Michael Madana Kama Rajan

Michael Madana Kama Rajan is a 1990 Tamil language comedy film directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao and written by Kamal Haasan, with Crazy Mohan penning the dialogues.

Michael Madana Kama Rajan
Poster
Directed bySingeetam Srinivasa Rao
Produced byMeena Panchu Arunachalam
Screenplay by
Story byKamal Haasan
Kader Kashmiri
Starring
Music byIlaiyaraaja
CinematographyB. C. Gowrishankar
Edited byD. Vasu
Production
company
Distributed byK. R. Enterprises
Release date
17 October 1990
Running time
167 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

The film also feature a large ensemble cast Kamal Haasan, alongside Rupini, Kushboo, Urvasi, played the female leads, while Manorama, Delhi Ganesh, Nassar, Venniradai Moorthy, SN Lakshmi, Jayabharathi, R. N. Jayagopal, Nagesh, Praveen Kumar and Santhana Bharathi playing other significant roles. The film was a blockbuster and completed 175-day run at the box office.

The film tells a story of quadruplets, Michael, Mathanagopal, Kameshwaran, and Raju, all played by Kamal Haasan. Kamal distinguished each of those characters with his body language and language lingo. Michael has a husky voice and an aggressive demeanor, Mathana has a British accent with a sophisticated upper-class personality, Kameshwaran speaks Palakkad Tamil and has a naive, childish personality while Raju speaks Madras Tamil and has an outgoing, cheerful personality; all in keeping with their diverse upbringing as per the plot. The character played by an actress Urvashi was well received by the audience and still considered as one of the best comic role played ever by a heroine. The film was dubbed in Telugu as Michael Mathana Kama Raju.

Plot

Venugopal, a wealthy industrialist, marries a woman named Sushila and they have quadruplets. His brother Nandagopal tries to have her and the newborns killed by hired goons. However, the leader of the goons has no desire to kill the babies, so he adopts one (Michael), leaves one in an orphanage (Raju), one in a temple (Kameshwaran) who is picked by Palakkad Mani Iyer, a Brahmin, and one (Madhan) in a car that belongs to Venugopal.

30 years later, Madhan is now a London-educated businessman. Venugopal has raised Madhan as his adopted son, not knowing that he is his biological son. Venugopal is killed by Nandagopal and his nephew, Ramu for his inheritance, but unknown to them, the will has already named Madhan as the beneficiary. Madhan returns to Bangalore from England to take over his father's company. He confronts Avinashi, his father's PA, over his embezzlement, while reluctantly promising to forgive him if Avinashi accepted his culpability.

Meanwhile, in Chennai, Michael, like his foster father, has become a petty criminal, and while escaping with his foster father from the police, accidentally causes a fire in an art gallery where artist Shalini's paintings are being displayed for exhibition. This brings in the firefighter, Raju, who saves Shalini and her paintings, leading to romance. Raju is also in debt to a money-lender over a failed stage play. While evading him, Kameshwaran is introduced as a cook for weddings and special events. He meets Thirupurasundari and her kleptomaniac grandmother. Eventually, Kameshwaran marries Thirupurasundari.

Someone contacts Madhan over the phone and tells him that his father's death was no accident, but that it was planned, and gives him an address in Chennai and a time to meet. After some distractions involving a woman named Chakkubai and her mother Gangubai, Madhan meets the caller, Sushila, who, unknown to him, is his biological mother. While escaping from goons sent by Ramu in a car, Madhan meets Raju and hires him to impersonate him in Bangalore while Madhan investigates in Chennai. Meanwhile, Ramu and Nandagopal have hired Michael to kill Madhan. Michael sabotages Madhan's car, not realising it is Raju and not Madhan. The brakes fail on the highway, but Raju brings the car to a safe stop. Sushila meets with him thinking he is Madhan, but he redirects her to the real Madhan in Chennai. Raju, Shalini, and her father arrive at Madhan's house in Bangalore. Raju confiscates Avinashi's money not knowing Madhan's deal with Avinashi.

