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Moondru Mugam

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Moondru Mugam
Theatrical release poster
Directed byA. Jagannathan
Screenplay byKanaga Shanmugan
P. L. Sundar Rajan
Thamizhazhagan
Radha Veerannan
Story byPeter Selvakumar
Produced byThamizhazhagan
G. Thyagarajan
StarringRajinikanth
Radhika
CinematographyViswam Natarajan
Edited byK. R. Krishnan
Music byShankar–Ganesh
Production
company
Sathya Movies
Release date
  • 1 October 1982 (1982-10-01)
Running time
134 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Moondru Mugam (transl. Three Faces) is a 1982 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by A. Jagannathan. The film stars Rajinikanth in three distinct roles as Alex Pandian, Arun and John. The film was a blockbuster and ran for 250 days in theatres. Rajinikanth won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize for Best Actor.[1]

The film was remade in Hindi as John Jani Janardhan (1984) with Rajinikanth reprising his roles,[2] in Telugu as Mugguru Monagallu (1983) and in Kannada as Gedda Maga (1983).[3]

Plot

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Arun, the son of a rich businessman Ramanathan, returns to India after 10 years in the United States, but as a saint. His shocked father enlists a press reporter, Rekha, to change him back to normal. Rekha first sets up an interview, which he thwarts. Later, on the pretense of taking him to a temple, she plans another set up.

On the way to the temple, Rekha pretends that the car has broken down and he leaves to roam around a bit when sees a crying child and offers a chocolate. Suddenly he is swarmed by more children and other villagers who confront him of being a child-kidnapper. Using the event, Rekha cuts Arun's beard off, a symbol of piety. After a few more set up events, he renounces his sainthood.

Later, Arun goes to work and is puzzled about why his father has been sending money to a woman named Sagaya Mary for over twenty years. In a parallel scenario, a man informs Sagaya Mary that someone has proposed to her nephew John. When asked about John's parentage, she opens up about her brother and John's father, Alex Pandian.

A flashback ensues that explains Alex's story. Alex, a scrupulous police officer, is ruthless on criminals and clashes with the mob boss, Egambaram. After repeated confrontations, Egambaram fatally stabs him. With his last breath, Alex vows that he will be reborn to take revenge. When Alex dies, so does his wife after giving birth to twins. Ramanathan's wife gives birth in the same hospital but the child dies, as with her previous three pregnancies. Sagaya Mary hands over one of Alex's children to them and he is christened Arun, while she raises the other child, John.

On his 25th birthday party, Arun gets a divine epiphany that makes him realise he is the reincarnation of Alex. He is asked to meet a woman named Asha at a hotel but it proves to be a set up. In the ensuing battle for survival, he kills the attacker and goes to jail. He comes to court to reveal the truth when suddenly a man claiming to be Alex shows up and says that he is not dead but had been in Sri Lanka the whole time. The man posing as Alex is actually John. Unknown to Arun, he is working with Egambaram, the man who murdered his father.

Later, Arun tells the police he concocted the fact that he was an incarnation of Alex Pandian to draw the killers out. Soon, John finds the truth about Alex Pandian and Arun and fights to save his brother. However, John is fatally wounded by Egambaram who he eventually kills and throws into the sea, the same way his father was killed. The film ends with Arun and Rekha, now married, paying respects to John.

Cast

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Production

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Moondru Mugam was directed by A. Jagannathan and produced by V. Thamizhazhagan and G. Thyagarajan of Sathya Movies.[6] It is the first film where Rajinikanth played three distinct roles. For the role of Alex Pandian, he wore a wig and sported dentures.[7]

Soundtrack

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The soundtrack was composed by Shankar–Ganesh with lyrics written by Vaali, Muthulingam and Vairamuthu.[8][9]

Track listing
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Devamrutham"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Vani Jairam5:23
2."Aasaiulla Roshakara"Vani Jairam3:53
3."Naan Seitha Kurumbu"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam4:26
4."Yethanaiyo"Malaysia Vasudevan, S. Janaki4:56
Total length:18:38

Release and reception

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Moondru Mugam was released on 1 October 1982.[10] Kalki wrote that portraying the titular three characters differently was an achievement not only for Rajinikanth, but the director too.[11] Rajinikanth won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize for Best Actor.[12][13]

Legacy

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The character "Alex Pandian" became one of the memorable characters in the career of Rajinikanth.[14] The popularity of the character's name inspired the Tamil dubbed version of the Telugu film Mugguru Monagallu (1994) to take on its name, as well as a 2013 film of same name.[15][16] Chinni Jayanth's character Telex Pandian from Pattukottai Periyappa (1994) was named after Alex.[17] The title Moondru Mugam inspired two unrelated series: one on Polimer TV and another on Zee Tamil.[18][19]

References

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  1. ^ "Superstar Rajinikanth as Minions". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 10 August 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  2. ^ "The Superstar in khakhi: When Rajinikanth dazzled the audience in police uniform". The New Indian Express. 9 April 2019. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  3. ^ Upadhyaya, Prakash (3 November 2016). "Raghava Lawrence to remake Rajinikanth's Moondru Mugam". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 25 May 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  4. ^ Srivatsan (4 November 2016). "Billa to Moondru Mugam: Why remaking Rajinikanth's cult classic is a sin". India Today. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  5. ^ Ramachandran 2014, p. 122.
  6. ^ "மூன்று முகம்". Kalki (in Tamil). 10 October 1982. p. 57. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  7. ^ "மூன்று முகங்களில் மூவர்". Kalki (in Tamil). 17 October 1982. p. 49. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  8. ^ "Moondru Muham Tamil Film EP Vinyl Record by Shankar Ganesh". Mossymart. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  9. ^ "Moondru Mugam". Gaana. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  10. ^ "சூப்பர் ஸ்டார் ரஜினிகாந்த் – ஒரு சரித்திரம் | சூப்பர் ஸ்டாரின் திரைக்காவியங்களின் பட்டியல்கள்". Lakshman Sruthi (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 22 June 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  11. ^ "மூன்று முகம்". Kalki (in Tamil). 17 October 1982. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  12. ^ "ரஜினியின் சாதனை வரலாறு: அபூர்வ ராகங்கள் அறிமுகம் முதல் பால்கே விருது வரை". Dinamani (in Tamil). 1 April 2021. Archived from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  13. ^ Ramachandran 2014, p. 286.
  14. ^ Ramanujam, Srinivasa (27 February 2015). "Khaki rule in Kollywood". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  15. ^ "Nandamuri Kalyan Ram to Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao: 10 Telugu actors who have played Triple roles in films". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  16. ^ Raghavan, Nikhil (10 November 2012). "A win-win formula". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 23 March 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  17. ^ "Anecdotes of an auteur". The New Indian Express. 24 March 2020. Archived from the original on 22 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  18. ^ "air supply". The Hindu. 19 February 2012. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  19. ^ "Moondru Mugam". The Hindu. 20 August 2010. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2021.

Bibliography

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