Muthu (Tamil: முத்து) (1995) is a Tamil film directed by K.S. Ravikumar. The film's score and soundtrack is composed by A. R. Rahman. The film stars Rajinikanth, Meena, Raghuvaran, Sharath Babu, Radharavi, Senthil and Vadivelu. It is based on the plot of a previous Malayalam movie Thenmavin Kombathu.
The film was later released in Telugu and in Japanese in Japan as Muthu Odoru Maharaja (ムトゥ 踊るマハラジャ, lit. Muthu - The Dancing Maharaja ?). A Chennai film industry blockbuster, the film was acclaimed and became a major hit in Japan when released in the country in 1998 and grossed $3 million USD in Japan, the most by any Indian film in Japan. A five-minute fight sequence from Muthu was also featured in the 2006 French film Prête-Moi Ta Main (Lend Me Your Hand) directed by Eric Lartigau.
Plot
A lavish Maharaja (Rajinikanth) lived with his sister-in-law and stepbrother Rajasekhar (Raghuvaran), helping people incessantly. His sister-in-law has a son, to whom the Maharaja bequeaths a major portion of his property. At this juncture, a new baby is born to the Maharaja. His wife dies soon after. Brother Rajasekhar cheats the Maharaja as he fears that his son's property might be taken back and given to the Maharaja's own son. When the cheating comes to light, the Maharaja hands over all his property and his baby to his sister-in-law and brother and goes to the Himalayas, making his sister-in-law promise him that the baby should be brought up as a servant, not as a Maharaja. This baby is named Muthu (also Rajinikanth).
According to the promise tendered to the Maharaja, the son of the Maharaja's sister-in-law becomes a Prince (Sarath Babu) and Muthu works as his servant. A huge fan of Drama, the prince regularly takes Muthu along with him wherever he goes. One day the Prince falls in love with an actress Ranganayaki (Meena). But Ranganayaki's heart lies with Muthu. Amidst all this, the Prince's Uncle (Radha Ravi), tries to capture all the property by killing everyone. But Muthu saves all and it is finally revealed that Muthu is the real Maharaja.
Aftermath
>>Indian Prime Minister made a special note about the reach of this film among the Japanese in his speech at 'Diet' on 14-12-2006.
>>Meena's charisma earned many fans in Japan and also became popular in the country.
>>The music for the film was composed by A. R. Rahman, who also wrote music for the first Rajnikanth film. Rahman would himself later go on to win two Academy Awards for his Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack in 2009.
>>The movie is characterised by beautiful location shots in Kerala and was shot in numerous palaces.
>>The Zamindar's palace in which the movie was shot, is the Lalitha Mahal Palace in Mysore.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack features 6 songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Vairamuthu.
Kuluvalilae - Udit Narayan, K. S. Chithra
Thilana Thilana - Mano, Sujatha Mohan
Oruvan Oruvan - S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
Kokku Saiva Kokku - S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Theni Kunjaramma
Vidu Kathaiya - Hariharan
Theme Music - Instrumental
