Apthamitra

Apthamitra is a 2004 Indian Kannada-language horror film directed by P. Vasu and produced by Dwarakish. It stars Vishnuvardhan, Soundarya and Ramesh Arvind in the lead roles, while Prema, Dwarakish and Avinash appear in supporting roles. The film is a remake of Malayalam film Manichithrathazhu with some plot changes. The film was released on 27 August 2004 on Varalakshmi festival to positive reviews.

Apthamitra ran for 365 days in theaters across Karnataka and was the highest ever grossing kannada movie at that time and was an industry hit. The film was later followed by its sequel titled Aptharakshaka (2010). P. Vasu remade the film in Tamil as Chandramukhi (2005).

Plot
Ramesh and Ganga are a married couple who recently move into Mysore to buy an ancient palace against the wishes of his uncle Shivananda and family elders. Shivananda agrees to reside with them with his two daughters Vani and Hema on a condition that the room on the first floor which is locked and sealed should not be visited by anyone in the family. They have their caretaker Rangajja, who lives in the outhouse with his granddaughter Sowmya. During their stay in the house, they learn that the palace once belonged to Raja Vijaya Rajendra Bahaddur, who had a court dancer named Nagavalli from Andhra Pradesh. Raja was in love with Nagavalli, but she had already loved a fellow dancer named Ramanatha, who used to reside in a house just behind the palace. After discovering their affair on a Durgashtami day, Raja beheaded Ramanatha and burned Nagavalli alive. Before her death, Nagavalli vowed to burn the Raja alive on the very same Durgashtami day.

Strange things occur in the palace and everyone suspects Sowmya, who is always found at the place of the incident. Ramesh calls his psychiatrist friend Vijay to help him clear the misconceptions regarding the palace and its history. Shivananda is unhappy with Vijay's ways and is suspicious of him. Ramesh's cousin Vani is in love with an orphan dance teacher Mahadev who incidentally resides in the same house behind the palace. Vijay learns about this and tells Shivananda, who approves the alliance and their marriage is fixed. When the whole family is out of town to visit Mahadev to decide on his wedding with Vani, Ganga opens the room on the first floor with the key given by Sowmya. During the time, there are attempts to kill Ramesh by someone unknown, which every time is foiled by Vijay. Vani is also attacked once by someone unknown, where Shivananda calls Acharya Ramachandra Shastri to perform some peace ritual upon the palace.

Though not interested in all these proceedings, Ramesh agrees with his advice of Vijay. On the eve of Mahadev and Vani's engagement ceremony, Ganga accuses Mahadev of trying to molest her - which is refused by both Mahadev and Vijay. Upon hearing this, Ramesh gets angry at Vijay, where Acharya tells Vijay to reveal the mystery behind the strange incidents. Vijay reveals to everyone that Ganga (who turned into Nagavalli) is behind all the strange incidents and had tried to kill Ramesh and Vani because Nagavalli thinks that Mahadevan is her lover Ramanathan. Ganga who visited the first-floor room was enamored by Nagavalli and her diary. Since Ganga suffered from SPD, the mystery behind Nagavalli's story compelled her to assume herself as Nagavalli, compelling the spirit of Nagavalli to enter her body.

Ganga (Nagavalli) now intends to kill Vijay as he had posed in front of her as Raja Vijaya Rajendra Bahaddur on the coming Durgashtami day as vowed by Nagavalli while dying. On Durgashtami in the dance hall, the family and Acharya allow Nagavalli (Ganga) to burn Vijay alive. Acharya then blows smoke and ash on Ganga's face when she is given a torch to burn Vijay. Ramesh then opens a trapdoor to let Vijay escape, and an effigy of Raja gets burnt instead. Convinced that Raja is dead, Nagavalli leaves Ganga's body, curing her. Vijay helps Ganga psychologically later to regain herself, where Ramesh thanks Vijay for his help.

Production
The film began production after Vishnuvardhan agreed to act in a film produced by Dwarakish. Vishnuvardhan and Dwarakish has starred together in several films including Kalla Kulla (1975). According to P. Vasu, seventy percent of the film is similar to Manichithrathazhu (1993). This was Soundarya's last film in her career which ended with two posthumous releases - the other being the Telugu movie Shiva Shankar which released a week before Apthamitra. Shashikala dubbed for Soundarya.

Soundtrack
Gurukiran scored the film's background music and composed for its soundtrack, with lyrics for the tracks written by V. Manohar, Kaviraj, V. Nagendra Prasad and Goturi. The soundtrack album, which received positive reviews from critics, consists of six tracks. The track Kaalavannu Tadeyoru was taken from the 1977 film, Kittu Puttu which had Dwarakish and Vishnuvardhan playing the lead roles as well; the lyrics for which was written by Chi. Udayashankar. The music for the film was well received upon release.

Reception
A critic from Sify wrote, "This is a well made film in which talented actress Soundarya made her last appearance in a Kannada film which is a supernatural thriller. Gurukiran’s music is a major advantage for the film and on the whole Aptamithra is worth a watch." A critic from Viggy wrote that "Multi-starrer Aptha Mitra is a perfect treat for people who wants quality entertainer". By the film's 34th week it collected over 10 crores at box office. The release of Chandramukhi did not affect the film's collections. It completed one year (52 weeks) screening at Santosh theatre in Bangalore.

Awards

 * 52nd Filmfare Awards South

The film, won five Filmfare Awards that include:
 * Best Film – Kannada: Dwarakish
 * Best Director – Kannada: P. Vasu
 * Best Actor – Kannada: Vishnuvardhan
 * Best Actress – Kannada: Soundarya
 * Best Music Director – Kannada: Gurukiran

In popular culture
The Dialogues "Nannu vaadi to velladaniki vadalava?" spoken by Soundarya and "Ide, illeno samasye ide."  by Avinash character became popular. In an introduction scene of Sudeep from Vishnuvardhana, Sudeep's character is shown watching Apthamitra featuring Vishnuvardhan in a fight/intro scene in a theatre with other fans. He is also shown imitating the character of the actor in a fight scene from Apthamitra with archive scenes from the film, which was shown to be a tributary scene for the actor from the film.