Muni (film series)
Muni is a series of Indian Tamil-language comedy horror films created and directed by Raghava Lawrence who also appeared in lead roles in all the films. The first film is Muni (2007) and the second is Muni 2: Kanchana (2011) with the third installment of the franchise titled Kanchana 2 : Ganga (2015). The latest movie, the fourth instalment is Kanchana 3 (2019). All films were massively successful at the box office, continuing the trend of the comedy-horror genre in Tamil cinema that began with Chandramukhi (2005).
| Muni | |
|---|---|
 Series logo | |
| Directed by | Raghava Lawrence |
| Produced by | Saran (Muni) Raghava Lawrence (Kanchana, Kanchana 2) Kalanidhi Maran (Kanchana 3) |
| Written by | Dialogues: Raghava Lawrence (Kanchana, Kanchana 2, Kanchana 3) Ramesh Khanna (Muni) |
| Screenplay by | Raghava Lawrence |
| Story by | Raghava Lawrence |
| Starring | Raghava Lawrence Kovai Sarala |
| Music by | Original Songs: Bharadwaj (Muni) S. Thaman (Kanchana, Kanchana 2) Leon James (Kanchana 2) C. Sathya (Kanchana 2) Ashwamithra (Kanchana 2) Doo Paa Doo (Kanchana 3) Background Score: Sangeetharajan (Muni) S. Thaman (Kanchana, Kanchana 2) Doo Paa Doo (Kanchana 3) |
| Cinematography | K. V. Guhan (Muni) Vetri E. Krishnasamy (Kanchana) R. B. Gurudev Rajavel Olhiveeran (Kanchana 2) Vetri Sarvesh Murari (Kanchana 3) |
| Edited by | Suresh Urs (Muni) Kishore Te. (Kanchana, Kanchana 2) |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Tamil: Gemini Productions (Muni) Sri Thenandal Films (Kanchana, Kanchana 2) Sun Pictures (Kanchana 2, Kanchana 3) |
Release date | 1: 9 March 2007 2 : 22 July 2011 3 : 17 April 2015 4 : 19 April 2019 |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget | ₹800 million (US$11 million) |
| Box office | ₹3 billion (US$42 million) |
All four films revolve around the same plot of a coward who gets possessed by a ghost to take revenge on the people who killed them, rest of the films shows how he takes revenge. Raghava Lawrence and Kovai Sarala are the only actors to appear in every installment of the series.
Basis for all films
All movies are actually not connected with each other, instead showing another episode in the life of Ganesh/Raghava (Raghava Lawrence). He is usually terrified of ghosts. He always comes back home before 6pm. When somebody or something does scare him at home, he immediately jumps on his mum's (Kovai Sarala) hip. He always goes to sleep and goes to the bathroom with this mum as well. When he does go to sleep, he has a set up. He puts slippers and broomsticks around his bed to protect him from ghosts. He even puts slippers underneath the photo of his dead father (Vinu Chakravarthy), in case he comes in form of a ghost and attacks him. A grown man doing this is why there is a lot of laughs in the cinema.
He has different love interests in each movie with funny parts of him trying to woo them. Soon, they get together. They usually have not much scope in the movie other than that, except for Kanchana 2. The love interest (Taapsee Pannu) is also possessed by a ghost and both her and Ganesh/Raghava act weird.
Ganesh/Raghava normally goes to a place where there is a ghost. For example, in Muni they move into a new house, in Muni 2: Kanchana it's a field where he plays cricket and in Kanchana 2 it is an abandoned house for a TV show about ghosts, and in Kanchana 3, a tree at a forest.
Later, it roams around their home for a bit, causing more comedy bits. Then, suddenly it goes inside Ganesh/Raghava causing him to act weird and freaking out people around him. Then his family arranges a ghost expert to get the ghost out of him. This is where the ghost tells them who they are. Normally, they are innocent people who have been killed for no reason and want to take revenge. Ganesh/Raghava feels sorry for the ghost and lets it use his body to take revenge. Eventually the ghost does take revenge, with a few obstacles. Because Ganesh/Raghava helped the ghost, they are ready to protect him if he is put in danger.
Films
Muni (2007)
Ganesh (Raghava Lawrence) who is a coward stays in a new house with his family where the ghost of Muniyandi (Rajkiran) has been hovering. Muni was a poor and kind-hearted man who was used by his friend Dhandapani for his advantage. Dhandapani cheats Muni and gets him and his daughter killed. Rest of the film shows Ganesh being possessed by him and taking revenge.[1]
Muni 2: Kanchana (2011)
Raghava (Raghava Lawrence) who fears to venture outside during evening gets possessed by a transgender called Kanchana (Sarathkumar) to take revenge on a minister who killed her for land-grabbing.[2]
Muni 3: Kanchana 2 (2015)
Raghava (Raghava Lawrence) is a cinematographer for a TV channel and he loves Nandini (Taapsee Pannu) who wants to shoot a fake ghost-haunted house so that the TRP rating will increase. To their misfortune, they actually get haunted by not one but five ghosts. They learn that they are the souls of Ganga (Nithya Menon), Shiva (Raghava Lawrence), Ganga's friend, her daughter and husband who were killed by a man who wanted Ganga to marry his disabled son who was also killed in the process.[3]
Muni 4: Kanchana 3 (2019)
The ghost-fearing Raghava (Raghava Lawrence) and his happy family set out to Coimbatore for a family function, and there, the whole family, including Raghava's female cousins and his lover Kavya (Oviya) and others, witness strange and scary incidents at their grandparents' house, as well as Raghava getting possessed. The subsequent events return to another character named Kaali (Raghava Lawrence).
