My Dear Kuttichathan

My Dear Kuttichathan
Directed by Jijo Punnoose
Produced by Navodaya Appachan
Jose Punnoose
Written by Raghunath Paleri
T.K. Rajeev Kumar
Starring Dalip Tahil
Sonia
Master Aravind
Master Mukesh
Surya Kiran
Rajan P. Dev
Jagathi Sreekumar
Jagadish
Music by Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography Ashok Kumar
Edited by T. R. Sekar
Production
company
Navodaya Studios
Distributed by Kothanda Ramaiah (Tamil version)[1]
Release dates
  • 24 August 1984 (1984-08-24)
Country India
Language Malayalam
Budget 1 crore

My Dear Kuttichathan (Malayalam:മൈ ഡിയർ കുട്ടിച്ചാത്തൻ)(1984) is the first 3-D film made in India.[2] The movie was produced by Maliampurackal Navodaya Appachan of Navodaya studio in Kerala. Originally filmed in Malayalam, a re-edited version was released in 1997 which makes it the first DTS movie in Malayalam and also was dubbed in Hindi as Chhota Chetan in 1997 and became a big box office hit. Scenes with Urmila Matondkar were added. In 2010, further scenes were added in Tamil with Prakash Raj and Santhanam and was released as Chutti Chathan. A new re-mastered version with additional footage released on 25 August 2011.My Dear Kuttichathan went On to become the Highest Grossing Malayalam Film of all time grossing more than 1.5 Crs at Boxoffice and its record was later broken by Thalavattam in 1986.

Plot

The character 'Kuttichathan' is formed on the basis of the specialties of a deity popularly known as 'Chathan' who is being worshiped mainly in the south Indian state, Kerala. There are cruel magicians everywhere in the world. One of them is the Karimbhootham (black magician), who enslaved an invisible spirit with his magic spells, whom he calls Kuttichathan ("Little Ghost" in English and "Chhota Chetan" in Hindi). Two boys and a girl befriend Kuttichathan by accident and release him from the grip of the magician.

On the way Kuttichathan meets Ashish, a member of the police ,who is after Karimbhootham.

They understand that this Chathan is friendly to kids and is a very good friend. Therefore, the girl promises to keep Kuttichathan in a house for two reasons: one, her father drinks too much, so she wants Chathan, who is a very good magician, to make him himself, as her mother has died, there is no one to control him; second, Chathan, being a small boy, also drinks a lot. He could drink all that her father drinks, thereby changing her father's attitude.

At the same time, the cruel magician wants the Kuttichathan to lay hands on a treasure. Even though the magician is the owner of the Kuttichathan, he is burnt and killed by the Chathan in the climax. Chathan turns into a bat and flies away.

Cast

Production

My Dear Kuttichathan was the first Indian film to be filmed in 3D.[3] Jijo Punnoose, son of Navodaya Appachan made his directorial debut with this film. Jijo decided to direct a 3D film after getting inspired by an article in "American Cinematographer" shown to him by Ramchandra Babu.[4] Ashok Kumar handled cinematography for the film.[5][6]

Soundtrack

My Dear Kuttichathan
Soundtrack album by Ilaiyaraaja
Released 1984
Genre Feature film soundtrack

Malayalam version

# Title Singer(s)
1 "Aalippazham perukkaan" S. Janaki, S. P. Sailaja
2 "Minnaaminungum" K. J. Yesudas & Chorus

Tamil version (Dubbed)

# Title Singer(s)
1 "Chinnakuzhandhaigale" Vani Jayaram
2 "Poovaadai Kaatru" K. J. Yesudas & Chorus

Release

The film was released in 1984 along with dubbed versions in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. Telugu and Hindi versions were titled Chinnari Chethana and Chhota Chetan respectively. All the versions proved to be successful.

Hindi version was re-released by Nitin Manmohan in 1997 with additional scenes which involved Urmila Matondkar and other Hindi actors.[7] In 2010, Sri Thenandal Films re-released Tamil version titled Chutti Chathan in 2010 with added scenes starring Santhanam and Prakash Raj.

Legacy

The film became a trendsetter and remains a cult classic in Malayalam cinema. The optical illusion in house set used in the song "Aalipazham Perukkaan" was built in Kishkinta Theme Park.[8]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2003/05/12/stories/2003051200670205.htm
  2. ↑ "Casting a Magic spell"
  3. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/lf/2003/03/24/stories/2003032402160200.htm
  4. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/cinematography-students-told-to-observe-life/article464987.ece
  5. ↑ http://in.rediff.com/movies/1999/mar/25asho.htm
  6. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/he-created-magic-with-movie-camera/article6529512.ece
  7. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/2000/05/08/stories/09080222.htm
  8. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/lf/2005/05/06/stories/2005050613800200.htm

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, May 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.