Meanwhile, Michael finds the real Madhan in Chennai. Madhan and Chakkubai have fallen in love and Madhan presents her with a ring; unknown to them, they are being spied on by Michael and his foster father. Michael follows Madhan, Chakkubai, Gangubai, and Sushila to Sushila's home where it is revealed that Madhan's father is alive but dazed from the assassination attempt. Michael and his foster father arrive at the scene. Sushila recognises the father as the person who had taken her quadruplets and realises that Michael and Madhan are both her biological sons. Michael and his father knock all of them unconscious and kidnap Madhan and the others to a mountain cabin near Bangalore.

Avinashi chances upon Kameshwaran on his wedding day, and hires him to impersonate Madhan to retrieve the money that Raju confiscated. Back in Madhan's house in Bangalore, Raju and Shalini plan to meet without her father knowing. Avinashi drugs Raju's soup but the soup is drunk by Madhan's bodyguard Bheem. Raju and Shalini meet and profess their love for one another. Michael and his father arrive at Madhan's house to loot it. Michael sees Raju, mistakes him for Madhan, and thinks that Madhan has escaped from the cabin. He knocks Raju unconscious. Avinashi sees the unconscious Raju, assumes it was the effect of his drugged soup, and brings Kameshwaran into the house to retrieve his money. Kameshwaran is mistaken for Raju by Shalini who then tries to get intimate with him. Thirupu and her grandmother drag Kameshwaran away from her. Shalini then witnesses Kameshwaran hugging Thirupu. This enrages her as she thinks that Raju is two-timing her. To add to the hilarity, Chakkubai and Gangubai also arrive at the house in search of Madhan. Chakkubai mistakes Kameshwaran for Madhan and introduces herself to everyone as Madhan's fiancée, much to Avinashi's dismay, as his plan of using Kameshwaran to access Madhan's money keeps getting comically disrupted first by Raju's then by Madhan's girlfriend. Shalini takes a hunting rifle and holds everyone at gunpoint. Avinashi and the rest try to tell her that Kameshwaran is not Madhan/Raju but she does not believe them. Meanwhile, the real Madhan has escaped the cabin with his parents and comes to the house. In the midst of all this confusion, Michael steals Madhan's wealth and escapes to the cabin. The rest of the crew follows them back to the cabin in multiple cars.

Ramu and Nandagopal are already present in the cabin and hold everyone at gunpoint as they arrive one by one. All four brothers are finally in the same room at the same time and Sushila tells them that they are her quadruplets. The presence of all the people in the small cabin causes it to tilt over the cliff edge. The bad men are knocked out and the four brothers work together to safely get everyone out of the cabin. Everyone is happy as they are finally together.

Cast

Production

Casting

According to Singeetham, Michael Madana Kamarajan is a "modern version of the old folk tale of a king, queen and their quadruplets who grow up in different households."[6] Kamal Haasan played four distinct characters who are quadruplets: the criminal Michael, the businessman Madhan, the cook Kameshwaran and the firefighter Raju. For portraying Michael, Haasan grew his hair long and sported a French beard; for Madhan, he wore glasses and was clean-shaven; for Kameshwaran (also clean-shaven), he brushed his hair back and applied a vibhuti tilaka on his forehead; for Raju, he kept his mustache thick and hair short.[7] Nagesh initially wanted to play a different role from the PA Avinashi, but when Haasan asked him if he would play his role, Nagesh retorted, "As if you'd give me that if I asked you for it!" He was interested in playing Thirupurasundari's kleptomaniac grandmother before S. N. Lakshmi was cast.[8]

Filming

The song "Sundari Neeyum" was filmed entirely in slow-motion with 48 frames.[6][9] Singeetham initially wanted the picturisation with 20 widows in background however he changed the idea after hearing the tune of the song.[6] The climax sequence, featuring a "cliff-hanging-house", was based on a similar scene from the American film The Gold Rush (1925).[10][11] The exterior portion was shot in Coonoor and the interior of the house was shot in studio, in a hydraulic set.[6]