Cast
Muni
- Raghava Lawrence as Ganesh
- Rajkiran as Muniyandi
- Vedhika as Priya Ganesh
- Vinu Chakravarthy as Ganesh's father
- Kovai Sarala as Ganesh's mother
- Kadhal Dhandapani as Maraka Dhandapani
- Rahul Dev as a contract killer
- Nassar as a priest
- Aasha as Muni's daughter
Muni 2: Kanchana
- Raghava Lawrence as Raghava
- R. Sarathkumar as Kanchana aka Karthik
- Raai Laxmi as Priya
- Kovai Sarala as Raghava's mother
- Sriman as Raghava's brother
- Devadarshini as Kamakshi, Raghava’s sister-in-law
- Devan as MLA Shankar
- Babu Antony as Bhai
- Manobala as fake priest 1
- Mayilsamy as fake priest 2
Muni 3 : Kanchana 2 (Ganga)
- Raghava Lawrence as Raghava and Shiva (dual role)
- Nithya Menen as Ganga
- Taapsee Pannu as Nandini
- Kovai Sarala as Raghava's mother
- Renuka as Nandini's sister-in-law
- Jayaprakash as Marudhu
- Rajendran as Marudhu's henchman
- Suhasini Maniratnam as Green TV Head
- Sriman as Dr. Prasad
- Mayilsamy as Watchman
- Manobala as Arnold
- Jangiri Madhumitha as Aishwarya
- Pooja Ramachandran as Pooja
- Pandu as Dr. Pandurangan
Muni 4: Kanchana 3 (Kaali)
- Raghava Lawrence as Raghava and Kaali (dual role)
- Oviya as Kavya
- Vedhika as Priya
- Nikki Tamboli as Divya
- Alexandra Ri Djavi as Rosy
- Kovai Sarala as Raghava’s Mother
- Sriman as Raghava’s brother
- Devadarshini as Kamakshi, Raghava’s sister-in-law
- Soori as Govindaraju
- Kabir Duhan Singh as Bhavani
- Aathma Patrick as Moorthy (Bhavani’s righthand)
- Tarun Arora as Minister
- Anupama Kumar as Radha (Kaali's mother)
- Yuvasri Lakshmi as Raghava's niece
- Sunitha as Dhivya
- Priyanka Nalkari as Moshika, Dhivya's sister
Recurring cast and characters
List indicator(s)
- This table only shows characters that have appeared in three or more films in the series.
- A dark grey cell indicates that the character was not in the film or that the character's presence in the film has yet to be announced.
- A Y indicates a role as a younger version of the character.
- An O indicates a role as an older version of the character.
- A U indicates an uncredited role.
- A C indicates a cameo role.
- A V indicates a voice-only role.
- An A indicates an appearance through archival footage or stills.
| Character | Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muni (2007) |
Muni 2: Kanchana (2011) |
Kanchana 2 : Ganga (2015) |
Kanchana 3 (2019) | |
| Ganesh/Raghava | Raghava Lawrence | |||
| Mother | Kovai Sarala | |||
| Father | Vinu Chakravarthy | Vinu ChakravarthyUA | ||
| Brother | Sriman | Sriman | ||
| Kamakshi (Sister-in-law) |
Devadarshini | Devadarshini | ||
| Ghost (s) | Rajkiran | Sarath Kumar | Raghava Lawrence | |
| Nithya Menen | Alexandra Ri Djavi | |||
| Love Interest (s) | Vedhika | Raai Laxmi | Taapsee Pannu | Oviya |
Crew
| Occupation | Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muni (2007) |
Muni 2: Kanchana (2011) |
Kanchana 2 (2015) |
Kanchana 3 (2019) | |
| Director | Raghava Lawrence | |||
| Producer(s) | Saran | Raghava Lawrence | Kalanithi Maran Raghava Lawrence | |
| Story and Screenplay Writer | Raghava Lawrence | |||
| Dialogue writer(s) | Ramesh Khanna | Raghava Lawrence | ||
| Song Composer(s) | Bharadwaj | S. Thaman | S. Thaman C. Sathya Aswamithra Leon James |
Doo Paa Doo |
| Background Score | Sangeetharajan | S. Thaman | ||
| Director of photography | K. V. Guhan | Vetri, E. Krishnasamy |
Rajavel Oliveeran, R. B. Gurudev |
Vetri, Sarvesh Murari |
| Editor(s) | Suresh Urs | Kishore Te. | Ruben | |
| Art Director(s) | Mohana Mahendran | Jana | ||
| stunt co-ordinator | Super Subbarayan | TBD | ||
Legacy
Along with Chandramukhi (2005), Muni became a trendsetter for horror comedy films. The success of the film inspired several other horror comedy films including the Aranmanai film series (2014) and Darling (2015).[4][5][6]
References
- "Review : (2007)". www.sify.com.
- "KANCHANA REVIEW – KANCHANA MOVIE REVIEW". behindwoods.com.
- "Review : Kanchana 2 (2015)". www.sify.com.
- "Aranmanai follows Chandramukhi and Kanchana". Behindwoods. 22 September 2014. Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- K. Jeshi (8 May 2015). "The funny thing about horror". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- Srinivasan, Sudhir (16 January 2015). "Darling: A familiar ghost serves as humour fodder, again". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.