Chandramukhi stars Rajni Kanth after a gap of nearly 3 years after the debacle of his last movie Baba.The main cast in this movie besides the super star of course are:
Jyothika, Prabhu, Nayanthara, Vadivelu and Nasser.Its a remake of the movie ApthaMithra in kannada which in turn was ’inspired’ from a Malayalam movie.
The story is as follows....Prabhu and Jyothika who play husband and wife, buy a house in their hometown, which is supposedly haunted by the ghost of Chandramukhi, a dancer, who was killed by the then ruler of the land about 150 years ago.Despite warned by everybody not to live there, they move in along with the entire family.Strange things begin to happen and finally the reason is found out and solved by our super star.
The story though inspired by a malayalam movie, has been altered enough, keeping in mind the stature of Rajnikanth in the Tamil movie world.But surprise, surprise, the story does not revolve around the hero, as it is the norm for Rajni movies, but mainly on the heroine.Infact I cant remember a single recent release of the super star where the film was not named after the character played by Rajni.Also, all the lead characters are given equal roles, which is also a surprise.Everybody except Nayanthara who I feel was totally wasted in the film.
Coming to performances, Rajni does what his part well...thank fully there are no political dialogues here...he teams up well with Vadivelu to have us smiling, though it is a bit overdone at times....Another first in the movie is that he disappears for sometime before the interval!!!
Though age has caught up with him, he has given a good performance....that too the part where he comes as the king for a short while during the climax is really good.His mannerisms are enjoyable.
Jyothika also has tried her best and does come out well....especially in the climax scenes.....but could have avoided expanding her eye balls so much.Prabhu is adequate in his role, Nasser has nothing much to do and Nayanthara is totally wasted.All she does is sing a couple of songs and then disappear.
Vadivelu who has teamed up with Rajni for the first time, does well and the duo are enjoyable on screen.
The cinematography is good, the back ground music sets up the right tone for the film, and the songs are hummable, but could have been better.All said and done, the film’s main draw is Rajnikanth.
Its a welcome return for the super star and this movie will be his next hit after Padayappa.Way to go Thalaivaa!