Kanchana (2011 film)

Kanchana (also known as Muni 2: Kanchana) is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language horror comedy film written, produced and directed by Raghava Lawrence. It is a sequel to his previous venture, Muni (2007) and the second installment in the Muni (film series). The film stars Lawrence alongside Sarathkumar, Kovai Sarala and Lakshmi Rai while Devadarshini and Sriman 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.The Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) gave the film an "A" Certificate for "Violence" and "Horror".

Kanchana ' s Tamil version was released on 22 July 2011 while a same-titled Telugu dubbed version was released a week earlier on 15 July 2011. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film became a commercial success in both languages and has been remade several times (see ).

Plot
Raghava, an unemployed youth, has developed an 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, Sarala, 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 bound to take place in it, and unwittingly choose an abandoned land, which is believed to be haunted by supernatural forces. While they try setting up the cricket pitch, a peculiar weather change causes them to abandon the land and return home, but Raghava doesn't 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 Sarala and Kamakshi become panic-stricken by perpetual supernatural occurrences at their residence. Hiding it from their family, Sarala 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, which is actually a lie told to prevent Raghava from obstructing the rituals. Sarala 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 actually conmen who are chased away from the house but mislead Sarala 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, Raghava gets possessed by the ghost. 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 saree and women's jewellery, embarrassing Sarala, 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. Past: As a young boy named Karthik, he got disowned by his parents when they discovered that he is a trans woman. Karthik got adopted by a Muslim named Akbar Bhai, who had an autistic son. Regretting that she could not become a doctor due to her struggles, Kanchana slogged to have her adopted daughter Geetha, another trans woman. Geetha eventually secured a scholarship and was sent abroad for post-graduation, while Kanchana bought a plot of land, intending to build a hospital there for the poor. However, the plot of land had been unlawfully seized by an MLA named Shankar for his love interest, Madhavi. When Kanchana and Akbar Bhai confronted Shankar for his act, he brutally murdered them and compelled Akbar's autistic son to commit suicide. He then proceeded to bury the corpses on Kanchana's plot of land.

Present: The exorcist sympathises with Kanchana but bound by his responsibility, he captures her. Raghava, however, realises that Kanchana has been doing this for a good cause and allows her to possess him. Raghava/Kanchana fights Shankar and his henchmen, but Shankar seeks refuge in a Narasimha temple, which spirits cannot enter. Kanchana prays to the god to let her enter his temple so she can kill Shankar for justice to win. She gets to enter the temple and kills Shankar the way Narasimha had killed Hiranyakashipu. A few years later, Raghava, Priya, and the family take part in the inauguration ceremony of the hospital built on the plot of land as per Kanchana's wishes. A few local goons come to threaten them for money. Kanchana possesses Raghava, indicating that she will return when help is needed.

Soundtrack
The film's original soundtrack has been composed by S. Thaman.

Critical response
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rediff 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". Great Andhra wrote "As for Lawrence, his intention was to target the mass audience and he has been fairly successful in his attempt as compared to his prequel by infusing good depth and emotional intensity". Sify wrote:"On the whole, Kanchana is an entertaining affair and can be watched once".

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 inr 70000000 and marketed for inr 15000000, had its Telugu dubbing rights sold to Bellamkonda Suresh for inr 40000000. The film was expected to gross ₹15 to 20 crore share from Tamil Nadu alone at the end of its run.

Accolades

 * Tamil Nadu State Film Awards
 * Best Choreographer - Raghava Lawrence
 * Vijay Awards
 * Best Supporting Actor - R. Sarathkumar
 * Best Female Comedian - Kovai Sarala


 * 1st South Indian International Movie Awards
 * Best Actor in a Supporting Role - R. Sarathkumar

Sequel and remakes
In early 2012, sources claimed that Raghava Lawrence was planning to make a third part of Muni. Furthermore, it was suggested that Lawrence's brother might play the lead role in the sequel. Instead, he danced with his brother in a cameo for the film. Eventually the third installment Kanchana 2 was released on 17 April 2015 and fourth installment Kanchana 3 was released on 19 April 2019 both were commercial success at the box office.

Rama Narayanan, who distributed the Tamil version directed the Kannada remake of the film titled Kalpana with Upendra playing lead role and Sai Kumar playing the transgender role and Lakshmi Rai reprising her role from the original film. It was released in September 2012. Lawrence himself directed the Hindi remake titled Laxmii starring Akshay Kumar and Kiara Advani. It released on the online streaming service Disney+ Hotstar on 9 November 2020.

In the 2016 Sri Lankan remake, Maya, directed by Donald Jayantha, Ranjan Ramanayake played the role initially portrayed by Sarath Kumar as Kanchana. It was unofficially remade as Da Possessed (2014) in the Philippines and as Tar Tay Gyi (2017) in Myanmar. In 2017, the Bangladeshi remake of the film released titled Mayabini starring Symon Sadik, Airin Sultana and Amit Hasan.

Legacy
The song "Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thora" inspired a 2017 film of same name starring Jiiva which was also based on the genre of horror-comedy.