. Viswanathan, Films With Screenplays By K. Balachander, Indian Black-and-white Films, Indian Romantic Thriller Films, Tamil Remakes Of Telugu Films, Tamil-language Indian Films, Tamil-language Romantic Thriller Films

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