Soundtrack
Michael Mathana Kama Rajan
Soundtrack album by
Ilaiyaraaja
Released1990
GenreFeature film soundtrack
LanguageTamil
LabelEcho
External audio
Audio Jukebox Tamil on YouTube
Audio Jukebox Telugu on YouTube

The soundtrack consists of five memorable songs composed by Ilayaraja. K. J. Yesudas was supposed to sing Sundari Neeyum, but due to his busy schedule Ilaiyaraaja insisted on Kamal Hassan singing the song.[12] "Rum Bum Bum" is yet another fast melody and is a huge hit in college setting till date.[13] The soundtrack also had two songs "Mathapoovu Oru Penna" and "Aadi Pattam Thedi" which were not picturised.[14][15]

Track list
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Kadha Kelu Kadha Kelu"Panju ArunachalamIlaiyaraaja 
2."Rum Bum Bum Arambum"VaaliS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chithra 
3."Siva Rathiri"VaaliK. S. Chithra, Mano 
4."Sundhari Neeyum Sundharan Njanum"Panju ArunachalamKamal Haasan, S. Janaki 
5."Vechalum Vekkama Ponnalum"VaaliMalaysia Vasudevan, S. Janaki 
6."Mathapoovu Oru Penna"VaaliK. S. Chithra 
7."Aadi Pattam Thedi"VaaliMano, K. S. Chithra 

Telugu Track list

The film was dubbed into Telugu with the same title. Ilayaraja composed the music with Rajashri penning all the lyrics.

Telugu Track list
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Kadha Chebutha"RajashriSingeetam Srinivasa Rao 
2."Rum Bum Bum Arambum"RajashriS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chithra 
3."Siva Rathiri"RajashriS.P.Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chithra 
4."Sundharudeevu Sundari Nenu"RajashriS.P.Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chithra 
5."Ee Kerintha"RajashriS.P.Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chithra 

Legacy

Singer Mahathi said, "I have always loved the ‘Crazy’ Mohan and Kamal Hassan combination. Especially in Michael Madana Kamarajan where Kamal brings out so much from every character, playing it so different from the other."[16]

References
  1. Vasudevan, K. V. (26 November 2016). "A filmy reunion". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  2. "Nagesh, a stellar comedian". Sify. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  3. "What makes 'Michael Madana Kama Rajan' the finest Tamil comedy till date". The News Minute. 17 October 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  4. Kolappan, B. (11 June 2019). "The king of comedy leaves his fans in tears". The Hindu. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  5. https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/what-to-stream-michael-madana-kama-rajan-kamal-haasan-crazy-mohan-5802217/
  6. Gopalakrishnan, Aswathy (29 October 2016). "Singeetam Srinivasa Rao Interview: "The Golden Rule Of Cinema Is That There Is No Golden Rule"". Silverscreen India. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  7. "Southscope July 2010 – Side A". Southscope. July 2010. p. 52. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  8. Suganth, M. (11 June 2020). "Kamal Haasan shares delightful trivia on Michael Madana Kama Rajan - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  9. Ramnath, Nandini (19 February 2017). "Picture the song: 'Sundari Neeyum' is a slo-mo beauty". Scroll.in. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  10. Kamath, Sudhish (4 January 2008). "No, thank you! -- Welcome". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013.
  11. "ஆங்கிலப் படங்களை திருடி எடுக்கப்பட்ட 100 தமிழ்ப் படங்கள்". Kungumam. 4 June 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  12. Rangan, Baradwaj (4 September 2014). "And more on the Ilaiyaraaja connection". The Hindu. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  13. "Michael Madhana Kama Rajan (1990)". Music India Online. Archived from the original on 20 February 2009. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  14. Venkateswaran Ganesan (10 January 2015). "Mathaapoovu Oru Pennaa -- Michael Madana Kamarajan (Unfeatured Song)". Retrieved 28 September 2017 – via YouTube.
  15. Envazhi (21 August 2012). "Aadi Pattam Thedi Sennel... A rare gem of Ilayaraaja — Envazhi spl". Retrieved 28 September 2017 – via YouTube.
  16. Mahathi (25 January 2008). "Why I like... Michael Madana Kamarajan". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
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