Moondru Mudichu

Moondru Mudichu (The Three Knots) is a Tamil film that was directed by K. Balachander. The movie stars Kamal Hassan, Rajinikanth and Sridevi. It is hailed as the movie that made Rajnikanth a big "villain" star. The movie revolves around 3 people - a college going girl(Sridevi) and 2 men who fall in love with her (Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth). Sridevi was 13 at the time when she performed her character which was 10 years older than her.

Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth are room-mates in a city. Kamal Hassan falls in love with Sridevi who lives in the same apartment complex. Rajnikanth, who has his eyes on Sridevi, pretends to back Kamal Hassan's love while secretly hoping to create a divide between them. Sridevi realizes Rajni's evil intentions when she finds out that he has seduced an innocent girl living in the same apartment complex. However, she is unable to convince Kamal Hassan, who hero-worships Rajni.

Things come to a head when Kamal and Sridevi go for a picnic by the lake and Kamal decides to invite Rajni along. As the three of them head to the middle of the lake on a boat, Kamal topples over by mistake. Rajni refuses to jump in and save Kamal, on the pretext that he does not know swimming. A devastated Sridevi returns home to another shock - her sister, who plays small time roles in the movies, has suffered from a fire accident which has left her face permanently charred. Overnight, Sridevi's life undergoes a drastic change.

In an attempt to salvage her life, Sridevi decides to marry an old widower who needs someone to look after his children. One of his children happens to be Rajnikanth. Sridevi goes ahead with the marriage despite this. After her marriage, she decides to use her 'mother' status to exact revenge on Rajnikanth.

The movie ends with the following lines in Tamil

விதைக்கின்ற வேளையிலே விளங்காத மனசாட்சி...

விளைவுக்குப் பின்னாலே விரைந்து வரும் மனசாட்சி...
தனக்காக தன்னுடனே போராடும் மனசாட்சி...
தவறுபவன் கண்களுக்குப் பைத்தியந்தான் மனசாட்சி!

Cast & Crew
Directed by K. Balachander
Produced by R.Venkataraman
Written by K. Balachander, Kannadasan(Lyrics)
Starring Kamal Hassan
Sridevi
Rajnikanth
Calcutta viswanathan
Rajamani
Anupama
Baby indhira
Kalavathi
Y.Vijaya[1]
Music by MS Viswanathan
Cinematography B.S.loganathan
Editing by N.R.kittu
Release date(s) 22 Oct 1976
Language Tamil

Anthuleni Katha - Telugu

Anthuleni Katha (meaning story without ending) is a Telugu film is directed by K. Balachander. This is Jayaprada's first starring role and is considered to be one of her best films. Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan play key roles. This film was shot in black-and-white.

Saritha (Jayaprada) is a working woman in a middle class family. She works hard to support her widowed sister, unmarried sister, her blind younger brother, her mother, her drunkard brother Murthy Rajnikanth and his family. Her father abandons the family and becomes a saint. Her brother not only does not take responsibilities, but also creates additional problems for her.

She has a longtime boyfriend, who wants to marry her, but she doesn't because of her commitment to her family. His eyes now wander to Saritha's widowed younger sister (Sripriya) who reciprocates his feelings. Saritha, after reading her boyfriend's love letter to her sister, arranges for them to get married, thus giving up her chance of having a life with him. She eventually accepts a marriage proposal of her boss (Kamal Hassan), when she realizes that her brother has become responsible enough to take care of her family. She also helps her distressed friend, played by Phataphat Jayalaksmi to settle in life. She decides to resign from hard work, but could not as the result of turning point in a typical Balachandar style climax.

Original and Remakes

The film is a remake of Tamil super hit film Aval Oru Thodarkathai (1974), also directed by K. Balachander. Sujata played the role of Jayaprada, Jai Ganesh did the role of Rajnikant, Kamal Haasan played the role of Narayanarao. Same tunes were used in both the languages. Sripriya, Phataphat Jayalaxmi and rest of the cast are same in both the versions. The Tamil film was later was dubbed into Malayalam as Aval Oru Thudarkatha (1975).

Balachander remade the film in Hindi [titled Aaina] (1977) with Mumtaz doing the role of Jayaprada with Sanjeev Kumar and Rajesh Khanna doing important roles. One noteworthy cast member is Jayasudha, who made her Hindi debut with this film. Kamal Haasan also appears briefly as a choreographer for Dharmendra and Neetu Singh in the film. His name appears in credits as choreographer along with Gopikrishna. Naushad had provided the music for the Hindi remake.

Also, in 1977, Mala Sinha starred in the Bengali remake titled Kabita playing the Jayaprada role. Kamal Haasan made his Bengali film debut with this film by acting in the same role that he played in the Tamil original film. Bharat Shamsher directed the black-and-white film.

The film was again remade in Hindi as Jeevan Dhaara (1982) by director Tatineni Ramarao. Rekha did the role of Jayaprada. Rakesh Roshan did the role of Kamal Haasan, Amol Palekar did the role of Narayana Rao. Kanwaljit did the conductor role, Simple Kapadia (sister of Dimple Kapadia) did Phataphat Jayalaxmi role. The film was a decent hit.

In 1983, Balachander produced the Kannada remake titled Benkiyalli Aralidha Hoovu directed by Chandulal Jain and starring Suhasini, whose real-life uncle Kamal Haasan played the guest role of a bus conductor in this remake.

Cast & Crew

Jayaprada ... Saritha
Rajnikanth... Murthy
Phataphat Jayalaxmi ... Chandra
Sripriya... Bharathi

Camera Assistant: R. Raghunatha Reddy
Asssitant Directors: Ananthu, S.A. John
Art: A. Ramaswamy
Associate Director: Eranki Sarma
Story: M.S. Perumallu
Music: M.S. Vishwanathan
Assistant Music Director: Joseph Krishnamurthy
Dialogues and Lyrics: Acharya Atreya
Camera: Lokanathan
Producer: Rama Aranangal
Story, Screenplay, Direction: K. Balachander

Katha Sangama - Kannada

Year: 1975

Director: S.R. Puttana Kanagal

Producer: C.S.Rajah

Lyrics: Vijaya Narasimha

Runtime: 144 min

Language: Kannada

Color: Black and White

Cast: G.K. Govinda Rao, B. Saroja Devi, Arathi, Loknath, Manjula Rao, Kalyana Kumar, Leelavathi, Gangadhar, Rajnikant

Movie Review: Portmanteau film based on three short stories. Hangu is about a poor university professor presented with a bribe just when his son is ill and requires expensive medical treatment. The second episode, Athithi, tells of an old spinster who once refused to marry the man who loved her and now sees him marrying her student. The third, Munithayi, has a wealthy man marrying a blind girl (Arathi) out of pity, but in his absence she is raped by an adolescent youth and later blackmailed. The husband eventually ‘forgives’ her for having been raped.