Manichitrathazhu filming locations are varied, and we are here to break them all down. The film was released in 1993. Its origins are from India, and are a Malayalam film. The story follows genres such as psychology and horror. It is a classic tale of the South Indian culture depicted in a scary blast.
Fazil has directed the entire project. The plot of the film throws light on a tragedy that happened in a central Travancore family. The timeline dates back to the 19th century in the Alummoottil Tharavad. The film grosses over 7 crore rupees at the Indian Box office, which is roughly around a million dollars today (not taking inflation into count).
Indian cinema was not developed as much as it is today back in the 90s. The themes of the film were rather new to the audience. This is why this film became so popular among moviegoers. Some cinema houses even kept the film airing for a full year on the screen. It was later remade in four languages. The most popular depiction of the film till now, which has grossed the highest amount, was Bhool Bhulaiya, starring actor Akshay Kumar. Manichitrathazhu is regarded as the best film to be ever made in the Malayalam language.
The story of Manichitrathazhu starts in the past with a focus on Nakulan’s uncle named, Thampi. Thampi wanted Nakulan to marry his daughter Sreedevi. Although his mother named, Shraddha rejected the offer because their zodiac stars did not match as well as they should. Nakulan is seen falling in love with another woman named Ganga, and the two marry.
Sreedevi, too, gets married in a different setting, although her life gets stranded when the couple divorces. The story then shifts to the present day after giving us an insight into the family relations and the past of the family.
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Manichitrathazhu Filming Locations
The Haunted Mansion, which we see in the film known as the Thekkini, was actually Vassan House in Chennai. This is the bungalow of S.S. Vasan, who has now passed away. Vasan was the founder of Gemini Studios. This was the key location of the film. The big palace-like home of the family, which we see, is actually the Padmanabhapuram Palace as well as Hill Palace. These are located at Tripunithura. As for some additional information, you guys should know that the painting which was made of Nagavalli in the film was by the artist Shri R. Madhavan. He drew the whole picture without even the model present.
We see that Ganga and Nakulan have been living in Kolkata, but they return to their hometown for a visit. They stay at their family mansion named Madampalli. Thampi is not happy with their decision and returns and tries to send them away but to no avail. Well, the couple is acknowledged by Thampi’s sister named Bhasura, who tells her the secret of the mansion and why everyone fears it.
Plot
As it turns out, about 1.5 centuries ago, the head of their ancestral family traveled to Tamil Nadu and fell in love with a dancer named Nagavalli. Although, she never had feelings for Sankaran as she already loved another dancer. As a result of anger and revenge, he dragged her back to his own place with force and married her. Nagavalli took Ramanathan along with her to a nearby cottage and used to meet with him in secret.
When Sankaran got to know about this affair, he killed Nagavalli on Durgashtami in her room at night, which is located at the southwest corner of their house. Since then, the ghost of Nagavalli has tried to take revenge for her unrequited love and torture. A priest named Karanavar helped lock the ghost in the same room, although he went mad later and committed suicide. Although, Ganga thinks this was a joke and opens the door to Nagavalli’s room. In order to know what goes down next in the film, I suggest you watch the movie.
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