Kanchana (also known as Muni 2: Kanchana) is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language horror comedy film written and directed by Raghava Lawrence, with produced by N. Radha, under the banner of Sri Thenandal Films, and co produced by Raghava Lawrence under Raghavendra Productions. It is a sequel to his previous venture, Muni (2007) and the second instalment in the Kanchana film series. The film stars him as the main hero and R. Sarathkumar as Kanchana. Devan, Babu Antony, Lakshmi Rai, Kovai Sarala, Devadarshini, Sriman and others play supporting roles. The film revolves around Raghava, who is scared to venture outside but gets possessed by a ghost and starts behaving weirdly.
The film's cinematography and editing were handled by Vetri and Kishore Te, respectively. The film's soundtrack was composed by S. Thaman. The film's distribution rights were bought by Sri Thenandal Films.
Kanchana was released on 22 July 2011 while a same-titled Telugu dubbed version was released a week earlier on 15 July 2011. The film became a commercial success in both languages and has been remade in several languages.
Contents
Plot
Raghava, an unemployed youth, has developed irrational phasmophobia and refuses to step out of his house after sunset, chooses to sleep in his mother's room, and forces her to accompany him to the restroom at night. His antics disrupt the peace of his family, which includes his widowed mother, Vatsala, his elder brother Prasad, the latter's wife Kamakshi, and their children. Raghava and his companions, who usually play cricket on a ground, are compelled to search for another as construction activity is to take place in it, and unwittingly choose an abandoned land, believed to be haunted by supernatural forces.
While they begin setting up the cricket pitch, a peculiar weather change causes them to abandon the land and return home. Raghava does not notice that his cricket stumps are stained with blood after piercing corpses buried under the land. Raghava woos Kamakshi's younger sister Priya, who has come to stay with them, while Vatsala and Kamakshi become panic-stricken by perpetual supernatural occurrences at their residence. Hiding it from their family, Vatsala and Kamakshi consult a priest, who suggests three rituals to test the presence of a spirit in their home. Raghava, Priya, and the kids get sent to Kamakshi's maternal home to check on Kamakshi's ill father, a lie told to prevent Raghava from obstructing the rituals. Vatsala and Kamakshi's suspicions turn out to be true after they perform the rituals and to chase the ghost away, they hire two priests, who ask them to stay outside the house while they try to capture the ghost. However, they are con men chased away from the house but mislead Vatsala and Kamakshi into believing that they have seized the ghost, and they get paid. Raghava, Priya, and the kids return home the next day. On the same night, the spirit possesses Raghava.
From the succeeding day, Raghava begins to act effeminate and detaches himself from Priya. While in a shopping complex with his mother and sister-in-law, Raghava continues to act unmanly and wears a sari and women's jewellery, embarrassing Vatsala, who slaps him. Raghava strangles a woman, Madhavi, to death and later disposes of her corpse, unbeknownst to anyone. Kamakshi, that night, witnesses Raghava wearing her bangles and eventually exposes his womanish acts to Prasad, and the family confronts him. Then, the family discovers that Raghava is possessed by three spirits: a woman, an Urdu-speaking Muslim, and an autistic man. Frightened, the family approaches a Muslim exorcist, who drives the spirit away from Raghava's body and forces the woman's spirit to reveal who she is. The woman discloses herself as a transgender woman, Kanchana, who reveals her past.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by S. Thaman.
Reception
Critical response
Radhika Rajamani of Rediff.com 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". Sify wrote, "On the whole, Kanchana is an entertaining affair and can be watched once". Y. Sunita Chowdhary of The Hindu wrote, "The film is awkwardly cobbled together with big shifts in character that comes with an explanation only in the last 20 minutes of the film. The character of the transvestite is more based on wishful thinking than plausible reality".
Box office
According to Sify, Kanchana emerged 2011's most successful Tamil film based on return on investment. The film, made on a budget of ₹7 crore (US$730,000) and marketed for ₹1.5 crore (US$160,000), had its Telugu dubbing rights sold to Bellamkonda Suresh for ₹4 crore (US$420,000). The film was expected to gross ₹15 to 20 crore share from Tamil Nadu alone at the end of its run.
Sequels and remakes
The third instalment in the Muni series, titled Kanchana 2 was released in 2015, and the fourth instalment Kanchana 3 in 2019. Kanchana was remade in Kannada as Kalpana (2012). Lawrence himself directed the Hindi remake titled Laxmii (2020). In 2016 the Sri Lankan remake Maya was released. It was unofficially remade in Burmese as Tar Tay Gyi (2017). In 2017, the Bangladeshi remake was released, titled Mayabini.
Legacy
The song "Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae" inspired the title of a 2017 film.